Geothermal mixed with a heat pump which I think is what you are talking about
is a highly viable technology in most areas of the country for both heating and
cooling, working off the relatively shallow depths where the earth stays an
average of 55 degrees. Straight air to air heat pumps can become far less
efficient at very low outside air temperatures. This is a vastly different
system from what you may have heard about in school - drilling for magma heated
steam. Which is presently practical mostly at an industrial scale in areas
where geologically speaking there was near surface magma or relatively recent
surface lava. With this said, 9 out of 10 houses in Iceland are heated by
geothermal systems. NPR just ran a story about a laser drill bit for digging
down miles for the ubiquitous deep geothermal heat, but this is presently just
a pipe dream. Ouch!
For retrofits, your best initial investment is almost invariably in insulation
and surprisingly storm windows are usually better insulation than even the
highest r value, low e argon filled double pane glass windows coming in at
about r-6. It may be a real pain, but you can always add low e argon after the
more inexpensive storms.
Solar domestic water heating is a mature technology that often has the fastest
payback, also look for any tax incentives in your state or potentially coming
at the federal level.
My personal preference for new construction is passive solar with super
insulation in the form of plastered straw bales for wall construction. If you
are not in the southwest where it is becoming more commonplace, you may get the
unmitigated joy of educating the county's building department and inspectors.
As to the bad solar experience it sounds like you had a design with
insufficient: provision for summer shading, thermal mass and insulation. Not
all areas will have enough sun when needed but in the sunny southwest it is
very possible to do most if not all heating and a hell of a lot of your cooling
via thermal mass with nocturnal cooling. Walls made of stacked tires filled
with dirt - the earth ship method - are great for down there (but lots and lots
of backbreaking work).
For electricity, personal wind power is great for limited good wind sites,
particularly if you have the room for a tower to fall. Solar is presently
expensive per kwh but will probably be coming down fast as thin film newspaper
style printing technology comes on line. Google based investors have a large
plant in the works. If you can grid tie to the power company with either
locally, you won't need banks of expensive relatively short lived batteries,
your electric meter spins backwards and that must simply be a fantastic
feeling. Unfortunately, grid tie inverters are not particularly cheap.
Best,
Steve
Steven Holt
http://stockpix.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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