My Friends on the Radio!
Liz and Lyle bought a house in Calgary. Not just any house, though. Listen to a radio show featuring them and their new abode. (They don't enter the interview until Part 3, and sadly you need a Real Player to listen.)
Their house is the ultimate in Home Effinomics. Solar room and water heating's main expenses focus on retrofitting an exsisting house to accomodate the hardware. When installed in a new home, install pricing plummets, meaning every solar goodie gives quicker return on investment. The closed loop system Lyle mentions, for example, can be a bear to install where space is tight, but a breeze to dig before the foundations are poured.
Also, as the interview indicated, the entire Drake's Landing development uses a common geothermal collector/storage area, enabling the developers to concentrate on one big and therefore more efficient dig. The losses of moving the hot water to the individual homes are far outweighed by the amount of loss over time individual smaller wells experience.
Liz and Lyle have encouraged the gang to head north for a visit. I've just been too slovenly to take them up on it. I may have to reconsider, soon -- but I don't think anyone would fault me for waiting until winter ends. . . .
Their house is the ultimate in Home Effinomics. Solar room and water heating's main expenses focus on retrofitting an exsisting house to accomodate the hardware. When installed in a new home, install pricing plummets, meaning every solar goodie gives quicker return on investment. The closed loop system Lyle mentions, for example, can be a bear to install where space is tight, but a breeze to dig before the foundations are poured.
Also, as the interview indicated, the entire Drake's Landing development uses a common geothermal collector/storage area, enabling the developers to concentrate on one big and therefore more efficient dig. The losses of moving the hot water to the individual homes are far outweighed by the amount of loss over time individual smaller wells experience.
Liz and Lyle have encouraged the gang to head north for a visit. I've just been too slovenly to take them up on it. I may have to reconsider, soon -- but I don't think anyone would fault me for waiting until winter ends. . . .