Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Liveable temp/ geothermal

[dahako (dahako]

 Hi Robert and all-

First - I do not write in question marks and I do not know why cohousing-L adds 
them.? This is the only list I belong to that does this. Makes me "sound" quite 
quizzical.? I promise it looks different before I send it. ;>)

As is usual in cohousing, I recall the decision differently.? I think we early 
Eno Commoners picked geothermal because it had no noisy outdoor A/C or heat 
pump units.? Our houses were going to be very close together and so the 
relative quiet of the system, not the great environmental benefits or lower 
running costs or low maintenance, was the tipping factor.

I did do a lot of research and dragged a lot of material back to the group.? As 
I recall, the best source was a study commissioned by U.S. EPA that looked at 
the functioning of various types of HVAC units, including ground source heat 
pumps, and recommended the best geographic areas for each one based on 
engineering suitability and "pay back" of initial costs through lower energy 
bills.? I did the research back in 1996 or 7.? Surely there must be better info 
now somewhere?

By the way, Eastern Village Cohousing, where I live now, also has geothermal on 
the cohousing side of the building.? It cost more on the front end, but we 
recently found out what folks in the big condo building next door pay per month 
for power and we feel quite smug about our low bills.

-Jessie Handforth Kome
Eastern Village Cohousing
Silver Spring, Maryland
"Where the knitting group gets a lot of community work done. . ."


 



responding to:

Every house in Eno Commons has geothermal heat pumps.  However, Jessie  
Handforth Kome who now lives at Eastern Village Cohousing in Silver  
Spring, Maryland might be a better contact.  She convinced us that  
geothermal was the the way to go and we have been pleased with that  
decision.

-Robert Heinich
  Eno Commons Cohousing Neighborhood
  www.enocommons.org
  Durham, NC





 


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