[Greenbuilding] No Fracking Way?

[Rob Dickinson]

Hi Frank,

This is essentially the same path I am proceeding on, although I am
targetting superinsulation levels to the greatest extent possible for a
remodel of a 110 year old house.

Our house is already plumbed for natural gas, and gas was used previously
for a bunch of things, including furnace, water heater, and stove.   We're
ditching all of those things and going to induction cooktop for cooking,
ductless mini-split for heating and cooling, and an electric water heater
coupled with solar hot water for domestic hot water.

We're keeping the gas, though, and will plumb it to a standby generator.
We needed some form of backup heat source for when power was out, and it
seemed more flexible and efficient to have a backup electrical source than
to have a backup heat source like a wood stove.   A really efficient wood
stove, especially one that won't compromise air-sealing, would add a large
expense,  and we decided that we get a lot more bang for the buck with a
generator than a wood stove.  Of course, we don't get the wonderful ambiance
and quality of heat of a wood stove, but we get electricity that we can use
to cook with, heat water with, condition the living space with, and run the
HRV (i.e. ventilation system).  It seemed so much more robust to have a
standby generator which uses natural gas and can self test regularly than to
have one that requires diesel or some other liquid fuel.  Since we will only
use it during power outages and for regular self-tests, we won't be
contributing much to the downsides of natural gas.   In short, we'll be "all
electric" with a natural gas crutch to fall back on.

Rob


On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Frank Cetera <alchemicalfranklen at gmail.com
> wrote:

> I'd be interested in hearing folks' opinions and strategies surrounding the
> following goal:
>
> Implementing an urban home retrofit using only electrical powered systems,
> with the potential of becoming an off-grid site in the future through
> reduced energy consumption and on-site generation (with purchase of
> alternative sources in the short-term), in order to relieve our dependance
> on natural gas as a fuel source due to its potential for high environmental
> damage.  (This would not be a super-insulated passivhaus sort of design and
> would rely on natural materials as much as possible for air sealing,
> insulation, and built additions/restorations)
>
> Short and long term considerations for energy management and use on site?
> Favored heating, cooking, and water heating in such a scenario?
> Other thoughts?  (i.e. convince me not to do this?)
>
> Thank you ~Frank
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Frank Raymond Cetera
> www.AlchemicalNursery.org
>
>
>
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-- 
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all
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I want to see." — John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist, writer
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