Alternative Home Heating Solutions

[ramapo]

Much is written and read about hybrid and electric cars, solar and wind generation and a possible comeback for nuclear power.

Today's story in the morning paper about record high home heating oil prices reminded me that keeping warm in the winter might be even more important than keeping the lights on. Some of the quotes in the article were to the effect of how insane and surprising are the recent price increases. Why people are surprised is beyond me. At least natural gas prices have been more stable so far this season.

But let's look out a decade or two or three when the vague threat of peak oil is a long accepted reality and supplies of both home heating oil and natural gas are dropping with corresponding increases in cost.

What alternatives are there to heating homes and businesses?

Electric heat? Massive retrofitting required along with increased generation (not with coal I hope).

Wood stoves? Not enough trees, not to mention the ensuing pollution.

Back to coal chutes?

Steam heat works pretty well in NYC (barring the occasional explosion) but that's a massive infrastructure.

Perhaps global warming will do away with winter unless the ocean conveyor shuts down and the northern latitudes lose the heat benefit of the Gulf Stream.

Just something to ponder for the kids and grandkids.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. What about solar panels and storage cells to circulate the heat

incrementally?

[Warpy]

2. Solar generated electrolysis via PVCs

providing hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells. Fuel cells must run hot to be efficient. Thus heat and electricity are both generated. Prototype closed systems already exist.

All we need is funding like we had during the space race and we'll be off the hydrocarbon jag in no time. We know how to do these things. We just lack the will to do them while men who only see OIL as a fuel are in charge.

[tech3149]

3. I like the idea of passive solar with a heat exchanger

It could easily be added to an existing forced air system. It isn't complicated or expensive.

[rurallib]

4. If you've got some land - geothermal

We have been using corn for a few years. It has been so nice but now is becoming more expensive. We will be using some wood pellets this year also. Wood pellets are basically glued sawdust so it is using a waste product.

[XemaSab]

9. You can grow a LOT of wood on not very much land

If you only burn the biomass from a year's growth, you're carbon-neutral. :)

Edit: not SOOT neutral, but carbon neutral. :)

[greenman3610]

5. more geothermal

important to differentiate between the home based
geothermal, which uses the constant ambient temperature in soil for
heating and cooling-
and proposals for deep earth geothermal for
central power generation, which is a different concept.

it is assumed that the electric power needed will
be provided from alternative sources.

[phantom power]

6. I really wish they hadn't overloaded the term "geothermal."

The technology that uses the homeowner's land or water as a heat reservoir is completely different than actual geothermal energy, and now the two are getting confused all over the place.

My pet peeve of the day. Until I think of a new one later today.

[kestrel91316]

26. Geothermal heat pumps for home HVAC units are GREAT.

But not to be confused with geothermal (steam turbine)electric generation.

[hunter]

7. You don't want a heating solution, you want an insulation solution.

The goal is to heat less, and then maybe you won't need an alternative heat source. Lot's of things generate heat in a house -- anything electric, people, cooking, bathing, etc. -- and you want to keep that heat inside.

Where I live the climate is mild and houses shouldn't require any heating at all. I'm slowly chipping away at the problem, adding insulation and getting rid of leaks, and we've reached the point where our original furnace is very much oversized for even the coldest days. Eventually I'm hoping to reach a place where we never turn the furnace on, and maybe get a cheerful little gas fireplace we can warm our toes on when we come in from the cold.

[ramapo]

8. True in part

Insulation certainly helps, especially in moderate weather, yet sealing up your house too tightly isn't all that healthy.

Maybe solar hot water with electric backup for the evenings.

[hunter]

10. We're like a cooler, dryer version of Hawaii.

That's what I mean by mild. ;)

Our average "hot" summer weather averages 65^oF and our "cold" winter weather averages 50^oF.

Heating or cooling really isn't a survival issue here. You can do pretty well by simply closing the windows whenever it's too hot or cold outside.

But it's still surprising to me how much gas people use to heat their homes. The houses here are built sloppy, especially the older ones -- single pane glass windows, leaky can lighting in the ceilings, unsealed attic doors, etc.

Nevertheless, you can find lots of stuff on the internet about Scandinavian households that use only a fraction of the heating a typical American homes use.

This is from the site of an Irish builder:

http://www.scanhome.ie/passive.php



20 terraced houses without heating systems.
Located in Lindås, Gothenburg, Sweden.
By Hans Eek / EFEM Arkitektbyrå Göteborg

[Kolesar]

14. I would call those "apartments", not "houses"

I would not want to live in a building with shared walls and no yard if I had a choice. I think the shared walls are a big part of the energy conservation in those designs.

[kestrel91316]

27. They're townhouses. Apartments are where we get stacked up

on top of each other.

Townhouses are ok.

[suziedemocrat]

23. I agree - conservation begins with design and construction.

It's hard to make up for problems after the house has been built. BUT.... people must not be bugging the builders for this sort of thing because if buyers were willing to pay even a small premium, say the equivalent of marble counters or upgraded floors, I'm sure builders would offer much more energy efficient homes. I know some do, but marble counters are much more common in new homes than an energy star rating.

[suziedemocrat]

22. supposedly, this insulating paint works very well

We were going to repaint this year, but didn't. Maybe we'll try it next year.

http://www.hytechsales.com/insulating_paint_additives.html

I also think radiant space heating might be a good idea. The amount of our home that we actually NEED to be toasty is quite small, but we only have one thermostat. We shut off registers, but that only goes so far. Seems a waste to run the furnace when we just want to heat a small portion of the family room.

Oh, and passive solar design is fabulous!

[Matariki]

11. I just bought a hybrid heat pump with back up gas furnace.

I live in a moderate climate so the gas furnace won't come on often. It takes warmth out of the outside air and heats the house with it - for the cost of running a fan.

I'll let you know what my energy use is like in a few months...

[hunter]

12. Here's the English link to CEPHEUS

It's a construction standard in Europe for houses that require no conventional heating systems.

What Is a Passive House?

The term "Passive House" refers to a construction standard. The standard can be met using a variety of technologies, designs and materials. It is a refinement of the low-energy house (LEH) standard.

"Passive Houses" are buildings which assure a comfortable indoor climate in sum-mer and in winter without needing a conventional heating system.

To permit this, it is essential that the building’s annual demand for space heating does not exceed 15 kWh/(m²a). The minimal heat requirement can be supplied by heating the supply air in the ventilation system – a system which is necessary in any case. Passive Houses need about 80% less heating energy than new buildings designed to the standards of the 1995 German Thermal Insulation Ordinance (Wärmeschutzverordnung).
The standard has been named "Passive House" because the passive heat inputs – delivered externally by solar irradiation through the windows and provided internally by the heat emissions of appliances and occupants – essentially suffice to keep the building at comfortable indoor temperatures throughout the heating period.

http://www.cepheus.de/eng/index.html

Here in the United States we'd probably have to call them super-duper-ass-kicking houses or something, because God Forbid anything American be "passive."

[ramapo]

13. Very interesting

Thanks...I wasn't aware that these existed. Just goes to show how much less energy we could be using if only....

[Kolesar]

15. A heating pad in the chair so that I can keep the room at below 60 degrees Fahrenheit

When it is 10 or 20 degrees outside.

[jpak]

16. Solar hot air systems

http://www.cansolair.com/gallery.htm

http://www.grosolar.com/solar_hot_air/

http://home.att.net/~cleardomesolar/forcedairheater.html

http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/article17solar.htm

http://www.mes1.com/SolarHotAir.html

http://enviro-energytech.com/solar_heating_systems.htm

[happyslug]

17. What about living with the weather???

i.e. if it is cold outside, it is cold inside. It worked for most people for thousands of years. Realistic, if you restrict hearing to the bathrooms (and mover them to the basement so you have the affect of ground temperatures) you can reduce heating costs tremulously. For example, the Ground temperature in my are (Johnstown PA) is 54 Degrees all year round. Thus a basement restroom does NOT have to be heated to keep the pipes from freezing. Electricity can be used to heat the shower area for the half hour before you take a shower, but otherwise left cold. Insulation will keep the house cloe to whatever the ground temperature is (54) and you will have to get use to wearing warm clothes inside your home.

Except for the interior shower this is how most people lived prior to 1900. You bathed in public areas (Unless you use a bucket at home), thus home heating was NOT needed. You only needed heat to cook, and any excess heat just heated the Kitchen (In the summer you opened the Windows).

Aside: Most rural homes had their Kitchens independent of their homes, so the heat would not overheat the house during hot Summer days. Thus when you look at older homes (i.e. pre-1900) most kitchens are retrofitted (i.e. NOT part of the original design for the home).

Yes, I am talking about changing life styles, but that is part of adjusting to the increase cost of oil.

[Kolesar]

18. What do you think of putting an infrared 250W or 500W heater in the bathroom?

We keep the house cold. I have to wear a sweater and all that. The bathroom is on an outside wall and it gets quite unpleasantly cold.

I was thinking of putting an IR heater on a ten minute timer just so that I could warm that cold room for one or two ten minute periods before and after showering.

Note that this house has no moisture problems, so I leave the exhaust fan off to let the humidity escape into the rest of the house while showering.

[hunter]

19. We have a 500 watt IR heater on a timer.

It reduces the temptation to turn on the central heat quite a bit.

:thumbsup:

Look for one that's not a batroom vent too. The models that double as bathroom vents are set up to turn the vent fan automatically when the unit gets warm, and you end up blowing all that warm air out of the house.

[Kolesar]

24. I expect that 250W would be insufficient

Compare that power level to that of a hair dryer, 750W or a "typical" space heater, 1500W-2000W.

[happyslug]

20. My comment was a general point, i.e. live in temperatures closer to what outside.

I mention bathrooms do to the water involved. One way to avoid freezing pipes is to keep the pipes under the freezing depth in your area (In my area that point is 18 inches under ground). If you do not heat the house at all, by putting the bathrooms in the basement you do NOT have to heat the house to prevent the pipes from freezing. It more an attempt to mention a concept "Out of the Box" i.e. the box is heating the house.

As to actually keeping the bathroom warm, that is important. First to prevent the pipes from freezing and breaking, and Second to make it easier to bath oneself (i.e. not only must the water be heated, so will the room). Do to other heath concerns I rarely sleep more than 4 hours without having to go to the restroom. Do to this reason I heat my bathroom with a small heater about two hours before I take a shower. It works for me.

While the above works for me, the main thrust of my argument was to get people to think about doing WITHOUT heating their entire house (And cooling the entire house). Lets look at some aspects of "Nature heating":

1. building the house with "Tall" rooms, 8-10 feet tall (Like in most older pre-1940 homes). The reason for these tall rooms was to provide someplace for heat to raise to. Making the bottom 6 feet more comfortable to live during hot summers.

2. Putting out shutters during summer to keep the sun out, and taking then down during winter so the sun can heat the home to a degree.

3. Planting trees near one's home. Trees that lose leaves to the south, so that in the summer (When the tree have leaves) the leaves BLOCK the sun from heating the house, but in winter, when the leaves are gone, the sun directly hits the sun to provide some additional hearing. Evergreen trees to the north so that any cold winter winds always hit those trees before the wind hits the house.

There are other ideas of how to make one's home warmer by using nature. These help heat and cool the house top a degree. It is NOT as warming or cooling as a heat or cooling source, but it does help.

[crikkett]

21. oy. remind me not to visit you at xmastime.

IMO staying warm in wintertime lengthens my life.

[happyslug]

25. And if the house is 72 Degrees???

If a house is properly design to reflect your local weather conditions, it will be about 20 degree warmer in those parts of the house WHERE you live do to the walls blocking the wind AND YOUR OWN BODY TEMPERATURE. In fact in larger buildings (Malls, large stores, tall buildings etc) the main problem is COOLING even in winter do to the number of people in the building.

The point I was trying to make, is how much of your house do you really need to heat? If you design the building differently you may be able NOT to have to heat it at all. For example Town houses (What use to be called Row houses) tend to share one or more walls. Thus you have one or two less areas to lose heat from (And in winter one or two walls that may be SOURCES of heat i.e. as your neighbor heats his or her home).

another example would be an insulated basement which can be heated above the surrounding ground temperatures to 72 degrees with a lot less heat then an above ground home in the middle of winter (which has to be heated above the outside Atmosphere temperature which in winter is MUCH lower than the ground temperature). In fact 1-2 people just being in a small insulated sectioned off area of the basement may be enough to heat it into the 70s.

My point is part of solving the problem with oil and other fuels is to consider re-designing homes to reflect the temperatures and to re-adjust our lives to reflect that weather.

P.S. Let me address the issue of sickness during winter. Given that Germs can NOT survive with temperatures below 32 degree, when it comes to communicable deceases COLD temperature is bad for spreading such diseases (the spreading of Flu is tied in with the migration of birds more than any other factor, thus the big time for Colds and Flus are Fall and Spring not Winter).

The reason people get sick in Winter is first since they can NOT get out do to the Cold Temperatures, they notice being sick more often (known problem, if you have things to do you ignore the minor colds you have in better weather, thus in the days when most people farms, colds and flus only were notice after the crop was in). A further Complication is the fact people tend to stay closer together in cold weather (i.e. get out less and end up mingling with people, who may have a Cold or flu which then spreads among the people who mingle together). In fact they is evidence that Flu survives better in HEATED temperatures then in either cold or hot weather. i.e. heating your home helps Flu Survive and spread.

As to other cold weather problems (Arthritis etc) heating the area around the person with that problem and making sure no cold wind hits that person has almost the same affect as heating the whole home. Just because the Gas, oil and Electric Companies say it is more healthy for you to have a heated home makes that true. Your body is design to FIGHT off disease (In fact one theory about the increase in allergies over the last 200 years is that people's bodies NEED to fight off disease and when they are none to fight off, your body will find one and thus an allergy develops, this was first proposed in the 1800s when Doctors noted the first widespread reports of allergies, but only in upper middle class neighborhoods NOT among the poor).

As to the drop in temperatures itself, most people can survive if adequate dressed. They are exceptions and those would have to be addressed but as a whole people will have to start to wear hats again in addition to Mittens and boots.

[kestrel91316]

28. Not quite right about the kitchens.....

there was a kitchen in the house with woodburning stove. Great in the cooler months, but not so good in summer. Hence the construction of the "summer kitchen".

http://www.garrisonhouse.org/kitchen.html

BTW, woodburning cookstoves are still available:
http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=809&i1Cat=671&i2Cat=809&i3Cat=0&i4Cat=0

[happyslug]

29. My point was that people LIVED with the weather

You heated INSIDE the house when it was COLD outside so that any excess heat went to heat the house. In Summer you cooked outside so the excess heat stayed OUTSIDE the house.

I visited Daniel Boone's birth place many years ago. It had an huge open fireplace that could be used for cooking and heating. It was also built OVER a spring, so that the water flowed into the house AND HELPED COOLED THE HOUSE IN SUMMER AND HELPED KEEP THE HOUSE NO LOWER THAN THE AVERAGE GROUND TEMPERATURES (58 Degrees in parts of Pennsylvania NOT in the Mountains, the Mountains tend to be 54 Degrees).

Daniel Boone's Birthplace:
http://www.danielboonehomestead.org/

[kestrel91316]

31. I do my own version - I don't bake in the summer, and really step it up

in the cooler months. In SoCal, oven waste heat is often sufficient to heat an apartment or even a small house.

[madokie]

30. we have been staying toasty warm since the winter of '91

and feeling good about it too I might add. using a what used to be a waste product as the fuel, wood pellets. I suggest all should check them out.

my how time flies as it only seems like yesteryear that we purchased our first wood pellet stove which our son and his family uses still to keep themselves warm and toasty.