[Greenbuilding] Basements, Heating, Etc....

[Laren Corie]

From: "wmdorsett at sbcglobal.net"

> In Korea, there are the central tables underwhich a small 
> charcoal burner is placed and quilts hang around the edges
> to keep people seated around the table warm.

That's a big CO poisoning risk  Charcoal indoors is scary.
However, the idea of sitting on insulating cushions with a
table cloth isolating the air underneath, will work well with
electric resistance heat. I am an active advocate of electric
resistance spot heating, because it provides comfort, while
freeing the rest of the house to be at a lower temperature.
It takes far less energy and cost, to heat a person, or even
a small room, for a limited time, with electric resistance,
than heating a whole house by other means, 24/7.   Do
what Thomas Jefferson did. Use a solarium (sunspace)
for isolated Solar gain, that can heat the whole house,
or just a room, (or a heat storage) as needed, then
use spot heating for fine tuning (no central system).

> Electric mattress pads or zoned warm water
> plumbed to a thin water bed might do away
> with night time space heating in the same way.

All it really takes is to place a two-liter PET plastic
soft drink bottle, filled with water, in the microwave
for less than ten minutes (about a penny and a half
of electricity) Use it as a bedwarmer.You can drop
the room temp to 45F, if you want.  If you are not
warm that way, then you are guilty of using summer
covers, in winter.

> It is only in the imbalancing of central forced air
> systems that keep us from effectively zoning our
> homes.

I think there is no single place for the blame. If the
standard house were cost-effectively insulated, a
lot of things become possible, including doing away
completly with the central heating system, in most
climates (really, in virtually any climates).  The
economics of putting the cost of the central heating
system toward super-insulation are very interesting.
But instead, even in green home circles, we keep
building houses the will waste huge amounts of
energy, and release obscene amount of CO2
for a hundred years.  Shame on us.  As long as
we  keep telling ourselves that a building which
saves 30%, is part of the solution, we will
deludedly remain 70% of the problem.

> With occupancy sensors, a radiant system could
> follow us through our lives at home (or at work).
> This sounds like a plug for our local electric utility,

Every opinion is a plug for itself. Is wasting gas
less evil than efficiently using a little electricity?
I don't believe it is.

> programmable zoned hot water could follow us
> in large blocks of time. I think it also calls into
> question the mind set of thermal mass to maintain
> all spaces at even temperatures. Concrete has a
> huge embedded energy cost.

  I have done a lot of houses with massive floors,
that had Solar storage under, and hydronic backup
in the slab. Hydronic floor systems were a good way
to go for that, and for the fact that I was designing
houses with huge rooms, that had very high ceilings.
However, I see no reason for having a so-called
radiant floor, in moderate sized rooms, with standard
height ceilings.  Except that the buyers are asking for
them, and it is profitable to agree with them, regardless
of the fact that they don't know what they are talking
about.   It has just become a fad, based on irationally
twisted hype, rather than appropriate design. Too bad
irresponsibility is so often rewarded.

> John Salmen wrote:

>> I disagree about including basements within envelopes.
>> I know we are supposed to look at everything with the
>> envelope as conditioned space but I think the logic is flawed. 

This is a very interesting subject. We can build houses up
on stilts, and even put unheated garages under our living
spaces, with no particular problems.    However, when
a space like a basement or crawlspace is isolated from
both sunlight and ventilation, and is allowed to stagnate,
unheated, it is definitely more susceptible to problems
related to condensation, and mold growth.  Moisture
WILL get in, and the dewpoint WILL be crossed.

That is why the old-school approach was to vent such
spaces. However, they were just guessing, and as early
as the 1920s, there was pretty good data, showing that
a great deal of the moisture in crawlspaces (therefore
also in vented basements) was actually condensation
from the incoming warm outdoor air, supposed to be
carrying the moisture away.  Therefore, conditioning
the crawlspace is not about energy usage, or saving
a little insulation.  It is about avoiding natural threats,
against both the building, and it occupants. I do not
believe that a dank basement is a good idea.  Either
make it part of the house, or part of the outdoors.
Do not make it into a closed up cave, or it will attract
and nuture a lot of nasty stuff.  It does not take much
energy to ventilate it, and heat it only enough to avoid
the moisture/condensation related problems.   That is
what the perimeter insulation is about.  It seems that
most people (in building) do not fully understand what
this is all about.   With all of the potential problems (in-
-cluding radon) it seems to be more cost effective to
integrate the space into the (semi) conditioned area of
the house, than leaving it to become nature's hind end.  

   Besides, it can make a real handy place for a low-
-cost thermal storage, so the house can handle a sizable
sunspace, that may even provide ALL of its heating, for
no more than the cost of running a fan, while the sun is
shining. Rather than looking at the basement as a throw
away space (so extremely wasteful) I prefer to use its
structural 'box', for a desirable function.  I am not an
advocate of collecting a lot of "stuff" that will never get
used, but it comes into all of our lives, for one reason
or another. Its a shame to destroy it in a dank
basement, where it will grow mold.

-Laren Corie-
Climate Responsive Home Design Since 1975
www.LarenCorie.com