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Consideration of alternative home heating systems takes in heating systems designed to be environmentally friendly and healthier both for today and for tomorrow. Seemingly, this is a big order but a necessary one since we are running out of fossil fuels and this overuse is damaging the environment.

What are we to do? We plan for the future and that means substituting un-renewable fossil fuels, coal and oil, for renewable sources such as solar and wind powered energy systems. This is easier said than done. Installing the required solar panels and technologically harnessing the wind is expensive and where windmills are concerned, unsightly.

But first we must understand the present systems and assess their efficiency while planning for a more energy-wise sustainable future. The electricity that we now use comes from several different sources yet energy grids supplies it. All we have to do is to plug an appliance into the current and voila! we have energy.

Our stove cooks, our dishwasher washes dishes, our toaster toasts our bread, and our furnace warms our home. What generated the electricity, coal or oil or solar energy making this possible, we have not a clue. That's the static' form of energy that must be used on site as opposed to that designed to be mobile. This latter category drives our cars, powers our lawn mowers, and keeps our planes in the air.

Another way of describing would be to say indirectly using fossil fuels to create electricity and directly using fossil fuels to power our moving vehicles. Either way you get the picture. This has been the status quo and now we are faced with coming up with newer and less invasive energy sources. A big order.

As always it is easier to plan for the future than to change our present habits. This rids us of some of the guilt of our present overly-extended life styles and pushes hard-to-live-with concerns out of our consciousness. Besides, we tell ourselves, we know nothing of solar technology and all we can do is to vote for it when it comes up on the ballot in some future election.

Whoa. There is something you can do now. In fact, there are lots of things you can do now: You can do as Al Gore does, get out there and promote renewable energy sources; you can minimally use solar energy by turning down your thermostat and opening your drapes and letting the sunlight shine in through your glass windows.

This is warming and is saving a few pennies on your home heating energy bill while making your pets happy. They love to

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