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Heating and cooling

Comparing ground source and air source heat pumps
Heating and cooling

Heat Pumps: Ground source geothermal GSHP or air source ASHP, which one is best for heating a home?

Comparing the performance of air source heat pumps and ground source geothermal heat pumps at the Living City Campus Archetype Sustainable House to discover which is the best option… Air Source Heat Pumps, and are Ground Source Heat Pumps "Geothermal?" First let's clear up some confusion on terminology regarding heat …

Reducing the need for air conditioning
Heating and cooling

How to keep homes cool without air conditioning

Some techniques that will help you reduce your A/C needs, and certainly help you stay cool in the absence of having one.…   How to cool a home without AC While it's true that no matter where you live, be it urban, suburban or rural, the hottest days and nights of summer may have you dreaming of coolers climates. Howev…

Wood Combustion - How it works and the different stages
Wood stove and biomass heat

Wood Combustion – How Firewood Burns & How to get the best heat while being eco-friendly

Wood Combustion – How Firewood Burns, the stages and processes, & how to get the best heat for your $ while being eco-friendly… Understanding how firewood burns, the technical details Stage 1: The Evaporation of Moisture – otherwise known as “getting the d@mn thing going” If you’ve ever tried to burn wet or unseasone…

Solar Radiant Heated Floor Slab Kit
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Solar heated radiant floor with radiant heated hot water for a site with problem soil - expansive clay

Ecohome’s new demo house will be a slab on grade with Solar radiant floor heating powered by air tubes heated with air solar panels - Ingenious! Ideal for boosting Passive House heating in cold climate zones… EcoHome is in the process of building our next demonstration low-energy house, and to do so we have partnered …

Air-heated radiant concrete floor
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Air-heated radiant floors

A comeback for radiant floors heated with air tubes… Radiant heating systems are very common in concrete floors now because they provide a very balanced and comfortable distribution of heat. Those systems are most commonly hydronic, meaning heated liquid is pumped through tubing in the concrete which then radiates tha…

How radiant floors work
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

How to design for thermal comfort in a home

Why are some homes more comfortable than others? Learn about how to design a home for human comfort, which also makes for a more durable and efficient home.… Have you ever noticed that at times you can feel cold in your home even though the air temperature is exactly where you like to keep it? That's because, contrary…

High efficiency fireplaces and how to choose one
Wood stove and biomass heat

Choosing the right wood-burning stove or fireplace for both heat output & the environment

Making sense of fireplace and wood stove specifications and knowing how to choose the right one for you if you're looking to burn wood for minimum environmental impact & maximum heat output.… Wood Burning Stoves - which are best & which burn cleanest? Reading the specifications of a wood stove can be rather complicate…

Wood pellet stoves that don't need electric ideal for off grid operation
Wood stove and biomass heat

These wood pellet stoves for off-grid heating don't need electric to operate

Short of a wood stove, pretty much all heating systems require power to operate. So in the event of an apocalypse (zombie, climate, asteroid, etc) these two pellet stoves can keep you warm when the power goes out.… These Wood Pellet Stoves need no electric! Burning wood to heat a home does not make you an eco-terroris…

Ductless mini-split air source heat pump installed in a LEED certified PH Home
Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

How heat pumps work in a LEED or Passive House high efficiency zero net energy home - video

Heat pumps can heat a house three times more efficiently than other heating types. When paired with a heat pump water heater this significantly reduces the cost of heating & domestic hot water, especially when the home is LEED or Passive House certified… How well does a heat pump work in a LEED or Passive House certif…

Radiant floor heat in a bathroom
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

DIY radiant floor installation

Radiant heated floors add comfort to a home and can help you heat more efficiently.… There is some debate in performance building circles, particularly in the Passive House community as to whether or not you can add enough insulation below a concrete floor to eliminate the need for heating it. We have been on the fen…

Radiant floor tube installation
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

DIY radiant floor tubing installation video

Installing a hydronic radiant floor system in a slab-on-grade floor… Here is our DIY video of  how to lay down tubing for our radiant floor in the Edelweiss House. We have a 10 zone system, allowing floor temperatures in each room to be controlled independently. HePex tubing was provided by Uponor, who also use build…

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