@Badgardener @jerzone It's definitely not attractive. His place was perfectly set up for it, that wall was on the side of the house that no one really saw. It kept the garage in the 40s and 50s (F) when it was well below freezing. I would have put one on my south wall except that there's a 6-week period in the dead of winter when NO SUN falls on my home at all.
There's no single way to heat the house which works all the time. I'm lucky to have a fairly endless stash of firewood, which goes a long way in saving on oil and electricity. And our winters are pretty mild by comparison to most places in the world.
Mainly, though, I was brought up to believe in the concept of wearing coats indoors and never touching the thermostat on pain of being dumped at the Children's Home.
@Badgardener @jerzone Yes, I was also brought up to keep my hands off the thermostat. We had sweaters for during the day and electric blankets for at night.
But I'm extremely spoiled where I live now; the power is so cheap (2.7c/mwh) that I just make the temperature whatever I want. (I feel that I earned the right; I pay for it, after all.) Yes, my winter electric bills are the highest electric bills I get all year, but I haven't had one over $100 yet.