[Robotgroup] Residential Geothermal HVAC and Solar Energy..?

Mon May 19 18:43:17 PDT 2008

I live outside of Cedar Park. Near 30d 29'53.73N  97d 52'26.78W

$.09618 per KWH (PEC)
$199 avg monthly Bill (last 12 months)
2880 SqFt
2079 KWH per Month
.722 KWH/Sqft

Andre, using the data you provided below, and based on an average cost per
KWH from Austin Power (my assumption that you are on Austin Power) 

$.0692 per KWH (Austin Power)
$225 avg monthly Bill
3200 SqFt
1.016 KWH/Sqft

I would be interested in knowing what others are using (kw/sqft)

I live on the north side of a ridge looking into the valley.  We have about
2880 sq ft under climate control. We keep the house Cold in the summer and
warm in the winter. I also have a large heat load from fast computers. Our
average Electric bill is around $200/mo so not much different than yours. We
did just replace a single large A/C handling two floors with two smaller
units so we could zone the upstairs separate from the downstairs. One area
what we have yet to address is our first floor. The house sits up on
concrete columns and while there is insulation in the floor joist, there is
nothing to prevent the winds from blowing under the house. When we get the
last room added. We are going to address this. 

Michael Boswell
Austin End Of the Line Kite Team - Kite #4
http://Austineol.com
Picture Gallery at http://www.pbase.com/mboswell

-----Original Message-----
From: robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com
[mailto:robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com] On Behalf Of Andre Lamothe
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 8:03 PM
To: The Robot Group Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Residential Geothermal HVAC and Solar Energy..?

Michael,

If you would, can you tell us the area your home is in the square footage 
and your approximate montly electric bill with these mods? Mine is 3200 
square feet, I am spending about $150-300 plus or minus the AC. I have 70% 
CFLs, I need to climb the 25' ceilings and put more CFLs on the ceiling fans

in the main living room, etc.

Also, I have done some research on use blowers in the attic, but there are 
many pro's con's such as creating negative pressure, etc. anyone have any 
ideas on this that seem to work, my attic gets HOT HOT HOT, I feel like I 
want to get that air circulating, but I am getting contradictions from what 
I read, contractors, etc.

Andre'

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Boswell" <Michael at hilltopcafe.net>
To: "'The Robot Group Mailing List'" <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 7:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Residential Geothermal HVAC and Solar Energy..?

When we built our house 15 years ago I applies a few simple design
principles that have served me very well.

1. Super insulation: All exterior walls are 12" thick. Made with two
standard 2x4 walls spaced 3 inches apart. Then filled with standard
fiberglass bat insulation. The double walls prevent energy transfer through
the lumber.
2. NO (I repeat NO) East or West facing openings.  No Windows, No doors only
Walls. Solar heat gain is easy to avoid. To do this, the house needs to be
oriented exactly on the North/East/South/West grid. Be sure to compensate
for magnetic declination.
3. All East, West and Roof faces had an extra Infrared Barrier added. At
various times, I used some high tech foil, Heavy Duty kitchen Aluminum foil,
4x8 plywood with aluminum facing on one side. Remember that you need 3/4"
air gap (either side) for the IR barrier to work properly
4. Roof overhangs on South side were extended to provide shade to the south
facing windows except for about 3 months in the middle of the winter.
5. Use Compact Florescent lamps in about 90% of all locations. You save
three times with CF. First with the lower cost of electricity to provide
light. Second you don't have to pay for electricity to remove the heat
generated by the horrible incandescent lamps. Third, you save your own labor
by not having to replace them anywhere near as often as an incandescent.

Less important but still good things we did

6. Double pane thermally broke windows.
7. Small entry hall with two doors (Think airlock)
8. No more than two rooms between the North and South walls with doors lined
up to allow good cross ventilation
9. Ceiling fans, lots of ceiling fans. We have 18 fans that are often on.
This includes the 5 that are on the full length screen porch that runs the
length of the South side of the house.

Lots of other details but these are the big hitters and all are simple low
tech passive techniques

Michael Boswell
Austin End Of the Line Kite Team - Kite #4
http://Austineol.com
Picture Gallery at http://www.pbase.com/mboswell

-----Original Message-----
From: robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com
[mailto:robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com] On Behalf Of Andre Lamothe
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 5:31 PM
To: The Robot Group Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Residential Geothermal HVAC and Solar Energy..?

"The city does collect newsprint and cardboard as part of the
residential curbside recycling each week."

Which city do you live in austin? I was told by 3 sources starting with the
company on the side of the truck, the city, and the garbage company that
ONLY plastics, paper containers where recycleable, they won't take cardboard

boxes or anything large like that, even if you break them down. You can
sneak a pizza box in once in a while etc. But, the curbside guys don't want
paper or cardboard in general, they will take it in container form or you
might be able to slide it in, but the policy as far as the guys running
steiner's garbage and recycling was no paper.

Andre'

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Def Egge" <robodigest at innervate.com>
To: "The Robot Group Mailing List" <robotgroup at puremagic.com>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Residential Geothermal HVAC and Solar Energy..?

At 13:04  2008-05-19, you wrote:
-=-=-=-=-= begin quoted message =-=-=-=-=-

[trimmed]

 >I have been recycling for years, CA is years ahead of texas
 >in this respect. Austin doesn't even recycle paper which is
 >a crime.

[trimmed]

-=-=-=-=-= end quoted message =-=-=-=-=-

The city does collect newsprint and cardboard as part of the
residential curbside recycling each week.

If your needs run to printer / photocopy paper, many of the AISD
campuses have "Anything that tears" dumspters in their parking
lots.  The public is welcome to use them.

Since I cannot twirl a dead cat by its tail without hitting one of
the 100+ AISD campuses, it is convenient for me.  I also have the
paper recycling - standard and secure / shredded - at St. Edward's
University.

If it suits your needs, securely box or bundle your paper (so that
papers are not capable of blowing out of the boxes nor out of the bed
of my truck) and bring it to one of our Thursday evening meetings.

-- 

All the best....

Mike

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