Geo/solar heated homes (for Katrina Victims, and for the rest of us.)

[skids]

Habitat for Humanity has made green homes in the past (especially the Denver chapter,) but I've heard nothing in their Katrina-related pitch that suggests they with go the extra mile to do so rather than building cheap for expediency. Really they should make an explicit public statement on this at some point.

In the meantime, at least one guy is making the point:

Retired mechanical engineer Richard Delorme is combining a desire to help those displaced by Hurricane Katrina with his dream to create neighborhoods of solar-powered homes.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/12792919.htm


The above is just part of a rife of articles this week on home heating through alternative measures. Partly this is due to general interest in the face of rising costs, because after all, Americans are content to sit on their ass as long as their wallet isn't taking a hit and don't for the most part give a crap until energy prices go up -- screw the environment part of the deal.

The second reason is a push by those on the leading edge who promote the homes: there's a national "solar tour" that went on today holding open houses where the owners walked folks through and showed how they did things. (Some areas have events further into this week and the month, but the effort seems extremely loosly coordinated, so you have to Google around for a schedule in your area.) Yes, the tree-huggers do live in normal houses, not hollowed out redwoods, and they are more than willing to help the less tree-loving learn from what they have achieved.

Also despite the fact that it's a boondoggle of monumental proportions, the new energy bill coming into effect for the next tax year does have incentives in it that are in a few cases better than what was available earlier.

So, for those of you who haven't already squandered your home equity on DVD's and trips to see Mickey Mouse you might want to read this and consider geothermal:

The systems can cost about $7,500, according to the Department of Energy, much more than the price of a traditional heating and air conditioning system. But according to the DOE, if you include the costs in your mortgage, you'll be saving money from the get-go because your energy consumption will be reduced by 25 to 75 percent.

That's right, if you live on a suitable property, you'd actually save money by taking out a loan and installing such a system -- it would pay it's own interest and more.

Alternatively solar hot water or space heating might be more your speed:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05274/578689.stm

Or both. But anyway here are some more recent articles.

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/LOCAL/210010325/1078/news
http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/LIVING04/510010382/1004
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/NEWSREC0101/510010318/1001/NEWSREC0201

Of course the unsolved question is this: How do we get landlords to upgrade rental properties? By the time they are done with their own, they've eaten up their entire tax credit, and most of them are happy to let the tenants pay their utilities. Hell I can't even get mine to clean the damn gutters so the cellar will stop flooding in heavy rain. Maybe if next summer tenants started air conditioning by constantly running cold water from the pipes (the one utility bill which they cannot sign over in many places) they'll sit up and take notice. :-)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. How do-able

is solar in Northern Florida? We get plenty of hot sun. I am planning to build on 8 acres. The house will be for myself, my husband, my daughter and her husband to two babies while Matt (the husband) is in medical school.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. I worry about about damage from hurricanes but.. you want to see a cool

house, come check this one out. It is here in Maine but I have yet to see it. And wouldn't you know today was the anuual tour of local solar homes and I had to be out of town for it. *pouting*

http://solarhouse.com/

[TallahasseeGrannie]

5. We're an hour from the coast, so hurricane damage is usually

wind and heavy rain.

That house is awesome. Do you get enough sunlight in the winter in Maine to make it worthwhile?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Yeah! Go into that site they will give you their kilowatt hours for the

last few years. Very doable and in fact winter is better than summer. Go figure!

[skids]

4. Very doable.

Bang for the buck right now is in solar water heating, passive space heating architectural design, and geothermal heat pumps ("slinky coils"). Electricity is less economical -- the only reason to do it now would be tax incentives. If those aren't suitable, I'd wait on the electricity part for a bit since the technology is due to improve in big strides over the next 5 years.

Look for a firm in the area to go over the design and suggest the best options.

[RC]

8. Geothermal heat pumps or ground source heat pumps?

Most places in North America do not have access to underground heat sources. Think of Yellow Stone.

Ground source heat pumps pump heat into the ground in the Summer and pump it back out in the Winter.

Geothermal does not equal Ground source.
Pumping heat into the ground is a bit of a problem with Geothermal.
They are two different processes.

[skids]

9. Both are "geothermal"

Geothermal groups have adopted heat banking under their wing and do not hesitate to call it "geothermal." The systems referred to in the articles above are ground source (used for both heating and cooling.)

Generally the term "geothermal power" is reserved for actual earth-core heat retrieval, since ground source do not generally produce the temperature differential needed to generate electricity. Though that may change with solid-state CHP applications someday.

Lots of people chime up and say that ground source is "not geothermal." I don't know where they get this terminology quibble from. Plainly if major geothermal organizations use the term "geothermal" to refer to it, then it is correct to do so.

[RC]

10. The major so called "geothermal organizations" use the

term 'geothermal' instead of 'ground source' because then they can charge more because the term is more scientific sounding. It started as an advertising gimmick, nothing more. They usually get away with it because most people don't have a clue, anyway. Just more dumbing down of America.

What is so hifalutin about laying pipes in the ground in your back yard? Nothing. But when it is done for your "Geothermal A/C"? Oh, wow, that sounds impressive to the neighborers! I hope the price difference is worth it to you.

[skids]

11. Agree and disagree.

I'll agree that the alternative power industry is full of overchargers. Some just because they lack scale. Others because they are opportunists who realize that with the market so sparse they can get away without offering competative prices.

However, on the terminology I disagree. So does wikipedia. So does DOE EERE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_exchange_heat_pump
http://www.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/heatpumps.html

So wherever the meme that shallow installations don't count as "geothermal" came from, and I would care to know actually if you do, it is obselete now.

[don954]

7. very, very do-able

its nutz that we even use dino power here in Florida, we get so much sun that if they would just include solar power in the building codes, central power plants would quickly become obsolete..

[bonito]

2. This is good n/t