Re: Energy/heating/design issues
From: Jeffrey O. Hobson (johobsonwheel.ucdavis.edu)
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 94 16:34 CST
In response to Ray Gasser's recent posting:

Thanks for the description of the house design; sounds good.  I was
impressed, incidentally, by your ability to "draw" house elevations in an
ASCII environment.  

Ray Gasser wrote:
>Architect is leaning toward
>having one boiler for each unit (though all located in the energy center),
>primarily because he feels banks may not like having a lien on 1/8 of a 
>common boiler if one household defaults on a mortgage. Most residents want
>to stress the "Eco", and get fewer/larger/more efficient units, possibly
>2 or 3 for each cluster with a primary/secondary/tertiary load and possibly
>dynamic switching between the three to even out the usage/lifespans. 

Concentrating on the gas-fired boiler system possibility, what is the
expected temperature of the storage system?  High-temp (180-200 deg F), or
med/low temp. storage (140-160, or 100-140)?  

If you do have a central heat source (and thus a central storage tank, I
assume) for each cluster, I would have guessed that solar panels directly
feeding the central storage tank (either water, or high-temp air collectors)
would be a money-saving addition, by allowing you to reduce the peak
capacity (and thus cost) of the gas heat source as well as by saving energy
(at least, that's the theory).  I assume you've considered that possibility
- what threw it out?  Did solar *not* actually allow you to reduce capacity,
or were they just too expensive, or what?

peace,
Jeff Hobson

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