[Greenbuilding] Passive Solar and HVR/ERV systems

[Ian Albinson]

> On Feb 23, 2007, at 14:40, Ian Albinson wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Does anyone here have experience with passive heating and cooling?
>
> Yes.  :-)

Great! I guess I've come to the right place.

>> I'm planning to build a super-insulated 2000 sq.-ft house in Vermont,
>> and would like to find out if a passive system will be enough to keep
>> the indoor temp pleasant throughout the year.
>
> That's a tall order.  Getting enough sun in the  cloudy days of  
> December in Vermont can be tough.  Getting close and making up the  
> last little bit with a woodstove or whatever, is reasonably easy.   
> You should be able to easily make a house which with passive and  
> some active, only requires about 1/2 cord of wood to heat.  This is  
> less than lots of people use for ambiance.  You should be thinking  
> about a lot of thermal mass.

A high-efficiency wood stove is definitely on the books. I had  
considered radiant heat for the 1st Floor bedrooms,
but have decided that passive may work just as well, allowing me the  
put the cost of in-floor into the rest of the house.

>> The house will be south facing on the site, and use a large bank of
>> triple pane low-e windows for solar collection.
>
> You might be better off with windows that allow more solar gain in,  
> than triple pane lo-e.  I use double pane on my south facing  
> windows (triple elsewhere).  Single pane with insulated shutters  
> that you shut every night would be an even better option.  Also  
> make sure you get the right kind of lo-e.  This is one of the  
> decisions you will  need to make based on your individual  
> circumstances.  We here can help, but I expect you will eventually  
> need to either hire a consultant or learn what you need for  
> yourself.  Contact me off list if you would like me to run some  
> preliminary numbers for you.

Thank you for the window suggestions. I'm trying to research as much  
as I can, before bringing in a consultant,
just so that I have an understanding of the systems available to me.  
I can only do so much though, and welcome
any input you folks may have.

>> I'm also looking into  the possibility of a solar hot water system.
>
> By all means, one of the best bangs for your renewable energy  
> dollar.  Properly done it can also increase you space heating (by  
> heating your thermal mass).

Great, I was hoping for some positive feedback on that.
Does it make more sense, since solar may only provide me with a  
certain percentage of my hot water needs,
to pair the system with an on-demand unit?