[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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