The sun — its heat and fire — plays a central role in Lakota spirituality. TWP's Tribal Lands Renewable Energy Program uses the power of the sun to heat homes of Native American families struggling to make ends meet.

The bitter Western winters take a terrible toll on many reservation families living in inadequate housing. Where over 60% live below the federal poverty level, electric heat and propane may be financially out of reach. Families may spend up to 70% of their total income to heat their homes. Temperatures can plunge to 40 below zero and ice can form on the inside of people's homes. Some of the consequences:

• Severe health impacts, especially for young children and tribal elders.
• Families forced to make choices between heating their homes and buying food or medicine.
• Loss of income, when craftspeople have to move in with other family members and lose their work space.

TWP's supplemental solar heating units are an inexpensive, simple to use, and environmentally sound way to bring comfort to reservation families suffering from winter cold. The units are built on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation by Native-owned and operated Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE), providing a source of employment and pride. The heaters will save families money on their utility bills for decades to come.

The heaters themselves are technologically straightforward. The main component of each unit is a four-by-eight-foot solar collector panel. The panel contains baffles to direct air flow and is backed by a specialized, heat-absorbing metal film. The baffles and absorber plate are covered by a sheet of special solar glass and surrounded by a metal frame. This solar panel is mounted and installed next to the south side of the house, where it absorbs heat from the sun. The system is connected to the house by two air ducts: supply and return. Whenever the air inside the collector panel is warmer than the temperature set on the heating system’s thermostat, a blower inside the system turns on and warm air is pushed into the house. The blower fan is the system’s only moving part.

Since the program began in 2003, more than 300 supplemental solar heating systems have been installed at Pine Ridge, Rosebud and other Great Plains reservation communities. In 2009, LSE began selling solar heating units to other Great Plains tribes. Members of these tribes visit the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, where they learn about the theory and practice of solar heating. These newly-certified Solar Technicians then return to assemble and install the heating systems for families in their own communities.