View Single Post
Old 03-20-12, 08:49 PM   #8
RobertSmalls
Journeyman EcoRenovator
 
RobertSmalls's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 344
Thanks: 3
Thanked 17 Times in 15 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by briligg View Post
The house loses a total of 21,359 kW over the course of the entire winter.
Nope. 21MW is the output of a small power plant. Also, power is a rate, so losing 21MW over the course of the entire winter is the same as losing 21MW each hour. I would wager that your math is incorrect, or that your model is not an adequate representation of the actual greenhouse.

Heat transfer is an interesting thing. The R-value of a 3mm thick glass pane is approximately zero, which would lead you to conclude that a very huge amount of energy is being transferred. That would be true, except there are other barriers to heat transfer involved. Heat must be transferred first within the mud, then from mud to air, then air must move, then heat must flow from air to glass, then glass to ambient air. Not that you can't set up a model of this yourself. Just that conductive heat transfer may not be the most significant mode. Good luck!
RobertSmalls is offline   Reply With Quote