One more comment today:
I am wondering if anyone has information on the use of solar panels as an adjunct to regular energy systems in houses. I have a home based office, and in the winter I like to turn down the heat in the house and run a small heater right in my office area, since that is where I am spending my time. I have researched, without success, the possibility of using a small commercially available solar panel to power my little heater (or to otherwise heat by sunlight!). I am wondering if anyone has developed some way of doing this. Also, does anyone have information about the impact of shingle colour choice on energy conservation? A couple of years ago I had to have the roof done, and, while I chose what appeared to be the same colour of shingles as had been, my house never warms up anymore, not even in the middle of summer. I am wondering if there is any product I can put on the shingles which might improve their heat capture. Of course, in the summer it is good, but not so much in the winter.
Thanks!
Zanna in Winnipeg
Small Scale Solar Panelling
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Generally speaking, solar electricity (and electricity in general) is the last thing thing you should use for heating when there are other alternatives (and I know this is a broad sweeping statement open to all sorts of caveats and protests) as heating uses large amounts of energy. In your case, turning down the whole house heating and using a small personal heater is a good idea and probably reduces your overall energy consumption significantly. If you really want to put some small PV's on the roof they would be much more suited to driving a few Low voltage lights or even better, a small grid connect system (where the power is fed back in to the grid to offset your usage). If it is available in your area, a much more cost effective solution to going green with solar power on the roof would be to purchase "green power" (where, for a small premium the power company provides electricity from renewable sources). If you install CFL's through your house the reduction in electricity costs will probably offset the additional cost of "green power" allowing you to go 100% green for no cost.
Cheers
MOC
From your description and location, suspect you live in a house built in the 40 or 50s with a pitched shingle roof and an attic. When you had the roof replaced they increased the ventilation of the attic space. With a well-vented attic space not only do you minimize the possibility of moisture accumulation and damage in the winter, you dissipate any heat absorbed by the shingles in both winter and summer. As for small-scale single room solar unit to buy for heating your office effectively in Winnipeg I have my doubts. If you have a warm air furnace and there is no large solar gain window area that you can pull heat from and circulate using you furnace fan, then an effective source of heat is electric infra-red as you can focus it on you and thus heat directly the important element, yourself. Indirectly of course the room gets heated and many floor units have ambient air thermostats sensors for control. Some thoughts for consideration.
Forrest
Hi Folks,
Bathurst (New Brunswick Canada) Sustainable Development Coorporation had a program subsidising small exterior wall mounted active solar space heaters (i.e. not photovoltaic). From inital reports I've heard through the grape vine they seem to work quite well - and Bathurst has some of the biggest extremes in temperatures anywhere in New Brunswick - maybe not quite as bad as Winterpeg but pretty close! A further advantage is that the pannels make use of recycled beverage containers in the collector. Check them out at: http://www.bathurstsustainabledevelopment.com/english.html As for the shingle problem - if you have any attic space at all then you need to concentrate on keeping the heat below the ceiling of the 2nd floor, not in or below the shingles. I'd highly recommend NR Canada's "Keeping the Heat In" as a good comprehensive guide to home heating efficiency. It's available online at: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/keep_heat_in/
Cheers,
Ramsey Hart
Centre d'intrpretation de la nature
Cape Jourimain Nature Centre
Bayfield, NB www.capejourimain.ca
tel. 506-538-2288
fax. 506-538-2226
[email protected]