Saturday 17 March 2012
Geothermal Systems - Affordable in the Long Run
Geothermal systems are an earth-friendly way to heat and cool your home or business that can be up to 400 times more efficient than conventional systems. Installing a geothermal system in an existing house or in new construction can be a wise investment that will pay off within just a few years, depending on the size and type of system you install and your heating and cooling needs.
Installing Geothermal Systems
When you install geothermal systems, you are required to drill into the earth and install a loop field. The amount of space required will depend upon the size of the premises that you are trying to heat and cool and the type of geothermal system that is best for your application. This is necessary because the system takes advantage of the fact that temperatures remain consistent underneath the earth, and thus less conditioning is required in order to achieve a desired level of heated or cooled air.
Drilling is just one of the costs of the installation- you also need to install a geothermal unit and, if you choose to benefit from the lower costs of hot water heating made possible by geothermal, you will need additional add-ons including a desuperheater. In most cases, taking advantage of geothermal's ability to heat your water using a desuperheater is a worthwhile investment as hot water is a significant expense in most homes. Geothermal lessens this cost by transferring heat taken from conditioned air in the summer, or other unneeded energy produced in the winter, and using that energy to preheat the water before it gets to your hot water heater.
Geothermal requires duct work just as any other traditional system does, so you will need to install this as well when you install geothermal systems in new construction. Since no special ductwork is required, this is not an added cost over a standard system. If you are retrofitting an existing building with geothermal, you typically will not need to make changes to the duct portion of your HVAC system.
The costs of geothermal, therefore, are largely in the costs of the drilling, the unit, the add-ons and the labor. Despite the fact that there may be a higher initial cost for geothermal than for a more conventional heating and cooling system, these costs are often offset within a few short years in savings on your heating, cooling and energy bills.
Further, there are typically tax credits available to help make geothermal more affordable. Some utility companies will also offer rebates or incentives for the installation of geothermal. When you add up all these tax credits and rebates, you may be looking at only a few thousand dollars more than the cost of a conventional system. With years of energy savings and reduced utility bills, the decision to spend that little bit of money becomes an easy one.
The key to installing geothermal systems, however, is to ensure you have a reliable and top quality installer who can help you to maximize the benefits. Check the installer's references and experience and be sure the installer is willing to answer any questions you have and explain to you how the system will work to benefit you.
Learn more about Advantages of Geothermal Energy and Geothermal Systems at: hpbuildingsolutions.com
Friday 16 March 2012
Thursday 15 March 2012
Wednesday 14 March 2012
The Fifth Fuel: How Efficiency Will Drive Your Future Energy Use
Mankind is currently powered by four fuels: petroleum, coal, nuclear power from uranium, and energy from renewable sources. As the 21st Century progresses, growing energy demand is going to severely strain these sources. Resource-depletion will put increasing pressure on the petroleum, coal, and uranium obtained from the Earth. Some geologists now say that the world is running out of petroleum, having reached so-called "Peak Oil." Peak Oil is the maximum point of global annual petroleum extraction that can possibly be obtained, followed thereafter by permanent annual production declines, until the resource is used-up. Other scientists have concluded that the world has already reached its peak of annual coal production. Still, others are concerned that the peak of uranium production will soon be attained. Similarly, demand for renewable energy is going to strain what the sun, wind, and biofuels can give us.
As the world's non-renewable fuel resources decline there will be intense competition for what remains to be extracted, causing energy prices to inexorably climb. However, there is a very abundant Fifth Fuel available to everyone right now, which can be found just about anywhere: energy efficiency and conservation. These will help combat rising energy costs caused by the pressures from declining non-renewable energy sources.
Efficiency can be used in industry to recover waste heat at factories and recycle it to generate electricity. It can be used in commercial and residential buildings, where new designs promote energy conservation, and where smart-grid technology and efficient electronic devices allow more to be obtained from less electricity.
Efficiency can be also used to revolutionize the way we view transportation. Did you know that trains fall just below motorcycles in fuel efficiency? It's a matter of tons shipped per gallon burned, and one day rail may supplant less efficient long-haul trucking as the primary means of shipping goods.
The price and availability of jet-fuel will also one day dictate the economic viability of the airlines. When the price of oil exceeds $200 per barrel, many airlines will be in jeopardy. One Fifth Fuel solution may be designing highly efficient airliners, like the new Boeing 787. Ultimately, the rejuvenation of passenger rail could prove to be the most fuel-efficient means of moving people long distances. But how do you cross oceans? Ships are even more fuel-efficient than trains (in both cases it will be the numbers of people shipped per gallon burned).
And what about those awful, fuel-wasting traffic jams that occur with our morning and afternoon commutes? The Fifth Fuel solution will be to allow more employees to use the Internet to telecommute and work from their homes.
At some future point, the price of gasoline and other liquid fuels will necessitate accounting for each gallon burned. Efficiency will direct the way we approach transporting people and goods.
Whether it is the electricity used in your home, or the fuel burned in your vehicles, making prodigious use of the Fifth Fuel will help make your energy footprint smaller. Done smartly, this can be accomplished without making undue sacrifices. It will also help you keep more money in your pocket, while contributing fewer greenhouse gas emissions to the environment; a winning solution for both you and the planet.
Phil Hardy enjoys studying and writing articles about energy issues. He is fascinated with newly emerging renewable energy technologies, as well as Fifth Fuel solutions, such as LED light bulbs, which allow people to use less energy. For more information on what LED light bulbs can do for you, visit: http://led-lightbulb-reviews.com/
Saturday 3 March 2012
Thursday 23 February 2012
Thursday 9 February 2012
Wednesday 25 January 2012
What Is Air Sealing and How Can It Save Energy?
Air sealing is important because air leaks through the walls, floor, and ceiling of your home. Air leaks out of your home when the air pressure inside the home is greater than the air pressure outside the home. Air also travels from hot to cold. The bigger the hole and the greater the pressure or temperature difference, the more air leaks.
What is Air Sealing?
Air Sealing is restricting the passage of air through the walls, floor, or ceiling so the home is more energy efficient and the process of heating or cooling the home takes less energy and less money.
Remember your Mother yelling at you as you flew out the back door, "Harvey, shut the door, we don't want to heat the whole outdoors."
Well, if you knew how many air leaks were actually part of your home, you would be interested in sealing them just like your interested in getting the door closed after Junior heads for the neighbors.
Hidden Air Leaks:
Although you find obvious air leaks, it is the large hidden penetrations that dominate air leakage. Air leaks can be rather straight forward, passing directly through a wall, floor, or roof at one location. Or they can be indirect, beginning at one location and exiting at another.
Have you every felt cold air coming through a light switch on an interior wall? Now, that's an indirect air leak.
What is Air Sealing?
Air sealing is education and testing. Education, because it takes an understanding of how a wall, floor, or ceiling is constructed to effectively search and locate hidden air leaks. Testing, because the amount and location of air leaks can be determined. Testing also allows you to see the effectiveness of your air sealing efforts.
To control air leakage, an effect air barrier should border and touch the insulation. Without an effective air barrier, air is allowed to pass through and around the insulation which greatly reduces the effectiveness of the insulation.
Existing Homes.
Existing homes may have several partial air barriers. For example, a home may have interior wall paneling, insulation, exterior sheathing, and then siding. These wall components merely slow down the passage of air rather than stop it. Irregularities in the homes exterior shell will promote air leakage as there is often a problem where building materials join together.
What is Air Sealing?
Air Sealing is providing appropriate retrofit applications that repair the original construction condition of your home that reduces the direct and indirect air leakage. Special attention needs to be given to rim joist, overhangs, dormers, bay windows, balloon framing, chimney's, knee walls, and storage attics.
Materials used for providing effective air sealing and air barriers include kraft or asphalt paper, plastic sheeting, house wrap such as typar or tyvek, caulk, spray foam, foam board, metal flashing, plastic bags, styrofoam, mastic or anything else that you have that gets the job done.
What is Stack Effect?
Stack Effect is a natural force that drives air leakage. Warm air is less dense than cold air, so warm air rises and cool air replaces it. Stack effect takes place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Warm air leaves your home by passing through the holes and penetrations in the ceiling or roof. Cooler air enters the home through holes and penetrations near the floor.
What is Air Sealing?
Air sealing is addressing the energy waste caused by Stack Effect. Holes and penetrations in both the ceiling and floor are sealed so warm air can not escape and so cold air cannot take it's place. Restricting the energy waste caused by Stack Effect can greatly reduce your power bill.
Penetration's and Fenestration's.
Penetrations and fenestration's are holes that were made in your home by a variety of well meaning contractors. The Plumber cut a bunch of holes for pipes and the electrician cut a bundle of holes for wiring. The Heating Contractor cut a number of holes for ducts and flues and the window and door contractor cut some huge holes for windows and doors. In fact, all the holes in your home were man made.
What is Air Sealing?
Air Sealing is following around behind the plumber, electrician, HVAC, and other "Professionals" and sealing up all the holes they left. You grab a can of "Great Stuff", spray foam insulation, and follow the wire or pipe until you get to a wall, floor, or ceiling and then you fill the resulting hole. This is like a scavenger hunt or perhaps the reenactment of the Hansel and Gretel story. When you find a inch pipe going through the floor by way of a 3 inch hole and you fill the 3 inch hole with insulating Great Stuff, you feel like you just kick part of the wicked witch in the fire. It feels good.
Blower Doors and Duct Blasters.
A blower door is a piece of testing equipment that can be used to provide data on the amount of air leakage that occurs in your home as a result of air leaks. The leakage is represented in cubic feet of air per minute. ( CFM ). A cubic foot of air is about the size of a basketball.
Blower Door Testing
A duct blaster is also a piece of testing equipment, but in this case, the duct blaster provides data on the amount of air that is leaking through the walls of the ducts on a forced air heating or cooling system.
Sealing the air leaks in the duct system is one of the most beneficial and most cost-effective, energy saving measures you can complete.
What is Air Sealing?
Air sealing is something you do before you install additional insulation in the attic and before you install that new high efficiency gas furnace. Air sealing is something you pay extra attention to when you are having new, energy efficient, windows installed. Air sealing is something you do after the Home Energy Auditor tells you that the blower door indicates there is 2,562 cubic feet of air leaking into and out of your home every minute.
Air sealing is having the Energy Auditor tell you that the duct blaster documents there is duct leakage to the tune of 600 CFM of conditioned air leaving your heating ducts every minute. Air Sealing is seeing the duct leakage reduced to 80 CFM and realizing that your furnace does not run as often or as long and the power bill this month is less than it was last month.
What is MVL?
MVL stands for "Minimum Ventilation Level". This is a study that supports the fact that you and I can not live in a plastic bag. In other words, if we seal up all the holes and penetrations in our home so that no air can get in or out, it would be like living in a plastic bag. The home would not be a healthy place to live.
If you get over excited with air sealing and you end up reducing the MVL below healthy standards, you may need to provide controlled air leakage. Controlled air leakage can be provided by mechanical devices like ceiling exhaust fans or heat recovery ventilators. Controlled air leakage can also be provided by opening a window or having the neighborhood kids over for a snack.
Thank you for stopping by, hope you will come back soon, but I won't leave the light on for you...
Don Ames is a home energy auditor and your host at http://www.detectenergy.com/. Don also is the publisher of the Free eNewsletter, the Energy Spy Insider.
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