Quote:
Originally Posted by ErinP
DH and I are in the process of designing our house and we're trying to be as green as possible while still staying in the range of cheap and reasonably easy.
Obviously we're going to build with passive solar in mind. But what about active solar?
What's the cheapest/easiest way to do solar water heat? (beyond a black tank mounted on the roof, of course! lol We don't want to get too primitive, here...)
How about power generation?
Our power co. will string into our yard for free, but they don't buy back any over generation of wind/solar/etc. Yet.
How about wind? Western KS is a pretty breezy place, so wind power is an obvious choice, but is it economical? Every turbine I've looked at seemed like it was in the $20K range!
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Hi,
You are in a fairly mild climate, a batch solar water heater is inexpensive and should work fine. You may have to drain it for a couple months in the winter if you get freezing weather, but this is when the solar water heating is least effective anyway.
Info of batch (and other) solar water heaters here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...er_heating.htm
If you want a commercial system, have a look at the suppliers here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Referenc...eating.htm#ICS
Some of the suppliers have a kit of collector, tank, pumps, controls etc. for in the $2000+ range -- any descent plumber should be able to install these systems.
In particular, I'd have a look at The Alternate Energy Store, Butler, Fitch, and maybe Silicon Solar. I've not really had any direct dealings with any of these, but they are said to have descent prices, and I've not heard anything bad about them.
On making a new house use less energy, the most important things (by far) are to have very good insulation, very good sealing, good windows, and to use passive solar -- you may have already done all this, but this is the stuff that really pays and that makes it possible to use solar heating effectively.
Lots of info here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...solarhomes.htm
On active, solar, take a look at this page:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...ce_Heating.htm
By far the cheapest and easiest form of active solar heating is solar air heating collectors that are integrated into the south wall of the house.
But, there are lots of other ideas on the page above to think about.
A low thermal mass attached sunspace/greenhouse is another way to provide solar house heat inexpensively.
Wind power depends very much on whether you have a high enough average wind speed. Most places don't -- including places like where I live where it blows like crazy once in a while, but is near calm most of the time. It takes a high sustained average wind velocity. Have a look at the "Got Wind?" heading on this page -- it will tell you how to look up the wind potential for your general area.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Wind/wind.htm
Since the energy in wind goes with the cube of wind speed, a 10 mph wind is not nearly as good as a 12 mph wind -- its only about half as good.
Solar water heating and solar space heating can both be quite cost effective if done right. Solar electricity by either PV or wind have much longer paybacks. In the area of electricity, you can get lots of bang for the buck on conservation and efficiency -- if you design your house and live like you were off the grid (even thou you are on the grid), then your electric bills will probably be about a quarter of what your neighbors are.
Gary
~*~Erin~*~
Shazza the Vegemite Kid
