>Frank wrote:
>>
>> An engineer says designing a system that needs no additional
>> heat input can't be done...Amory says it's possible, and even if it
>> fails it will get close.
>> Both seem to agree that high R, high mass, and high efficiency windows ( R
>> 11?) are major parts of solution.
>>
>> It does not matter where the heat comes from for a radiant heat
>system...but > does seem to require a lot of mechanical devices like heat
>exchangers, storage
>> tanks, manifolds, zone controls etc. to work well.
>
>
>The assumption here is that you should design a house to work automatically
>with no effort from the occupant. Perhaps that is possible, but using
>mechanical devices to accomplish that only requires someone, often not the
>occupant, to build and repair with the system when needed and, most
>importantly, does not get us any closer to living within the limits of our
>environment (raw materials, pollution, fossil fuels, industrial society,
>etc.).
I know of one house that pretty much maintains itself. It cost its swiss
alternative energy engineer designer big, big bucks to build. He only lives
in it a couple of weeks a year (its a holiday home) and the rest of the
time he jets around the world charging incredibly vast amounts of money to
design ecologically correct offices and factories. I think he's missing
the point somewhere.
kathryn
