So before I go into more detail about what I do (and more importantly what I don’t do) I want to briefly explain my living situation.   I live in a very small 3 bedroom ranch with just myself and my 5 year old daughter, who is only there half of the week.  I don’t have any renewable energy systems because I am just renting at the moment.  What I do is all of the little things to save electricity.  That is the message that I want to get across in this blog post; that the little things matter!

First off, I don’t heat anything electrically.  This is perhaps the one “big” thing that I do to keep my electricity cost down.  I am always surprised by how many people run small space heaters in the winter.  While there may be some situations where these make sense, usually electric space heating significantly increases your electric cost while only slightly reducing your overall heating cost.  In the last few years, I have seen an endless number of products that claim to heat “magically” and make the claim to “dramatically” slash your heating costs.  My favorite is the EdenPure unit which uses “Infrared PTC Ceramic Heating Technology” and makes the claim to reduce your heating cost by 50% for only “pennies a day”.  The bottom line is no form of electric space heating is more efficient than another, regardless of what you pay for it and how well it is marketed.

I also don’t use a dryer or run any of appliances that run continuously (other than a single refrigerator) such as a dehumidifier or humidifier.  Instead of a dryer I use a clothes rack, which I will admit took a little bit of time to get used to, and I still use the dryer occasionally for things likes sheets and towels.  My recommendation for using a clothes rack to use slightly smaller loads of laundry (especially at first)  so you won’t be so overwhelmed.  While doing so does decrease the efficiency of the washing process you more than make up for it in the energy savings that come from not running the dryer afterwards.

Thank you for reading, I look forward to finishing up with part 2 next week!

The post My Electric Bill, Part 1 appeared first on energy emporium.

Here in New England many home owners have their own source of wood they can use to heat their home. Or, they may decide that local wood or pellets can replace fossil fuels helping them achieve a level independence from foreign oil.

Working with a few of these customers, I have had the opportunity to put together combination wood and solar heating systems for both home heating and domestic hot water.

Burning wood or pellets in a highly efficient gasification boiler will provide more heat then a typical home can use each hour…especially in the spring and fall. So many of the new wood or pellet boilers recommend (or even require) a large water storage tank.

Solar hot water systems also require a water storage tank because the sun can only provide heat during the day. That heat needs to be saved until it is required.

Since both systems can benefit from a water storage tank, then it makes sense and can save money to design one storage system that can be heated by either energy source. The wood does most of the heating in the winter; and the sun for the summer. The heated water can provide house heating, which we only need in the winter, and domestic hot water, which we need year round.

The Energy Emporium recently installed a large, very well insulated, 2000 gallon water tank from American Solar Technics that is heated with both solar (Sunda evacuated tubes) and a gasification wood boiler (Woodmaster’s FlexFuel30).

Solar / Wood storage tank

Wood/Pellet Boiler

Solar Thermal Collectors

In the pictures above, the storage tank is in the process of being completed. Once the liner is sealed, 3-4″ insulation is added on top and then a final layer of 2″ foam board will be added on all sides.

The Woodmaster Flexfuel is used with cord wood or pellets. It can decide to start or stop the burn (for pellets) based on temperatures it reads in the water storage tank. It can also block out some times (daytime, for instance) when it will not burn so the sun has the chance to do as much heating as possible.

The solar thermal collectors were built in two rows with northern row 3′ higher than the southern row to avoid shading. The angle is optimized for winter heat production. Each solar collector array has its own coil in the storage tank.

We added datalogging equipment on the solar loops and temperature sensors at 3 places in the tank as well as the boiler in and out. Over time we can report on the efficiencies of cord wood versus pellets and how much energy the sun is adding to this tank. The expectation is that in the spring, summer, and fall the solar collectors will provide most of the heating.

In the image below, the green line indicates the temperature of the storage tank. The red and blue are temperatures of the heat exchanger and the shaded red area indicates that heat is being transferred to the storage tank. Notice that, even in February, when we have a nice sunny day, the solar heating between about 9:30am and 3:30pm was able to boost the 2000 gallon tank temperature. At about 5pm the pellets kicked back in to boost the water temperature for the evening.

Solar Hot Water Data

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This was the third person I’ve talked to in the last couple of weeks so I thought it was a good topic for a blog post. Also, I’m hopeful that this means the economy is starting to turn around and people are finding the money to invest in their homes.

If you have the opportunity to build from the ground up, there are a number of things you can do that most of us (renovating or just making a few fixes) cannot do. I have listed some that I think are important below. I’d love to hear from you to expand this list.

New house construction, energy saving ideas:
• If possible orient the house so you can take advantage of the sun for passive solar heating — south facing windows with an awning to restrict the higher, summer sun, but let as much winter sun in as possible.
• A south facing roof with little or no penetrations is great for solar electric or solar hot water collectors. Dormers create shade on the roof as does a chimney and vent stacks. If possible, place roof penetrations on the north roof.
• Inside chase to the roof — often electrical or plumbing need to get from the basement or utility area to the roof. Both solar electric and solar hot water would need to run wires or pipes down to a utility area, so designing in the chase and possibly roughing in the plumbing are good ideas when starting new construction.
• Double or triple the amount of insulation you are thinking of using. R40 walls and R80 in the roof may seem like a lot, but they aren’t unusual any more. The additional cost for insulation will be the fastest return on the investment over almost any other choice you make in the house. The air barrier is also very important to reduce cold air infiltration.
• If you are willing to seal up the house tightly and use good insulation (dense-pack cellulose, foam, or a combination of foam/cellulose), then you will need to design in a heat exchange ventilator to bring in the proper amount of fresh air.
• If you are doing a central heating system (not just heating with a wood stove), then insist on a low-temperature heat distribution system. Low-temperature radiant floor, low-temperature hydro-air (circulating air), or low-temperature wall panels. If the heating system only requires water or air at 100F, you have the potential to save a lot of money from reduced fossil fuels.
• Consider all your alternatives for a heating system — oil and gas are not local products that we can budget for. Wood and solar ARE local — which means you won’t be dependent on foreign countries to heat your house if you can minimize the fossil fuels. Wood boilers come in very efficient models now, and a combination wood/solar system with a small generator backup might be good solution for you. [If not, then go back to #4 and insulate better to reduce your fossil fuels]

The post Building New appeared first on energy emporium.

IT is energy efficient and can save you money. It is a good investment and can help the environment. It leads to less dependence on foreign oil and provides self-sustainability.

IT is renewable energy — solar, wind, water, or the earth’s warmth.

The December issue of New Hampshire Magazine each year publishes their version of “People of the year” in their “IT list”, which they describe as people who may not all be famous but they are the “movers and shakers with great stories” (NH Magazine, Dec 2012)

I was very excited that I made the “IT” list for 2012! “Quirk and her project have become a point of light in the community for sharing the knowledge base, workshops and hardware for energy savings needs.”

They like my story about renovating a historic house to a zero energy building (78 Main St – Renovation). I am thrilled to have this story listed right up there next to Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live and Justice David Souter recently retired from the Supreme Court.

This as a statement that renewable energy is becoming just as important as hollywood celebrities and the Supreme Court. In the last few years many people have taken an interest in renewable energy and alternatives to fossil fuels — and the media is starting to take interest as well. Maybe this energy crisis, unlike the one of the 1970s, will result in sustainable energy policies and practices around fossil fuel alternatives.

Renewable energy is IT! And IT is starting to get the attention it deserves.

The post What is IT? appeared first on energy emporium.

The implication was that his coal stove was not as polluting as the next guy’s. More importantly, the price of coal today is low enough that he was saving money by burning coal over his oil backup furnace.

I’d like to look at both parts of this concept: coal is cheap, and coal is “clean” (or “cleaner” than in the past).

The first part maybe true today — coal costs the homeowner less … but what are the real costs and for how long will the retail price remain low? A few months? A few years?

As with any fossil fuel, coal isn’t replaceable … it is a finite resource which takes more and more energy (and lives) to get it out of the ground each year. It is only a matter of time before the true costs of harvesting and burning coal are added to the actual price that we pay.

The second part of the statement, that this is a “clean coal” (antracite) is a tough one to justify.

When burned, all forms of coal and all known methods of cleaning still result in the highest carbon dioxide emissions per heat unit (BTU) than any other fuel, making our atmosphere more and more hazardous for our own health and the health of the next generations.

I did some reading on “clean coal” and my understanding is that coal (and most fossil fuels) can be burned in a “cleaner” manner than traditional methods, which reduces the harmful emissions a bit. The technology for that doesn’t come from the coal but from the methods of burning it, scrubbing it, or capturing the fumes for further treatment.

So using an old coal stove to burn any type of coal (as the guy in the article was doing), is still one of the worst pollutants that we know about. Also coal has to be imported to New England, which means there will be added shipping costs, and the coal industry does not employ many local people.

In New England we are sustainably growing trees that can be used to heat our homes. Together with gasification burning (see “Renewable Wood Heating“), which can be 95% efficient, this solution provides a carbon neutral heating alternative. On top of that, we can also keep the harvesting and pellet production right here in New England.

As long as we are replacing all the trees we use for heat, the result is carbon neutral. The gasification boilers are a bit more expensive than traditional wood stoves or outdoor wood boilers, but the increase in efficiency will usually pay off in less than 10 years.

With new construction you have the advantage of siting the building to let lots of winter sun through south facing windows provide as much passive solar heat as you can; and you can “super” insulate it (See “Prepping for Insulation“) to lower the heat requirements considerbly. Those items alone will pay off in 3 or 4 years. At that point you may be able to heat your home with solar alone, geothermal, or a solar/wood combination that fits our environment much more sustainably here in NH.

The post Burning Coal in New England appeared first on energy emporium.

I am 32 years old and it seems like my whole life I have heard that we are running out of oil. It wasn’t until college that I truly understood how heavily the world relies on oil. This is also when I first heard the term “peak oil”. Peak oil is a phrase that predicts oil production to peak and then decline, never to rise again. This was speculated to happen anywhere from 1970 to 2005. The major concern is that after this peak, oil consumption will continue to increase at an alarming rate. This concept sparked environmentalist to speculate on the possible dire outcomes to a world running out oil.

Now, the end of oil has taken on an apocalyptic nature. Look in any bookstore and you will find an endless number of books detailing worldwide starvation, a dramatic reduction in global population, and a return to a pre-industrial revolution way of life for the remaining survivors. My particular favorite is the, especially gloomy, The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler.

But are we really running out? This widely accepted concept has recently been called into question with the advent of new means to extract oil. Drilling technology has greatly advanced allowing explorers to drill at greater depths and break tougher rocks. This includes the extraction from sources previously uneconomic to exploit such as oil shales and tar sands.

While we may have found away to avoid (or at least put off) our society’s demise from a lack of oil it is not without cost. Newer oil extraction method are more environmentally damaging and more energy intensive. Additionally, as we extract more oil from the earth we are also producing more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. With carbon dioxide being the leading cause to global climate change we may simply be trading one problem for another.

The post Are we running out of oil? or not? appeared first on energy emporium.

You can get the link here: Renovation Showcases Solar Potential. In case the link doesn’t work, here is a PDF Solar Solution – Renovation showcases solar potential of the article.

The post SolarNovus Showcases 78 Main St appeared first on energy emporium.

Most projects start with a site visit.

Site Visit

During a site visit, we look at the building’s energy usage: hot water, heating and electricity. We look for patterns or seasonal changes and the costs associated with the energy systems today.

Next we measure the specific insolence (the delivery rate of solar radiation) on the roof or yard nearby. We look at the position of your home, shading from nearby trees, and any other factors that influence how much solar energy the building and property receives.

We discuss all the possibilities for charting a path toward lower fossil fuel usage.

Realtors, contractors, and homeowners can call for a free solar site visit.

Energy Audits

We work with BPI auditors who can provide a full energy audit of your home or business. This audit includes a blower door test and a view of your building with an infrared camera to find air infiltration and areas where the insulation is weak. A full audit generally takes four hours (or longer).

We can also provide an electrical energy audit, to determine where most of the electrical energy is being used in your home. This audit generally takes two hours and allows us to test the energy use of all of your appliances and monitor the instaneous power draw from the whole house. If you’ve noticed a recent increase in your electric bill or find that you use more than the average New England resident (about 600kWh/month), an electrical energy audit can help you determine if you need or want the higher electrical usage.

Design Services

Most home and small business requirements for renewable energy have unique elements and don’t fit the same template. We work with our vendors to provide designs that can meet your goals. This includes grid-tie solar PV systems, grid-tie with battery backup, off-grid PV, solar hot water, combination solar hot water with house heating, solar heating, or combination solar/wood house heating systems.

Every building starts with a different configuration of energy systems. Even with new construction there isn’t one solution that fits every building’s needs. We start with your requirements or current systems and help you take steps towards your energy goals.

Full House Design and Installation of Renewable Energy Systems

We design solar systems, and combination wood/solar systems that meet your needs. Through conversations with you, and visits to your home or business, we determine the optimal design with your specifications in mind. We build your system using high-quality materials and work with local installers to create an efficient and aesthetically pleasing finished product.

Maintenance Plans

Our maintenance plan ensures that your renewable energy system will continue to work efficiently to save you money. A typical maintenance plan will include: