Home heating

09.01.2007 from alternative energy:
Complete plans and instructions of how to build your own solar heating system including detailed information about how the system operates, how it performs and what costs are involved.

14.12.2006 from ecotivity:
For an economical and practical solution to meeting at least some of your home’s energy needs, you should seriously consider wood-fuelled heating.

30.11.2006 from downsizer.net:
Ahh, warmth...we all want it. Here's a way of getting some.

17.11.2006 from Ramsay Home blog:
Bernard Malin is the first person in Massachusetts to own a residential 'micro combined-heat-and-power' system, also known as micro-CHP. But he’s not likely to be the last.

24.10.2006 from The Energy Blog:
A UK company has successfully designed, built and tested a 1kW fuel cell stack - the fundamental building block of micropower generation - which can generate sufficient power for the average home.

28.09.2006 from Renewable Energy Access:
A new ceramic fuel cell stack could be integrated into a micro-CHP system.

20.09.2006 from Mur Crusto eco-farm blog:
Passive solar, microCHP and other renewable energy sources should help make this farmhouse energy neutral.

15.09.2006 from inhabitat blog:
Four basic plans of attack for making sure your home is best suited for both your indoor comfort and the global climate.

25.08.2006 from The Greening of Hedgerley Wood blog:
"Now after ten months of operation and a lot of adjustments, we are getting a clearer idea of the running costs," explains Peter Armstrong.

24.08.2006 from The Greening of Hedgerley Wood blog:
Before next winter we want to try and improve the performance, and cost, of the ground heat pump system (visit Home Heating link on left for more). So one clear step was to put in more insulation.

30.03.2006 from Cleantechblog:
A new type of combined heat and power microgeneration system, the Home Energy Station, will also produce hydrogen to fuel up the family car.

08.03.2006 from Green Car Congress:
This first US domestic trial of a micro-CHP system offers more than 85% efficiency in converting fuel energy into useful heat and electric power. This is a big improvement over conventional heating appliances and grid-supplied electric power.

16.01.2006 from Peter Armstrong's blog:
It’s become clear from monitoring electricity use over the 3 months that the heat pump has been running that it is using far too much current. Today Dave Greenwood from ICE Energy, who first introduced me to the idea of heat pumps, came out to find out what was wrong with the set-up.

It's great that it's carbon-free, but hardly viable if it costs even more than oil. So what can be done?

30.12.2005 from Peter Armstrong's blog:
The day arrives... After all the weeks of preparation, Dean from ICE Energy arrived this morning for the commissioning of the heat pump system.

The sequence was: check all the plumbing and electrics and then add glycol to both the ground loops. But will it work?

18.12.2005 From Peter Armstrong's blog:
At last we are underway with our heat pump system. The instruction manual says: dig trench, lay pipe, pressure test and backfill. But it ain't that easy. We've got excellent JCB drivers, Diddy and Richard, working with our long-time builder, John. We plan a route across the lawn and through the wood that gives us the necessary 400 metres of trench.

We've decided to cut a nine inch trench for each pipe, rather than a 1 metre trench for a pair, because of the amount of extra digging. It starts well, but we immediately hit problems.

17.12.2005 The mini power station will start operating at the four bedroomed Berwickshire Housing Association house at Gunsgreenhill next month for a 12 month trial period and the energy system has been approved to European standards .

"It uses an electro chemical device to convert hydrogen into electricity and heat and after it's installed what you have is a mini power station in your property," explained Alastair Brown, Berwickshire Housing Association's director of operations.