Mar
06
Energy Efficient, Passive solar Home
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This video shows how well an energy efficient home can work with nothing but the suns energy. No heat is installed and the house has not dropped below freezing, even when the temps went down to -4.5F and no sun the house only went down to 41.9F
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18 Comments
March 6th, 2010 at 3:06 am
if your not familiar with evacuated solar panels.. they are vacuum protected heat pipes connected to a manifold. as long as it sunny the temperature can be – 40C they still heat to +200 c and the work even on bright cloudy days.. my house is of simular design as this one. my winter temps are much colder then this -20C avg for 3 months. and on sunny day my home is maintained at +20 c at -20 C plus it make all my hot water.. < 300 kwh /month for 8 months ~ 1000 KWh /month for the remaining
March 6th, 2010 at 3:55 am
fatal flaw no alpine roof . over heating it the summer.
+4KW of evacuated solar panels connected to your radiant heat system, hot water and geo thermal ground loop would have being better
8-10 months out of the year all your hot water will be free and your heating needs. 2 months out of the year it should provide a good % of your heating need. In the summer the excess heat you dump into the ground loop for boosting your COP. at your temps my house would be +25C in feb
March 6th, 2010 at 4:51 am
The water is not in contact with the outer glass, there is a seperate outer glazing and an air gap between the water blocks. Same principle as a trombe wall.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:47 am
I cant help but think that its a bit dubious. The water becomes the thermal mass rather than the contents of the house.
I understand that the water isnt used to insulate, thats kind of my point. why have the thermal mass in direct contact to the window and cold outside air, when you could have the insulative value of a double pane window and let the house be heated naturally from the inside.
With the water, 50% of radiant heat will go outside, and 50% inside.
March 6th, 2010 at 6:04 am
The geothermal heat pump is fully capable of heating this house without any other source of energy. No the house will not maintain 70deg F without sun and no other source of heat. ergo a heatpump to provide that heat. The design heat loss for this house is 20,000 Btu’s/Hr at zero degree outside temps. The 3 ton heat pump is capable of putting out 28,000 Btu’s/Hr. Not rocket science just plain math.
March 6th, 2010 at 6:44 am
The water is not designed to insulate but as thermal mass absorbing the suns energy and storing it well into the night. Watch the video “Trombe wall? windows? the best of both worlds” that has a better explaination of how the windows work and explaination of Btu storage potential. Also shows how little heat actually escaped outward.
March 6th, 2010 at 7:25 am
I cant see how water between the window panes would be better than an air gap that would provide much higher insulative value, letting the light come into the house, and heat the interior surface, rather than having the windows reflect away a ton of light, and then have the windows absorb more heat, which is right next to the cold outside air.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Can you heat a house with a geothermal heat pump alone? I doubt it. But that does not answer my first and more important (IMHO) question: Can the house maintain comfortable (70 deg. F.) temperature If there is no sun for three days? I really need to know!
March 6th, 2010 at 8:47 am
He said it at 2:55 min. “GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP”
March 6th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Say it’s the middle of winter and there’s no sun for three days. Can the house maintain comfortable (70 deg. F.) temperature? If not, what kind of back up heating system do you use?
March 6th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Exterior solar shades will be used along the south facing windows. These exterior shades, will block 70% of the solar heat gains. The window developer, is also a window shade inventor and was the guy who invented the honeycomb insulating shades back in the 70′s. He has continued to work on ways to improve how windows, shades and light can add or detract value from your home. Wendell Colson, VP of Research and Development for Hunter Douglas, one of the largest shade manufactures in the US.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:46 am
What do you do to the windows in the summer when you are trying to keep the house cool???
March 6th, 2010 at 10:58 am
The coldest temperature recorded in the water in the windows was 48F. That was only after 3 consecutive days with no sun and highs in the 18-22F and lows down to -4.5F.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Unfortunately they are not yet commercially available.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Where did you get the windows and are the openly avalible
March 6th, 2010 at 11:57 am
does the water in the window ever freeze?
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
The windows are reflecting significant sunlight. can you reduce how much is reflected?
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
hello, sir, where are you from ?