Trombe wall

A Trombe wall is a passive solar building design where a wall is built on the winter sun side of a building with a glass external layer and a high heat capacity internal layer separated by a layer of air. Heat in close to UV spectrum passes through the glass almost unhindered then is absorbed by the wall that then re-radiates in the far infrared spectrum which does not pass back through the glass easily, hence heating the inside of the building. Trombe walls are commonly used to absorb heat during sunlit hours of winter then slowly release the heat over night. The essential idea was first explored by Edward S. Morse and patented by him in 1881. In the 1960s it was fully developed as an architectural element by French engineer Félix Trombe and architect Jacques Michel.