These green homes, as they are known in the market, are constructed with materials and procedures that are all meant to take advantage of the natural, renewable energy that is all around us. Some homes come built with special spaces and materials in the wall to take advantage of the solar energy, and a few of them make use of specially constructed windows that can focus the energy into heat. This is what is known as passive solar energy, but there is another kind. The kind many of us associate with solar energy as a whole – active solar energy.

With active solar energy, specially crafted panels and cells are used to actively capture the solar radiation from the sun and transform it into energy that can be put to further and immediate use heating water or even cooking. This method is often used on our orbital satellites and you can even see it demonstrated on the International Space Station.

These are all steps in the right direction and it might not be so uncommon to see these features implemented in homes all over the country. Fossil fuels are becoming a thing of the past and they won’t be around forever. We, as a race and a society, need to embrace and be open to alternative forms of energy whether we get them from the sun or other means.