I asked about combining concepts to make more energy efficient homes?

Question

I got nothing but smart *** ansers wrong to boot harbor frieght has solor panels for100 bucks 1000 bucks in panels would run a house they charge a bank of battires to supplment the panels you could have a wind mill or two a converter turns power back to 110 if your house has the thermodensity to maintain the same tempture24/7/365 your need goes down where I am solor energy is abundant .people are cutting the rain forests dieing in coal mines contamanating the earth with nuclure power plants none of it nessery . a ramed earth house has no more humidity than is out side wheere I live thats 0 most of the time if your not handing 400 bucks a month in bills 150bucks in higher morrgage pament doesn't seem so bad and as far as maintaince what add some water to the battries every so often god don't strain your self . you couldn't dig down 1000 feet and find water around here less you hit a water pipe any one time cost is cheaper than a never endding payment that is bound to go up .

as far as materials go they generaly are gathered on site if not at least places will deliver right near by from any one the mines near by. cheap.

no that 's not the point a conventional stick built house is just spewing waisted energy in all directions. need less use less cost less is the idea and enjoy all the same amenitys just for less .

the question was how many concepts could combine to get as close to 0 usage as possible

Answer 1

sounds like campbelp(?) needs to reduce his electricity usage...no way we should be using up too much...its called REDUCE, reuse, recycle

what are these people doing in their homes that they need all this wattage for, anyway?? my family of four uses solar and water turbines and we are FINE...overconsumption, sounds like to me


as for the question, i agree with you but am having a hard time understanding the actual question. a great resource i like is

www.MotherEarthNews.com

its a magazine for sustainable folks but has a vast reference library and other articles that might help you. keep it green

Answer 2

Its a good question--a shame some people would rather run their mouths than their brains.

Using solar panels in conjunction with batteries is a good concept. I'd wonder about the investment required--and how cost the batteries would be (i.e. any maintainance cost plus how often they need to be replaced). But the idea is workable (it better be--thats how the space station is powered!).

BTW--the current costs I've seen for solar panels is that they are averaging about $4 per watt. By the time you get a system big enough to power a home, that can add up to a good bit of money--but you are right--better to finance it (you get a tax deduction too, that way) and it soes pay for itself over time.

But here's a thought: using solar "thermal" energy directly. The idea is to use the sun to heat water (so much for the hot water heater!) but to then use as a means of home heating. I know there have been experiments on this as far back as the 1950s and the idea is workable, thoughI don't know the details--but you might want to look it up.

Answer 3

There are people trying to accomplish this. One concept is this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hopewell_Project

While it's not using a full combination to minimize everything, it is able to produce hydrogen at times to store energy for fuel cells to use when the house requires more energy.

My house probably averages about 4 KW hours. In looking at the cost for solar panels, I need about $18,000 in solar panels. Not to mention a bank of batteries. So I'm probably looking at about $25,000 to go off the grid and maybe get some payback if I feed the grid. However, the batteries (98% recycleable) will need to be changed every 5 years and the solar panels only have a 25 year warranty. Averaging the cost between solar and paying the electric company, it will cost me $2000 more per year "after" I set up the solar array, vs. polluting the world.

However, I believe that some of that cost difference might decrease if I do a couple other bits. For one, replacing my windows with double paned - argon filled windows will drastically help insulate my house. Additionally, adding a solar water heater that pre-heats my water will also decrease a significant amount of electrical use. My house is already half shaded by trees (and the other unshaded portion would have the solar panels and solar water heater. Lastly, I could decrease my gasoline consumption by investing in an electric car (or electric hybrid and charge it at home).

http://www.teslamotors.com/ (nice ride, a bit expensive, but what a ride!)

And GM is building a follow up to their EV1 (all electric) which will be 100% electric for 40 miles and then become a hybrid after that. My commute is about 20-25 miles, so in theory, I could ride all electric with GM's new car and charge it up at home, costing me nothing in gasoline. So my house could help offset my transportation costs. However, I ride a motorcycle 95% of the time, and at 50 mpg, it doesn't cost much to fill up.

Other bits that would help your house is to bury it (doesn't really work where I live since the water table is about 2 inches underground) and there are also designs that enable A/C to run in channels dug into the ground that will cool/heat the air before going to the heater/air conditioner, which minimizes the effort on the system.

Buying LED or flourescent lights will also help decrease your energy needs, install fans (if you live where it's hot, will help you keep the A/C warmer, decreasing cost).

If I were able to rebuild my house (built in the 60's). I could probably build it for $200,000 and have it self sufficient, with only a mildly higher cost per month than being connected.

However there are new technologies (new forms of solar tech) that will hopefully make solar cheaper in the very near future.

Glad you are concerned. Feel free to write me via my profile if you'd like to discuss this further.

Answer 4

I don't know what smart *** answers you are talking about, but I assure you that it will take WAY more than $1,000 of solar panels to run MY house. I know because I looked at my electric bill to determine how much power I actually use before I went out and priced the panels. It was 10 or 20 times what you say, and that did not include any batteries, just the ability to run my house during the day and run off the grid at night. It was NOT worth the cost.