Inspace to put solar heating in 25% of new homes

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2008/02/08/57703/inspace-to-put-solar-heating-in-25-of-new-homes.html

Inspace to put solar heating in 25% of new homes

(08 February 2008 14:42)

Nearly a quarter of all the homes Inspace builds in 2008 will use solar heating technology, the company has announced.

It said that solar heating would appear in 360 homes after it sealed a deal with Viridian Solar as its exclusive provider of the technology.

Inspace said the move was expected to save 430,000kW of energy a year, equivalent to an annual reduction of 83 tonnes of carbon, as well as cutting yearly household heating bills by up to £100 per home.

Alan Cochrane, head of energy and environment at Inspace, said: “Traditionally, solar technology to provide heating has been installed retrospectively by an owner after a house is built or occasionally on new developments. This is a major step by Inspace towards introducing as standard the use of solar energy for all homes it builds where practical.”

[frazzled]

1. Depressing to read this on the same day ...

my local paper reports that the city in which I live (Chicago) has had exactly 11 MINUTES of sunshine so far this month. If this persists, as predicted, today, it will make it "the cloudiest on record during the last 115 years." Combine this with my recent stay in Amsterdam, where I thought I would shoot myself from the gray dampness ... I regret that there are many regions of the country (and world) where the benefits of this promising energy-saving technology is for nought.

Sorry for the SADD rant. Time to try to get relocated to SoCal--where I can complain about fires, mudslides, and earthquakes.

[ladjf]

2. But, Illinois probably has enough average wind velocity to support large

wind farms, an even more economical way to generate electricity.

[ladjf]

3. I looked up the wind velocity for Illinois. Good news! The average

is well above the minimum requirements.

http://www.illinoiswind.org/windData/pdf/princeton.pdf

Also, you might want to research geothermal heating and cooling for your home.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. "11 Minutes of Sunshine"

It's a myth that solar power only works at high noon on a clear day.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/07/30/cloudy_germany_unlikely_hotspot_for_solar_power/

Cloudy Germany unlikely hotspot for solar power

By Erik Kirschbaum | July 29, 2007

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - It rains year round in Germany. Clouds cover the skies for about two-thirds of all daylight hours. Yet the country has managed to become the world's leading solar power generator.

Even though millions of Germans flee their damp, dark homeland for holidays in the Mediterranean sun, 55 percent of the world's photovoltaic (PV) power is generated on solar panels set up between the Baltic Sea and the Black Forest.

...

[frazzled]

5. Okay, thanks for all the info on solar (and wind)

I kind of already knew all this (especially about wind potential for Ill.), but the grayness is just making me depressed.

Next would be the issue of trying to convert an entire condo building (in which units have individual gas furnaces) in the city -- I couldn't even convince them to scotch the satellite to retrofit for cable. But a lot of the new apartment and condo buildings being built now are touting themselves as "green" (though it remains to be seen how much of that is hype--like (heavy environmental footprint) bamboo floors imported from Asia.

Chicago has been a leader in some aspects of environmentalism (green roofs, etc.), but in other ways it sucks (recycling is horrible, traffic at prehistorically unacceptable levels, public transit in dire straits).

[diane in sf]

6. We run solar panels just fine on the foggy (west) side of San Francisco.