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Syndicate
Nov
05
| Ask The Expert: Renewable Energy Options |
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| Monday, 05 November 2007 | |
 Hi NNN,
I bought a condo in Westerly this spring. It's set up like a duplex, so I have a roof, three walls and a basement. Currently it's heated by electric, which might not be so bad considering the rising costs of oil.
Anyway, I would really like to heat with a renewable resource. I looked at pellet stoves, but they seem very expensive and the pellets are quite pricy too. The place doesn't have a chimney or I'd just put a wood stove in. I heated with wood when I lived in Maine and I don't mind it.
I looked at high efficiency gas stoves, but the price of the stove was out of sight and gas isn't renewable.
So I would like to know more about what are the alternatives, if there are any.
Thanks!
Dave
Click on “Read more” for the response from alt-energy expert Karina Lutz, director of development and advocacy for People’s Power & Light.
Dear Dave,
You've touched on some of the issues with heating with renewables in
existing homes--there aren't a lot of choices right now and most of
those we have are expensive.
* Passive solar design is the least expensive and most sustainable--if
it's done in the original design of the building. Sometimes, however, it
is possible to retrofit an existing home. Do you have or could you add
south-facing windows? Or could a passive solar addition go on the south
face of the building to collect and store heat for the rest of the home?
To find a passive solar architect or builder check www.apeiron.org's
Sustainable RI directory or www.nesea.org's Sustainable Green Pages.
* Active solar heating involves solar collectors like solar hot water
and some large storage for the heat. Probably not condo friendly.
* With your existing electric heat, you are probably paying a lot
already, but if you can afford it, the simplest thing to do would be to
switch to a renewable energy product such as People's Power & Light's
New England GreenStart. Using electricity to make heat is not the most efficient use of resources--because electricity is our most refined (and expensive) type of energy and heat the least--but at least you can go renewable today while you're working out a better solution.
* Wood, if harvested sustainably, can be renewable, but it is never
low-emissions. It really doesn't make sense in urban areas. Pellet
stoves are cleaner burning.
* If you are considering installing a new heating system, you might
consider--who'd a thunk it--oil. An oil burner can be fueled with
partially renewable bioheating oil--a mix of vegetable oil-based biofuel
and diesel. People's Power & Light is now offering biodiesel in South
County, and we hope to throughout the state before long. Click here
for info. Through People's Discount Heating Oil Service, the premium you pay for bio is generally offset by the discount from group buying power through our nonprofit program.
* Finally, there are new "microcogen" systems that burn natural gas and
make heat and electricity for residential use. These would be more
efficient than burning the gas at the power plant and letting 2/3 of the
heat escape up the smokestack. But you'd need to do an analysis to see
if the system would be more efficient overall than an ultra-high-efficiency new gas furnace or boiler. And then, like you said, you're still using nonrenewable fuel.
Lots to chew on there. Good luck! And whatever you do, tighten up and
insulate the condo first. The cheapest and most sustainable energy is
what you don't use.
-Karina
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