[Greenbuilding] Between a rock and a shoulder season

Paul Eldridge paul.eldridge at ns.sympatico.ca
Mon Jun 23 14:46:40 CDT 2014


Our two induction units (a Tarrison and a Vollrath) are both 90 per cent 
efficient in their heat transfer, whereas only 40 to 45 per cent of the 
heat generated by our propane cook top is ultimately usable.  In 
addition, when I cook with induction, I don't operate our exhaust hood 
except to control cooking odours or to remove excess humidity; with 
propane, the exhaust hood runs whenever one or more burners are 
turned-on due to the combustion by-products that are generated, sucking 
some 300 litres of conditioned air out of our home every second.  Plus, 
100 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewable sources, 
specifically wind and low-impact hydro, courtesy of Bullfrog Power.  
Cook with gas?  Nein danke.

With respect to water heating, our Nyle Geyser RO heat pump provides all 
of the DHW required by our two person household at an average of 1.5 to 
2.0 kWh per day.  And for roughly six months of the year, it provides us 
with "free" hot water to the extent that it offsets the runtime of our 
dehumidifier.  With oil (SuperStor Ultra indirect water heater + 
EnergyStar low-mass boiler + Tekmar control system), our DHW related 
usage was approximately 600 litres per year.  Here again, electricity is 
the superior choice.

Paul


On 2014-06-23 3:00 PM, greenbuilding-request at lists.bioenergylists.org wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 09:11:46 -0700
> From: Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>
> To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] between a rock and a shoulder season
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAE5fceCqRumTjPd8dKGFfumtTdybJrXAES-7eSoGJhEcLYwrVQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Lowtech  magazine just published a piece on a related issue: efficiency of
> cooking with different fuels:
> http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/06/thermal-efficiency-cooking-stoves.html
>
> "Converting heat into electricity which is then converted back into heat,
> at 20-40% efficiency, is similar to building a Rube Goldberg machine; it's
> a needlessly complex operation compared to simply converting the primary
> fuel into heat to boil water. Essentially, any electric cooking device is
> an insult to the science of thermodynamics."
>






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