Comments on: Making Home Energy Efficiency Human, Doable, and (Gasp!) Fun

By: food warmers

food warmers — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:29:10 +0000

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By: bosch built in dishwasher

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By: Panel Clips

Panel Clips — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:09:04 +0000

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By: Energy Circle Bares All. Gets Noticed. | Energy Circle

Energy Circle Bares All. Gets Noticed. | Energy Circle — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:20:35 +0000

[...] friend Paul Smith, who has given us great ink before on Ecopreneurist, wrote a post about the project at [...]

By: Paul Smith

Paul Smith — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:52:26 +0000

@Robert: Sounds like you’re well on your way. Are you documenting any of this?

By: Paul Smith

Paul Smith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:26:09 +0000

Thanks much for the thorough breakdown on heaters. By all means, toot your own horn!

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:43:47 +0000

We are doing a lot of little things around here to bring the house up to something like energy star standards or better prior to putting in solar water heater, radiant floor heating, solar/wind hybrid power system.
It is a Palm Harbor Modular built in 1995. So far we have sealed pipe penetrations in the floors, insulated curtain liners that I open during warm sunny winter days and close during cold nights and very warm days in summer, backed up by double blinds, gaskets in the outlet and switch covers. I have added a second water heater blanket to the first. We plan on more insulation as panels on the outside walls when it is time to recycle the vinyl siding with metal. We have changed to all CFLs and a few LEDs and will change to all LEDs as the CFLs die off. We also want to do a metal roof with more insulation in the ceiling and over the old roof and add deep screened porches. We have cut our power use from the previous familys 4,000 kwrs month to 1200 kwhrs month during lower use times and 2500. We want to continue doing more improvements on efficiency. So far we have replaced the dishwasher and clothes washer. We want to replace the fridge and stove next.

By: Robin Green

Robin Green — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:47:43 +0000

Well, one electric heater ought to be just as efficient as the next.

The electrical energy going through the heater has to be turned into either heat energy, light energy, or kinetic energy. The kinetic energy will eventually lead to friction which is also heat energy. So 100% of the energy in an electric heater gets turned into heat, eventually. There really is no such thing as an energy efficient or energy inefficient electric heater – they are all precisely 100% efficient at converting electrical energy into heat energy.

There are, however, heaters that are more or less EFFECTIVE at doing a particular job. Radiant heaters are better at heating the solid objects they’re pointed at, so helpful for heating you as you sit on the couch, without heating the air between the heater and you. Heaters with fans do a better job of distributing heat through a room more quickly after they’re turned on. Yes, hot air rises, but hot air is more evenly and quickly distributed in a room where there’s a fan.

The inefficiency of electric heaters lies in the fact that much of the electricity we consume is produced from coal, and only about 33% of the heat from burning the coal gets turned into electricity at the outlet (about 63% is lost to the inherent inefficiency of the coal plants and the remaining bit from power line transmission losses). So heating with electricity produced from a heat source (coal, natural gas, nuclear) is both more energy intensive than sources such as natural gas, and more expensive unless your electrical rates are dirt cheap.

Not to toot my own horn, but I run a website business that does precisely what you’re asking about: provide free advice on home energy efficiency to whoever cares to visit. There are many such sites out there, and I too am “one of you” – someone who, after moving into a very old, inefficient house in 1997, managed to turn it into a very energy efficient house without too much investment of time or money.

Robin from Green-Energy-Efficient-Homes.com

By: locke rush

locke rush — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:32:34 +0000

Here in Pa. we average about 7 mph.Is the small Helix system practical? thanks – Locke

I love the look!