Breaking new ground with solar
Some images of a nice fire burning in the fireplace and cozy'd up close seems very traditional and nice but here where winters are cold, step away from the fires glow and the room is COLD. I grew up collecting, splitting wood and feeding fireplaces and wood burning stoves and the warmth of the fire was never a remedy for the assembly of the wood pile. Maybe its green,renewable and seemingly in-expensive but there's got to be a better way. Solar hot water, ground source heat (heat pumps), infloor heat and solar photo voltaic panels are old tech and new tech. These things have been around for many years and the conventional methods have had there strong hold on us for years but technology is winning over. There has been many demonstrations of net zero energy homes. For me, I'm still amazed for the amount of heat we gain with the solar hot water collection. Everyday that I see the little green LED indicating the circulation pump is on, replacing $6-$8 worth of electrical energy to run the heat pump. Wow. The next step would be a hybrid of solar and wind to power the heat-pump. When the winter has gripped the area the wind is just howling out side and the heat-pump humming away. hmm, How much is a wind turbine.?? We try to justify the return of investment for capital expenditures with todays dollar but in 10 yrs. when I'm thinking about retirement will that heat-pump cost me double to operate or more. Yes you bet, the solar hot-water will still be a freebee. The wind turbine and solar panel (PV) Still making power by harvesting energy for free. As far as other energies NG and fuel oil these have always been at the whim of speculation. If one is thinking of ground up construction the options for living comfortably and cost of operation very low are many. Forget the fireplace, chimney and the ongoing premium cost of fire insurance, consider solar. Check out some of these net zero homes. (Solar harvest house Boulder Co.) The cost of constructing a net zero home is closing in on the cost of traditional construction. Just imagine the family pet unable to choose the traditionally warmest area in the house to curl up and sleep.
Randen
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