radiant floor heating

I was worried we were going to have to tweak David Day's casa ti gorgeous design to ensure we could house all of our off grid systems.
But... *Phew* looks like it t'ain't so!

Ok, this is what we did.
The battery & hot water storage are now in the foundation- opened with a trap door, as close to the hot water consuming systems as possible.

Basically it's an insulated box with a membrane in it and saves the cost of having to house and pay for a conventional hot water storage tank above the foundation.

The other information of note is that, while exceeding my (yes I will say now it was a completely ignorant goal) 50k goal for affordable housing, it does look like we will finish our own off grid casa ti at around 100-110k.

But don't forget:
This puppy is off grid! Gorgeous! And solid! Passive solar! Award winning architect!
For the price of conventional construction.
(Hold yer breath, Knock on certified sustainably harvested wood that is)

We will have to review all the numbers once the project is completed. But... that is where we stand today.

Ok now I'm going to go back to playing with GoodGreenNews.org. I'm going to do it all in .net because I haven't done anything in .net in a few months.

This is what I do on Saturday nights.
Pretty sad, isn't it.

(imagine a smiley with hands up, shrugging... and maybe some pink hair on it)

I was so excited today to receive a nice e-mail from a reader of my blog, Andrew Powter, who has been kind enough to share with me images of his own house. It's being built in British Columbia, Canada, and Andrew is hoping to break ground later this month! Take a look at how cool this place is:

But the house isn't just a flashy modern pad, it's loaded with environmentally conscious design features, such as:

• Reclaimed cedar siding
• Concrete floors with hydronic radiant heat
• Recessed compact fluorescent lighting
• Ecosmart fireplace
• Double glazed windows
• Construction with insulated concrete forms
• Low-flow toilets, faucets and showers
• On-demand hot water heating
• Good passive solar heat gain

Nice, huh! This is a very inspiring home. I really like the look.  That's such a good list of green features, and all things that can be incorporated into any style home, anywhere. This home is a great model for the way we should be building all homes

Andrew is the homeowner. He's working with Mark Simone of Dynamedia. Take a look at the portfolio on their site. Some nice stuff. Some real talent there.

I can't wait to see how this house progresses. It looks great and Andrew has done a fantastic job including green elements in his home. 

Image credits - Andrew Powter

Kevin,

I stumbled across your show and the claims made of building green with the home. The partial episode I saw was mostly about the flooring (concrete) and the radiant in-floor heating.

Are you including the enormous amount of energy required to manufacture steel? Not to mention the energy used to mine the ore? Or the fossil fuels burned by the heavy equipment to set the structural steel columns and beams? Your straw bale house is no longer looking so green. I have another question regarding the savings claim in regard to the in-floor radiant heat. I agree on the benefits of the more even temperature dispersion with radiant heat, but ductwork and blowers still need to be installed for the air condtioning system. Good luck convincing today's buyers that the house is so well insulated you don’t need A/C. A good dehumidification system is at least needed in most parts of the country during the summer. So you have the cost and energy consumption of ductwork and blowers for A/C and the cost and energy consumption for the boiler and tubes for the heating system. At least some of these costs are shared with a more conventional system, which I am by no means advocating as the best set up. Just my two cents.

I am curious as to how the show will unfold. I’ll try to catch more episodes.

Jamie

I found your show by accident and started watching. Am now scheduling you as a definite watch weekly. Fabulous show!!! Would a straw bale house work in the remote area in northern eastern most part of Washington State? We have snow for at least three sometimes four months at a time. Temps get down to -20?F but not for more than a week or two in Feb. Can be up to 100?F for a few weeks in late July through Aug. One more ? What is the “R” factor of bales, the “R” factor of the blue jean insulation?

Fascinating!!!!!!

Ms. Sam Y