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Originally Posted by BillG
Well, I'm only about ten pages into the thread, and maybe it will answer the questions after I get further. There are a couple of projects in mind. First, I am planning to build a cabin soon, to Passivhaus specs or close, just north of the big running nose of the Wisconsin Indianhead. One thought was to string out a bunch of PEX underground, and pump glycol through it to preheat/precool the ventilation air. Then, I wondered if I could do better by doing a custom air to air heat pump made from a dehumidifier, then thought about extending the field a little more and making a ground source heat pump. The load will be too small for a big commercial unit.
I've wondered if a tiny W2W heat pump would benefit solar thermal on a marginal day, making the collectors more efficient and getting a more usable water temp out. Again, tiny load, commercial units too big.
Another project is actually a friend's, who has a great solar/geothermal source for supplementary heating, which could make good use of a tiny W2W heat pump.
Haven't done the math on any yet, and need to decide if the overhead energy makes sense to invest or not on such small loads,. or whether it is better to go passive on the preheat-precool with an earth tube.
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I really like your thinking on this. You are correct that reducing your heat loss reduces your need for heat generation. In that regard, you are way ahead of most, who think of the heat first and the house last.
Passive house is a great idea and is significantly different from standard construction, learn all you can. If you search this site, you'll find a fair amount that some of us have gathered from around the web. But you'll need to go off-site to get some really deep understanding. There is an interesting related house design approach called Zero Energy House, with good ideas, also.
Put as much energy and thought as possible into retaining energy rather than gaining energy. Because in the end, you'll have to generate less energy, and this will open the possibility of low exergy heating (low temperature heating).
Getting too late tonight to discuss much more. You're on a good track though, keep the ideas coming.
Best,
-AC