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Wood as Fuel - Renewable Energy
The Earth has an abundant wood supply. Rotting trees emit similar greenhouse gases and heat energy to those burned in your stove. It is important to manage the cutting of dying or damaged trees as these are potential fuel for any home. Your heating system will function according to the wood's type and quality. Freshly-cut or wet wood contains about 50% moisture: ignition is difficult and less heat is produced, with high pollution. Well-dried, old wood ignites quickly to give double the heat with less effort.
How Much Firewood is Needed to Heat Your Home?
It's hard to know how much wood you need until you try out your heating system. A well-insulated house may use 2-3 full cords of hardwood and a little softwood every year. In comparison, a smaller contemporary stone home with no insulation could use 6 full cords. An inefficient outdoor boiler may use 3-4 times more wood than a high-efficiency indoor stove. The general rule of thumb is to purchase more than your heating needs. If your wood is covered, it can last at least 3 years without rotting. You won't be wasting your money.
How to Recover Heat from your Wood Stove
It's easy to generate thermal energy during the summer. There's less demand for hot baths, clothes drying and space heating so you can just use a solar thermal water heating system. Come November, it's more difficult – especially in most of North America (like the Northeastern parts of the US and Canada).
Heat Your Pool with Solar Power
Pool Heating with Solar
Cool Your Home Without Central Air
Central air conditioning has proven to be the biggest, least efficient load in any home. It should not be used in off-grid homes. The ideal method of cooling is preventing hot air from getting into your home in the first place. This can be achieved with proper insulation and shading from the sun in summer, to prevent the home from overheating. Open your windows at night for a cool breeze through your home.
What Types of Pipes Does my Solar Thermal System Need?
It's important to make one thing very clear when discussing piping materials for a solar thermal installation: copper or stainless steel are currently the only sensible choices.
It may be tempting to try to use a flexible material like rubber or Pex, but it won't work: there's a very good chance you'll have to replace all your piping within the first year of operation because it simply cannot withstand the constantly high operating temperatures of the system.
Solar Thermal Pipe Insulation
The problem with pipe insulation is that solar thermal systems operate at extremely high temperatures, all the time. You can forget most types of plastic and rubber insulation immediately, because they'll just melt off.
Operation of a Solar Hot Water System
When your system is installed and operating, you can monitor its performance through the storage tank temperature and the heat exchanger’s inlet and outlet temperature difference. Tiny, slow leaks are tell-tale signs of poor performance and can be monitored on the pressure gauge. When the temperature of the circulation fluid changes, the system pressure rises and falls but the average pressure at rest should be the same throughout.
Geothermal Energy for your Home
Geoexchange technology is also known as geothermal, ground-source heating or heat pump. It offers unlimited renewable solar energy stored underground - about 50% of the sun's energy is usually absorbed by the ground. It is a simple concept: during winter, heat energy gets drawn out of the earth through pipes, known as a loop, which contains antifreeze solution to prevent freezing as the ground's heat is transferred to the home "heat pump" (basically a compressor and heat exchanger).
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