We have some definite challenges ahead.

[Blue Steel]

I work in the HVAC world. Just got back from a conference hosted by a major manufacturer. The shift from ICE to EV that members of this site are familiar with is being mirrored in the world of HVAC. Some municipalities are already banning fossil fuel HVAC equipment from being installed in certain buildings. And we expect by 2030 that will be the norm everywhere.

My local utility is making a strong push to get people on solar. Last week an employee (of the utility, not a solar company) was going door to door asking to run an analysis to see if our homes were a good fit for solar.

I just don't want to lose my gas fireplaces! Electric flames don't have the same appeal.

 

[Ogre]

I just don't want to lose my gas fireplaces! Electric flames don't have the same appeal.

I say the same about wood burning fires. Gas flames just aren’t the same.

Regardless my house they recommend against any kind of combustion heating inside. It has too little venting. It was a bit of a bummer because we have lots of downed trees and millions of acres of forest nearby with tons of free fuel.

 

[Zabhawkin]

When we moved in we installed a wood burning stove instead of a pellet stove for auxiliary heating because the power at the time was too unreliable. It got better but we still have a lot of issues with our power from time to time.

 

[Crissa]

Before I invest $50,000 in a solar/ battery setup, I want to build out our solar heating panels. Two of our biggest power draws are home heating and hot water. If I can get some big solar heat collectors, I can eliminate a giant chunk of demand. Then the need for batteries and solar panels comes way down.

Just finished our hydronic setup so the solar heater will be the next big step.

I saw some where they were using the water tubes from the solar heating to cool the back sides of panels, making them slightly more efficient. The IR usually passes straight through the panels, especially the darker cells.

-Crissa

 

[Bill906]

Regardless my house they recommend against any kind of combustion heating inside.

Have you looked into combustion heating outside?

I've seen these, thought the idea was interesting but never looked into them in any depth.

 

[Crissa]

Have you looked into combustion heating outside?

I've seen these, thought the idea was interesting but never looked into them in any depth.

That seems pointless. You give up efficiency (radiant, conducted) for a little safety but still pollute? There's a reason attached housing saves energy. Putting it outside just wastes energy.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Have you looked into combustion heating outside?

I've seen these, thought the idea was interesting but never looked into them in any depth.

I’ve looked at similar setups. They tend to be more money than what I want to spend and I’ve gotten to this weird place where the idea of building it myself is often more appealing than hiring a contractor to do it. Those tend to be contracted jobs.

That seems pointless. You give up efficiency (radiant, conducted) for a little safety but still pollute? There's a reason attached housing saves energy. Putting it outside just wastes energy.

-Crissa

I can’t burn things in my house. It’s too well sealed for any burning. Even if I did a propane boiler for our hot water or radiant boiler, they recommended we install it outside. So for me something similar to this is somewhat inevitable.

If I want any kind of heat that doesn’t require massive amounts of electricity, I need to burn something or pull it from the sky.

We’re looking at a wood powered sauna, so there is a good chance I’ll turn it into a dual purpose sauna/ home heat system.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Have you looked into combustion heating outside?

I've seen these, thought the idea was interesting but never looked into them in any depth.

Those are popular in my region since we have a lot of trees. They work amazing, but are expensive and a lot of work. I'd never do one for a backup system. Only if you want wood for your primary source.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Others have said it already, but the increased demand of electric cars and modern heating systems can be offset by efficiency and solar. I have a large property that I renovated into 2 homes and 3 businesses. When I bought it, it was primarily oil with supplemental electricity. We removed the oil system and replaced it with heat pumps. Heat pumps use 1/3 the energy to do the same job. Our oil is gone but the electricity use is only up slightly. Soon we'll have an EV an no longer need to fuel our car. That will increase electricity use again. But our last step will be to solarize the building. We plan to offset nearly all of our electricity use. If we do this, we'll be using around 10% of the grid energy we used before, and oil will be gone. If everyone does this sort of thing, the demand on the grid will actually go down. That will leave excess capacity in existing systems to provide the additional power needed for buildings that can't generate their own electricity easily, such as large industries or apartment buildings.

 

[Klaxon]

Even if you take just transportation and residential we will need more than double the electricity generation we have now.

It is so alarming. End of the world. Problems are growing like a snowball.

" In 1894, the Times of London predicted that within 50 years, every street in London would be buried under 9 feet of manure.

This was the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894, an urban catastrophe that, at the time, was the bane of every large city in the world, from New York to Sydney"

How did we survive so far?

 

[firsttruck]

It is so alarming. End of the world. Problems are growing like a snowball.

" In 1894, the Times of London predicted that within 50 years, every street in London would be buried under 9 feet of manure.

This was the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894, an urban catastrophe that, at the time, was the bane of every large city in the world, from New York to Sydney"

How did we survive so far?

Some are not surviving (stroke, lung cancer, heart disease, etc), some others have severely damaged bodies (stroke, lung cancer and heart disease), and most have some amount of degradation.

We are now buried in 2 miles of transparent manure from cars/trucks/buses that is killing people every day and maiming the rest of us.

Even if there was no global climate change, the effects of just the huge amount of air pollution should be primary reason to urgently move from ICE vehicles to EVs.

--------------------

What does air pollution do to our bodies?
All that polluted air can hurt your lungs, it can even damage your brain, it can damage nearly everything in your body.
By David Shukman, Science editor
Published 2 April 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47777103


How air pollution is destroying our health
World Health Organization
https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/how-air-pollution-is-destroying-our-health

Revealed: Air pollution may be damaging ‘every organ in the body’
Exclusive: Comprehensive analysis finds harm from head to toe, including dementia, heart and lung disease, fertility problems and reduced intelligence.
By Damian Carrington, Environment editor
17 May 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...rgan-and-cell-in-the-body-finds-global-review


Part 1: The Damaging Effects of Air Pollution
Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Review by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies' Environmental Committee
By Dean E Schraufnagel 1 , John R Balmes 2 , Clayton T Cowl 3 , Sara De Matteis 4 , Soon-Hee Jung 5 , Kevin Mortimer 6 , Rogelio Perez-Padilla 7 , Mary B Rice 8 , Horacio Riojas-Rodriguez 9 , Akshay Sood 10 , George D Thurston 11 , Teresa To 12 , Anessa Vanker 13 , Donald J Wuebbles 14
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30419235/

Part 2: Air Pollution and Organ Systems
Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Review by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies' Environmental Committee,
By Dean E Schraufnagel 1 , John R Balmes 2 , Clayton T Cowl 3 , Sara De Matteis 4 , Soon-Hee Jung 5 , Kevin Mortimer 6 , Rogelio Perez-Padilla 7 , Mary B Rice 8 , Horacio Riojas-Rodriguez 9 , Akshay Sood 10 , George D Thurston 11 , Teresa To 12 , Anessa Vanker 13 , Donald J Wuebbles 14
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30419237/

 

[rr6013]

I’ve looked at similar setups. They tend to be more money than what I want to spend and I’ve gotten to this weird place where the idea of building it myself is often more appealing than hiring a contractor to do it. Those tend to be contracted jobs.

I can’t burn things in my house. It’s too well sealed for any burning. Even if I did a propane boiler for our hot water or radiant boiler, they recommended we install it outside. So for me something similar to this is somewhat inevitable.

If I want any kind of heat that doesn’t require massive amounts of electricity, I need to burn something or pull it from the sky.

We’re looking at a wood powered sauna, so there is a good chance I’ll turn it into a dual purpose sauna/ home heat system.

What do you think about running structural calcs on your dome home with a SEng. and heat calc with an ”inventive” HVAC designer. Baseline your engineering requirements on both.

Ptex coils fastened atop the dome fed by a passive recirculation system will be more than enough BTU’s to heat the dome AND domestic hot water. Bonus it’s DIY. The dome thermal mass will act as a sink that will cycle during the course of a day. HVAC will engineer the control for that cycling.

Hell freezes over you’ll have emergency wood sauna heater to swithover to the Ptex coils. This is manual but standard off-grid DIY.

 

[Ogre]

What do you think about running structural calcs on your dome home with a SEng. and heat calc with an ”inventive” HVAC designer. Baseline your engineering requirements on both.

Ptex coils fastened atop the dome fed by a passive recirculation system will be more than enough BTU’s to heat the dome AND domestic hot water. Bonus it’s DIY. The dome thermal mass will act as a sink that will cycle during the course of a day. HVAC will engineer the control for that cycling.

Hell freezes over you’ll have emergency wood sauna heater to swithover to the Ptex coils. This is manual but standard off-grid DIY.

The dome is 4”+ concrete. I can park the Cybertruck on the roof of the dome, putting coils on the roof won’t be a problem.

Are you talking about PEX tubing? PEX breaks down when exposed to sunlight so not great for solar.

I was thinking more like evacuated tube heaters which I think are better for the winter months.

 

[kev12345]

I work in the HVAC world. Just got back from a conference hosted by a major manufacturer. The shift from ICE to EV that members of this site are familiar with is being mirrored in the world of HVAC. Some municipalities are already banning fossil fuel HVAC equipment from being installed in certain buildings. And we expect by 2030 that will be the norm everywhere.

same here. heavy push to replace gas furnaces with electric heat pumps.

 

[Crissa]

Are you talking about PEX tubing? PEX breaks down when exposed to sunlight so not great for solar.

Most PEX has no color, so UV sinks through it, like any plastic. That's why resistant plastic is black: They add carbon black to the mix, which blocks the UV from penetrating and breaking the bonds.

That said, you can easily stop UV degradation by layering on some paint.

Looks like for me, I'm going to end up with two furnaces: A heat pump, to take advantage of solar from the grid and battery storage, and a propane furnace as back-up for when grid power is expensive or unavailable.

-Crissa