Energy silver bullet #1 = home heating
November 9, 2011 at 2:33 PM 4 comments
This is the easiest thing to address as it actually saves us money as well as the environment. Ask any home energy expert what you should do to improve your home and they will say #1 is always insulate better, #2 the heating system and its controls. Choice of a low-tech or high-tech method of heating is required:
Free energy surrounds us, the problem is in winter time it’s just at slightly the wrong temperature – usually only 3 to 6% wrong in fact. Freezing point is 273° Kelvin and we only want to reach about 293° Kelvin to be comfortable. There are 2 popular approaches – combustion boilers, and heat pumps (essentially air conditioners running in reverse).
Although biomass boilers are cheap to run and can be powered from sustainable forestry, heat pumps may be even better because all they have to do to make energy useful is compress a gas (which raises its temperature) and renewable energy can be used to do this. By cycling a refrigerant gas from liquid to gas, massive heat is adsorbed (from the air) and dumped into the heating system; modifying the refrigerant pressure is used to control this process.
Boilers produce hot water at or above 333° Kelvin which is unnecessary, wheareas heat pumps operate at around 313° Kelvin.
Heat pumps are a better solution than legacy air conditioner systems as 1) they can avail of cheap rate electricity and smart metering (as opposed to instant demand) and 2) the technology as improved so much (very high efficiencies – several hundred percent) making them much cheaper to run.
More information in the comments…
Entry filed under: 2. Solutions, Sustainable energy. Tags: biomass, heat pumps, home heating, solutions, Sustainable energy.
1. greenprintsurvival | November 25, 2011 at 9:28 PM
Flaws:
One flaw with heat pumps is that with present-day fossil fuel dominated electricity to power them most of the energy from the fossil fuels used lost up the smoke stack of the power station and more is lost in transmission. Their main strength is superior efficiency – over 400% efficient over the heating season, saving more energy than is lost at the power station.
A 2nd flaw is that electricity is the most expensive “fuel” – more than twice the cost of oil. However, using night rate electricity the heating cost drops to a quarter that of oil. In this configuration you need a battery for night storage (which is simply as a large warm water tank). As power stations need to run through the night, this system is doing the grid a favour.
2. greenprintsurvival | November 25, 2011 at 9:32 PM
Advantages:
1.Very cheap to run especially at night time when electricity is about half price.
2.They present a huge opportunity to making the renewable energy economy a reality. Wind farms much more economically viaible (as more electricity demand) and a value can be attained for wind energy surplus.
3.Can control very well when used with a heat battery (warm water tank)
4.Payback time is typically less than 10 years but half that time for buildings which are not insulated so well. [ After that you pay a quarter to half what you would with a fossil fuelled boiler].
5.Job creation is a big challenge in 2011; many can be created in sales, installation and service of heat pumps.
6.You can help reduce your country’s Kyoto fines.
3. greenprintsurvival | November 25, 2011 at 9:33 PM
Disadvantages:
1.Quite a bit more expensive to install than a combustion boiler
2.Need to change to low temperature radiators, underfloor heating or a heat exchanger with an air-blown system.
3.Electricity prices will probably rise at the same rate as fossil fuels, meaning biomass may be a cheaper option in the long run.
4.Should be provided with smart-grid technology to enable cheap-rate electricity to be used at all times.
5.Reliance on technology may lead to problems if the product’s components become obsolete.
4. greenprintsurvival | November 25, 2011 at 9:36 PM
Comparison with biomass, oil and gas:
Biomass boilers which are be cheaper and lower-tech are available, but such systems are less efficient and emit more fine particulate matter into the atmosphere. That is why the higher-tech route should be strongly considered. Yes – it’s more reliant on others outside your community, but it pollutes less and creates more jobs – as well as saving more money.
Oil and gas boilers should be avoided as they create unnecessary environmental destruction and fuel prices are set to rise very high as peak oil becomes an everyday reality. Peak gas may get a stay of execution but shale gas presents the environmental nightmare conundrum.
Oil is needed for many 1000′s of everyday products and gas is needed to produce nitrates which are essential for food security. So combusting these resource is a waste.
In contrast, heat pumps collect most of their energy out of thin air.