[Greenbuilding] please rant: thar she blows

[Corwyn]

On Apr 09, 2007, at 15:44, Ross MacLeod wrote:

> Related to this, is there a material other than concrete that could be 
> used
> to effectively provide thermal mass for a modern radiant heating 
> system but
> not entail as much embodied energy?

Sure.  Water and stone are the two easiest and cheapest.  Earth is 
somewhat lower in thermal mass, but dirt cheap (sorry).  Basically 
anything heavy is going to work reasonably well.  Phase change 
materials (wax, glauber's salt) are also useful, if more expensive.  
The only reason I can see for using concrete as thermal mass, is if it 
is performing some other function (structure for example).

Admittedly, I have a well insulated house, and an open plan, but I 
think I would have to move glacially for a 'move the heat with me' 
approach to work.  I haven't put any heat into the house in 12 hours, 
and it has dropped 3 degrees (it got down to mid twenties last night 
and was windy).

Thank You Kindly,

Corwyn