Magdalena Vančáková and her family of four have managed to pull off something that has continued to stump the 6,000 participants who met at a recent United Nations conference on climate change: The near elimination of greenhouse gases, the leading cause of global warming.

Admittedly, the family accomplished this on a very small scale — roughly the size of their home in Černošice, 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of Prague.

Vančáková's home is special: Warmth comes from a unique ventilation and insulation system that eliminates the need for gas or electrical heating. The family's energy bills are slashed 90 percent and its needs cause only a small amount of harmful carbon-dioxide emissions to be released into the atmosphere.

"I decided that if I wanted to build a house, I would at least build it so it is easy on the environment," says Vančáková. "The feeling I was doing something myself to make things better was more important to me than having nice tiles in the bathroom."

So-called green houses are finally catching on in the Czech Republic, though they have been popular in neighboring Germany and Austria for years. From 2000 to 2005, only 50 such homes were built here. But this year alone, another 50 have sprung up.

The Environmental Ministry is promising to make more money available for green-house construction, although it has not yet said how much. Vančáková built her home with the help of a 40,000 Kč ($1,822) grant from the ministry.

There are two main types of green houses: low-energy ones, which rely on special insulation and solar panels, and passive ones, which rely on special ventilation.

"Only people with foresight build such houses," says Aleš Brotánek, an architect who designs passive homes.

Seeing green

There was little progress reported at the UN climate conference in Nairobi during the week of Nov. 13. But the kind of environmental catastrophe predicted in Al Gore's recent film An Inconvenient Truth, which plays in some Prague theaters, is starting to move people like Vančáková.

According to experts, unchecked carbon-dioxide emissions will continue to raise global temperatures. Rain patterns will shift, icebergs will melt, and ocean levels will rise, threatening coastal areas with catastrophic floods.

Building more environment-friendly homes is one way to help, says Jiří Bárta of the Czech Passive Houses organization.

These homes are becoming more popular as Czechs increasingly start to think green, Bárta says.

"We started a year and a half ago based on knowledge from Germany and Austria, where these houses have been built for 15 years," he says. "Our goal is to promote it in the Czech Republic. It is a possibility available to everybody."

Brotánek says he has had to turn many people away; he can't meet demand.

"I've been working on 15 homes this year, and that is the most I can manage."

The options

Both low-energy and passive houses are built with a special technique in which a thick insulation of special urethane is used on the walls' inside, so that warmth accumulates inside. The main source of heat is the sun, so the house must face the south, have big windows and solar panels.

"Basically, if it is 15 below zero outside, the temperature does not go below 15 above zero in the house," says Petr Mareček, a builder who learned about the houses while working in Germany.

Passive homes, in addition to having urethane insulation and solar panels, have a self-regulating ventilation system. A small fan pushes air from upper portions of the house to lower areas through a special airshaft. From there, the air is re-circulated, free of mold, dust and pollen, so it does not cause allergies.

In Germany, the so-called father of the passive house is Wolfgang Feisst, who built his first in Damstadt in 1989.

Vančáková's home is a combination of the two styles, and requires a small amount of wood burning to get through winter. For her, though, that's part of the charm. "I like the smell and coziness a fireplace brings. And it doesn't cost that much, only about 3,500 Kč a year for the wood."

The Czech Republic still has a way to go to catch up with its neighbors. For one thing, the amount of money the Environmental Ministry already sets aside for green houses pales in comparison to that offered by Austria, which pitches in as much as 38,000 euros ($48,640/1.1 million Kč) for residents who are building environment-friendly homes.

Vančáková says she got her grant only after a huge amount of red tape.

The ministry has not set a timeline on increasing its support for green houses.