Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Heat generation in Common Houses

[Roger Diggle (diggle]

On 2/13/95, Ray Gasser, EcoVillage at Ithaca wrote:
> Our energy 
> consultant (and future resident), Greg Thomas, is telling us we may
> have a problem in the Common House: overheating! We have a lot of
> solar exposure, the construction is going to be very tight, we'll
> have a lot of bodies (30 households), and the stove, refrigerator,
> and walk-in will be generating BTUs galore. 
> 
> Has this been a problem with any existing communities? What kinds of
> ventilation systems do you use? Open Doors? Fans? We'd like to avoid
> air conditioning if possible, for $$ & energy consumption reasons,
> but  will we need it? Venting of refrigerator heat directly outside?
> 
> Please send replies directly to Greg at 
> 72477.2131 [at] compuserve.com. And I'd like to see them, too.
> (I sure am picky, aren't I?)       > raygasser [at] delphi.com

Ray says nothing about the heating system for the common house...
100% passive solar?  Hot water?  Forced air?  Electric baseboards?
Is there any ductwork running around?
You say that the construction will be very tight.  What, if anything, are you
doing about indoor air pollution?  The exhalant from 30 families, along with
the cooking moisture and smells, HAVE TO be dealt with.  You need SOME kind
of ventilation just for that, not to mention heat.

My favorite solution is heat-recovery ventilation (air-to-air heat exchange).
 Overheating in mild weather could be mitigated by allowing some or all of
one of the airstreams (usually the fresh airstream) to bypass the exchanger. 
But in the warm / hot weather, that won't work.  You can install a heat pump
with its coils across the discharges of the air to air heat exchanger--a very
efficient way to get some air conditioning.

A building exhaust fan can draw a lot of air through open windows and doors.

Ventilate the kitchen well.  Anything you can do to directly get rid of warm
air generated by refrigeration equipment, cooking heat, etc will help.  It
also improves the refrigeration equipment's efficiency.

Is the building on a slab?  There are things you can do to dump excess heat
into the slab, and use some of the earth's natural cooling.

Ceiling fans help when the indoor air temperature gets high.  If the summer
humidity is typically low, you could use evaporative cooling ("swamp
coolers") such as can sometimes be found in greenhouses, laundromats, etc.

There is equipment on the market that heats domestic water with the the
rejected heat from air conditioning.  It is typically used in commercial
kitchens.



Roger Diggle - Madison, WI - diggle [at] macline.com

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