Quote:
Originally Posted by macker
What is the cost of conserving a barrel of oil for use in heating a home versus buying a $80 barrel of oil to heat the same home? Why would anyone ever spend any money on solar photovoltaics, wind, geothermal etc. before they did everything possible to reduce the demand for energy in a home by proper design including the best windows, heating system, and as much insulation as possible.
In Europe more than 6,000 Passivhaus dwellings have been built but there are only a handful in North America. Most of the heat "collected" in these houses comes from the sun or the earth, which stays around ten degrees when you go down about fifteen feet. Idea is $till luke warm. Homebuilders/governments/economics are not on board....
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This Passivhaus idea is really interesting to me - I'd love to use quite a few of those ideas in building a new detached garage. I wouldn't want to spend much money on heating a garage like that, but if the building kept itself at least a few degrees warmer than the outside throughout the winter, that might be enough for something like that.