How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

Post by mdp2021 » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 12:15 PM UTC

empiricus wrote: post #166

mdp2021 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Windows don't make for very good ventilation The point was not with ventilation quality, but with the feasibility and compromises of alternatives. (The strict point was with defining "mandating good ventilation".) Mechanical ventilation with energy recovery may be far superior, but if that means constant noise it will be an issue - to some, a radical issue. > They definitely can warm an entire house And I have stat…

"Mechanical ventilation with energy recovery may be far superior, but if that means constant noise it will be an issue - to some, a radical issue." I've installed this in my house, it is virtually silent. This is for ~200m3 of clean air/hour. If I turn it on higher you can hear it a little.

Post by jwr » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 12:21 PM UTC

bogle wrote: post #173

jwr wrote: post #109

While this is at the extreme end of the spectrum, there is a much easier way to save lots of energy: just build modern well-insulated homes. I lived in California and I was appalled at the monstrous energy waste: houses are generally made pretty much from cardboard. You need to cool them in summertime and heat them in wintertime, and the energy expenditure is enormous. I now live in Poland and have recently built sma…

"About the only part of a Californian house you can't put your foot through is the front door." 'The Big Sleep', Raymond Chandler (1939). Good to see nothing's changed!

Post by jounker » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 12:29 PM UTC

lelanthran wrote: post #179

markvdb wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is interesting that you insulate under the house. Near our place in the countryside, required foundation depth is 1.4m to protect from frost heave. Use an insulated slab and that requirement goes away. The insulation keeps the heat in the ground. It protects the ground under the house from freezing. Nobody cares about regulations here, but they do about getting proper foundations...

> The insulation keeps the heat in the ground. It protects the ground under the house from freezing. If it is preventing the ground under the house from freezing, then it is supplying heat to that ground. That's a energy-negative process - some of the heat you generate is used to maintain the warmth of the ground.

Post by madaxe_again » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 12:34 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #127

madaxe_again wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ve just built a 45m2 log cabin to passive standards here in Portugal - heavily insulated in walls, floor, roof, lifted off the ground on concrete columns, double glazed, only heat source is a 2.5kw log stove. Everyone here (who all live in uninsulated concrete houses heated by open fireplaces) said we will freeze in the winter, roast in the summer. We situated the house on a north facing slope, to minimise sun exp…

> Insulation works. It’s also cheap. I don’t understand why people would build new structures without it. People are a bit sceptical about many insulation forms... plastic-based stuff is either a fire hazard (see Grenfell Tower) or extremely toxic waste (if it has been treated with fire suppressants), asbestos is completely banned for good reasons, and rock/glass wool can also spread nasty ultra-fine dust.

Post by 2rsf » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 12:40 PM UTC

Moru wrote: post #56

dt3ft wrote: post #20

I'd love to see them try this in Sweden :)

First one was built 20 years ago but getting more popular after 2010. You can order them, it's a building standard so does not require anything from you except money. But they say it's not that much more expensive than a normal swedish house since we already have a lot of isolation and 3 glass windows as standard for the climate.