[at-l] (OT) Solar Advances

[sws4024 at charter.net (SWS)]

non polluting? What did it do, dissolve the wood?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob C" <ellen@clinic.net>
To: <RoksnRoots@aol.com>; <AT-L@Backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 9:52 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] (OT) Solar Advances


I don't disagree with RnR. I heated my house for nearly 20 years with nothing but wood, burned 
in a sophisticated, non polluting wood boiler. Unfortunately, the company that made them went 
out of business and my boiler required a major rebuilding.

The combination of money and age, and health, and a wife who's  not into carrying cord wood, 
convinced me to switch back to oil, except for an antique wood-burning kitchen range. We 
continue to use less fuel oil than anyone with a house the size of ours. The guy who installed 
the oil boiler insisted it would be too small for a house our size. The oil dealer put us on 
automatic delivery, but abandoned the idea after spending a winter delivering oil in 50 gallon 
lots, when his formulas said I should be nearing empty.

IN retrospect, given present energy prices, I wish I had stuck with the wood boiler.

Weary

> ------------Original Message------------
> From: RoksnRoots@aol.com
> To: AT-L@Backcountry.net
> Date: Sat, Dec-3-2005 3:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [at-l] (OT)   Solar Advances
>
> In a message dated 12/3/2005 11:19:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> ellen@clinic.net writes:
> *
> *
> *
> For instance, I can put a solar hot water system on my roof for about
> $7,000.
> If I mortgage my house at 6% to pay for the installation, the interest
> alone
> comes to $420 a year, without ever paying off the principal.
> *
> *
> *
>
>
>           From reading this, I'm sure the best per-cost basis of this
> technology is installing solar/energy conservation devices in new
> construction. New
> construction, of course, is sprawl - so the best conservation based
> improvement
> would have to be in already-built houses. The cheapest alternative is
> always
> to do as little as possible and make up the difference with
> conventional fuel
> sources. That is sort of the problem coming around full circle.
>
>           Being a through-hiker who doesn't mind roughing it, I could
> easily
> survive in a "Rusty's"-type house with minimal technology. Local code
> probably
> prevents this in most places. As a matter of fact, I would enjoy living
> that
> way simply for the reason of beating the energy-spiral system. -
> Especially
> during a price-jacking energy crunch crisis. People who installed a
> total
> water-collection, solar PV, and solar water heating system in their
> alternative
> residence would be laughing all the way to self-sufficient cost savings
> during a
> serious crisis. Those in cold winter climes would probably need to
> spend for a
> wood burning water heating system as well.
>
>       Pipe dream? Not really. If you look at what people are willing to
> spend
> on the new skyrocketing market prices for homes, this technology would
> easily
> fit within the long term price margins for housing. The solar site said
> the
> average increase was 2% on the total cost of a new home and sold
> instantly (for
> solar shingles).
>
>       I'm sure the problem of too many windows could be mitigated with
> a
> shade system designed to shade on high sun days and insulate at night.
> New double
> windows with a vacuum in between the panes could solve condensation and
>
> heat-loss - at a price however.
>
>          On another site a man who built an alternative
> half-subterranian
> home in Minnesota shared his website. He said the main reason he built
> this way
> was exactly because he had little money:
>
> http://www.potkettleblack.com/natbild/lilacfarm.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *
>
>
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