[Greenbuilding] Advice on heating in Tucson

[John Straube]

I think what Rob is trying to say in his humorous way, is that a highly insulated residential enclosure designed properly for Tuscon would require very little heat. Very little. That heat could be provided by activity, cooking, pets, stored solar energy, and then a small (say 500W) heater to warm the space quickly.

All of the above only makes sense if you design buildings like they dont do in Tuscon, eg real levels of insulation and airtightness, good windows, proper ventilation systems. However, the addition of thermal mass in the form of floor toppings, thin masonry walls, etc would make all this much easier and more forgiving.

Tuscon officially has more than 2000 Heating Degree Days (F, 65 F base) but this masks the fact that the daily temp swings are large, and often get to the 70s. The 30 yr average daily high in January is 65 and the low is 39.  


Rob Tom wrote:
> On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:52:28 -0400, Racheli Gai  
> <racheli at sonoracohousing.com> wrote:
> 
>> cohousing community in Tucson AZ... common house
> 
>> there are times when people meet there (in the winter) and it's cold -
> 
>> What kind of heating would people recommend for a space which
>> needs only intermittent heating, and not for long durations?
> 
> Racheli;
> 
> I've never been tu Tucson and know nothing about the climate so I am of  
> course, eminently qualified to advise y'all on this matter.
> 
> This probably isn't the suggestion that you want to hear but I'm wondering  
> if it might be appropriate to devise some sort of ritual that the people  
> attending the meetings would perform just in advance of sitting down ?
> 
> Ostensibly, it might be some sort of pseudo-religious ritual that might  
> involve a break-dancing/hip-hop/yoga/funky-chicken routine that is  
> performed to rid the space of evil spirits but in reality, it would be a  
> meeting space Green pre-heating strategy.
> 
> If the co-housers find it difficult to get into the "space cleansing  
> ritual" out of the blue, it may require the inclusion of some props (just  
> as most good religious rituals do).
> 
> If the break-dancing/hip-hop/yoga/funky-chicken routine is deemed too  
> weird by some of the cohousers, then maybe the ritual is something where  
> the meeting goers stack up some sort of bio-blocks to create an enclosure  
> that is scaled to the size of the group .
> 
> The initial activity of the stacking would generate some heat and the  
> bio-block enclosure would focus the body heat of the group in their  
> immediate area.
> 
> 

-- 
Dr John Straube, P.Eng.
Associate Professor
Dept of Civil Engineering & School of Architecture
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON Canada