Heating

[Aimless]

So what's your take on ground source heat exchange/pump systems for heating homes, water, etc?

[Khendraja'aro]

Thermodynamically way more efficient than conventional (gas, electric, ...) heating methods. That's the fun thing: It's more efficient using energy to pump some amount of warmth from the outside to the inside than using the same amount of energy to simply create warmth.

However, it's more expensive upfront.

[earthJoker]

So what's your take on ground source heat exchange/pump systems for heating homes, water, etc?

We have that. Works fine, but it seems it not possible everywhere.

I once lived in a flat with air-air heat exchange pump, now that was shit.

[Aimless]

Just thinking about this technology makes ME warm initial costs are high but because of the savings on electricity and maintenance a lot of new houses are being built with ground source heating and many home-owners have switched over to it.

Seems harder to find workable small-/medium-scale solutions for cooling with simple heat-exchange systems however.

This is also cool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_t...rgy_conversion

[Aimless]

Wonder what happened to this:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0426102559.htm

[Dreadnaught]

So what's your take on ground source heat exchange/pump systems for heating homes, water, etc?

A family member recently got this in their new home. It's pretty freaking awesome, at least so far in the summer. The house is 20-21 degrees C all the time, and needs either heating or cooling to adjust it from that level. We had a BBQ at their place and didn't have to over-worry about keeping the doors and windows open, as our forced-"carelessness" simply made the place slightly less chilly. Their electrical bill has been $16 US for the summer for a fairly large house.

But the cost to create the system were steep steep steep, even with tax breaks. It'll take a decade to amortize, but there's also some value in not having to ship heating fuel into a tank or having to obsessively worry about electrical consumption in the summer.

[Aimless]

Here's some scifi:

https://www.solarcity.com/residential/

[GGT]

My sister has had a geothermal heat pump for years, early version stuff. The cost was bundled in their mortgage, since it was new construction. It works great for heat until winter temps get close to zero and negative (F) territory, which happens more often lately.

[Aimless]

If you don't mind fire, there's the rocket mass heater butt warmer:

http://ilovecob.com/archive/solunit-rocket

(living with it: http://ilovecob.com/archive/living-w...e-rocket-stove)

Can probably also be used as a floor warming-system but I suppose it would be more wasteful

[Aimless]

More info:

http://www.iwilltry.org/b/build-a-ro...-home-heating/

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

[GGT]

Pellet fuel is popular in parts of PA. Mostly by folks sandwiched between urban-rural communities, and unreliable electric grids. Even though I don't have a dedicated pellet-fuel heating 'system', when the grid goes down I can use corn and/or paper-based pellets in my (cross-ventilated) fireplace for heat. It's compressed, easier to light, less polluting, and burns longer than cut firewood.

[Dreadnaught]

Here's some scifi:

https://www.solarcity.com/residential/

I've actually looked into them. I think they are way overbooked and aren't able to reasonably service anyone for the foreseeable future (at least the last time I checked).

One big issue is solar doesn't really work for cities to have a meaningful impact on an apartment building. The energy usage/surface area of buildings is too high (even though the heating/person costs are relatively low).

[Aimless]

While reading up on solar updraft power stations I came across this:

http://poormanguides.blogspot.se/200...ditioning.html

More solar chimneys for the people

[Dreadnaught]

Interesting. Sort of like geothermal, but using a less efficient conductor in exchange for a simpler/cheaper installation.

I like the idea in theory, though I wonder how quickly it can recover when someone opens the door and changes the pressure grade. Also I'm curious about how much energy it takes to really create this pressure differential within a medium-sized house (assuming the solar option isn't viable).

[RandBlade]

Seems like it depends upon if you plan to live somewhere permanently or temporarily. In Summer I just open windows to cool down (though learnt the hard way you need to be careful about that ), in the winter we've got modern insulation and I'll keep windows/doors closed and use traditional radiators.

If I was planning on living in this home for the next 25+ years I'd look at more futuristic solutions but as I'd like to ideally be able to move up the housing ladder in about 4-5 years time I think its not worth doing. Maybe in the future the costs will come down and it'll be standard but not yet.

[Aimless]

Is it possible that it might increase the value of your house substantially and make you eligible for various tax breaks?

[Dreadnaught]

Is it possible that it might increase the value of your house substantially and make you eligible for various tax breaks?

It could. In some cases the tax breaks are worth it, but I think the best calculation is to amortize the cost in terms of energy savings...then see if you think you'll be there that long. But it should increase the value of a place.

That said, things like water-based geothermal really are expensive.

[Dreadnaught]

Slept in the geothermal-heated house in a cold, faraway place this past weekend. Hot damn, that was some quality heating. The whole house was comfortable with barely any power consumed.