[Greenbuilding] between a rock and a shoulder season

[Michael O'Brien]

Hi, Reuben--

I take your point about electricity--our solution is to buy wind power, to make the house as efficient as we could, and install rooftop solar water heating. Better than gas, I believe, plus our gas company has never supported energy efficiency programs like the electrics have (albeit they have had their ups and downs).

I'm saving up for a water heater heat pump to provide domestic hot water and hydronic space heat. I think the smaller Daikin Altherma looks good, it has a COP of more than 4, and our current solar HW can be integrated into it.

Not for the faint of wallet, I know, last time I checked around five years ago it was going to cost about $18,000 and there are no tax credits or rebates. There may be others out on the market?

Best,

Mike

Mike O'Brien Photography
mikeoregon.zenfolio.com




On Jun 8, 2014, at 11:40 AM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:

Up here in the Pacific Northwest we have a dilemma. The sun only shines between mid-May and mid-October (when it comes to yielding any useful water heating photons). The heating season, in my experience, is from November - April, but it tapers off a bunch at both ends, especially once one insulated the heck out of a place. This leaves two shoulder seasons during which little sun and little wood heating are going on that could be directed into a water storage tank. 

So my question: What would you recommend as a backup (third) water heating fuel? 
Natural gas has been my default, but the only thing I really like about it is that it is not electricity. Fracking, fugitive methane emissions, peak gas, climate change, etc. It's all awful. 

I once thought I'd try to set up a DWH system that used biogas/cow farts, but when I learned that CH4 doesn't readily compress I put my LPG tanks back on Craigslist. 

To us electricity to heat anything, to me, is bordering on the sacrilegious. I am well aware of the simplicity and technical ease of setting up an electric backup DWH system, but energetically I have a really hard time using our highest quality energy to do something as simple as make H2O molecules hot. 

But I'm open to any arguments for the above or something I've not thought of. 

Thanks very much.
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