Yeah, in the desert where it doesn't really get so cold during winter. You just use different sources of heating based on where you live. In southeast alaska where i'm from, most people just used wood. Interior alaska people had redundant sources of heating because of the long cold ass as **** winters. Do wood during the day, at night use heating oil, and having heating oil to rely upon when out of wood.
I'm assuming that desert is the arizona nevada area. You could probably get away with burning trash. But, you could probably also get away with no heating at all if the winter is just going to 50F.