"heat pump"

heat pump / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Efficient home design

The Kenogami House: designed to ENDURE

...heating and cooling are most often the largest components of the total energy consumption of a building, how energy efficient a building is largely depends on the building envelope. It controls heat loss, air leakage and the movement of moisture. What is often omitted from the equation that determines the overall effi...

Heating and cooling

How to keep homes cool without air conditioning

...Heat pump water heaters help cool a home as they extract heat from the air to generate hot water. Rather than shooting hot air at your neighbours house, a heat pump water heater converts heat in the air into hot water, and the result is that it expels cool air. We think this is a very cool idea (no pun intended) for co...

Renewable energy

Solar heating and energy generation

...heat as long as your home stands. Solar thermal heating and solar water heaters This refers to using solar panels to absorb heat in a liquid (mix of glycol and water) and redistribute it throughout the house, through radiators or radiant floor heat. A system can work to heat your home, as well as pre-heating your dome...

Plumbing and water heaters

Compost pile hot tub water heater

...heater. Learn more about sustainable living and building in the Ecohome Green Building Guide and on these pages below : How to choosing between a solar tracker and fixed solar panels 10 questions to ask a solar contractor All about solar heating and energy generation Tidal hydroelectric generation Learn mo...

Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

Thinking about renewable home energy and a battery backup?

...heat your home. Lighting with candles and eating a cold dinner is manageable, but not being able to keep your house warm in winter is another matter altogether. Obviously, if you heat electrically (furnace, baseboards, boilers, heat pumps, etc) you're beat if the grid goes down, but even getting a gas or oil furnace to...

Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

Off-grid living blog: a firsthand account of building and living in a remote area

...heat into the ground or concrete walls slower. All the windows in the house have fiberglass frames, are triple-paned with argon gas, and have an insulating value of roughly R-5. The windows facing south were all chosen to allow in more of the sun's heat (called solar heat gain coefficient, SHGC), whereas windows facing...

Passive House

Everything you need to know about Passive House certification

...heating and cooling to modern Passive House home building. Because let's get one thing straight - Passive Solar heating and cooling as a concept has been around for thousands of years. When early man was cold and it was sunny out he sat in the sun, when he was cold and it was overcast he sought shelter and lit a fire, ...

Insulation and soundproofing

Properly insulating basements and concrete slab floors

...heat loss through your foundation walls, as heat moves more easily through some materials than others. Heat will be drawn from your home much quicker through rock than clay, and quicker through clay than soil. Heat will also move quicker through wet clay than dry. We would recommend at least R20 under slab floors in co...

HRV and ERV

Choosing between an HRV and an ERV

...Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) is a system that uses the heat in stale exhaust air to preheat incoming fresh air. This reduces the energy required to bring outside air up to ambient room temperature so saves money on heating bills. Similar to the human breathing system as mentioned above, this exchange of air is perfo...

Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

DIY radiant floor tubing installation video

...heat throughout the house. Now you know about how to install your own hydronic tubing for hydronic heat. Find more about efficient home design in the Ecohome Building Guide and on these pages: Installing electric floor heating systems Build your own DIY solar air heater for free heat Heat pump water heaters...

Passive solar home design

Passive house and passive solar - free heat for homes

...heat in the winter after the leaves have fallen off. Despite the time we spend opening and closing curtains to keep the sun out, interior blinds and curtains have very limited ability to prevent summer heat gain. Once the energy is in, it's in. They will heat up when exposed to the sun, that will warm the air between t...