Green Remodel | Reading Room: Cooling & Heating - Geothermal

Green Remodel | Reading Room: Cooling & Heating - Geothermal

Colorado Springs Waldo fire, Boulder Four Mile fire, Ft Collins High Park fire

When do we realize we need to do more.

Is it over regulation to require homes in wildfire areas to use stronger fire-resistant building practices?

Wildfire glazing –  windows that resist fire and crack, instead of shattering. Holding back the flames rather than letting the fire inside immediately.

Roof and Attic venting that stops embers and flames from entering the attic along with the hot air being sucked into the attic.

Fire rated wall/ building envelope systems - Walls that give the fire a chance to burn by without torching the home.

Fire rated decking and deck framing- ditto

Backup fire suppression systems- including self contained systems of water or even foam. Though it may prove if the above cheaper systems were in place with proper defensible measures personal home systems may be unnecessary.

Little of the above are stand along or will work effectively without proper defensive measures in place.

I know some will say codes are in place. That’s like saying the same code requiring R13 insulation in the walls in San Diego and Denver made sense.  

I truly do not want to Californacte the building code here.  The last few years have shown us we need to do more.

Cutting large trees back 40’- 80’ from your house is not as serene as trees up close.  It could make the difference between a burnt yard or no house.

Fire Safe Homes

It is a shame Home owners in Colorado and other locations do not even know what options exist to help protect out houses.

Wall/roof building systems like SCIP building systems that have 2-4 hour fire ratings.

Wild Fire glass

Eave and gable house venting that closes if hit by fire  

Shutters that help keep flames from coming inside

Roofing that stops the fire from catching on fire

Paint the stops the house from catching on fire

Fire protection systems that spray the exterior with foam or another fire stop material

With all that nothing is more effective as a first step as a defensible area

Repurposing building materials by Your Green Remodel Guy

I strongly advise wearing work boots, gloves, head and eye protection  whenever doing construction and demo work. Use quality sawsall and carbide circular saw blades.  Dull blades resist cutting wood and are more prone to kick back or bind possibly causing personal injury.

While doing demo we save and set aside as much usable lumber as possible.  Some of the materials have an extra advantage beyond saving money, dumpster and landfill space by being reused.                                                                                                                                                

 Older growth lumber has denser fibers that will not shrink as the lumber and moisture are acclimated to your location.  When reusing for roof framing supports and trimmers and king studs for doors and windows all the shrinking has taken place already, insuring a secure and tight fit now and later. This material is also excellent for using it to install door knob, towel bar, toilet roll holder, curtain rod, closet shelf, hand rail and cabinet backing behind the drywall.

This is a real green savings of the environment and your wallet.  

Some tricks can help save the materials and saw blades.

Cut the bottom nails with a bi-metal/ wood sawsall blade. Then pull the bottom of the stud towards you into the room twisting and pulling down at the same time. This leaves a stud with no nails at one end so trimming that end will not damage the saw blade. So always stack the lumber with all the clean ends pointing the same way.

Another trick that works is to put a block of wood against the bottom of the stud on its flattest side. Hit it repeatedly until the stud comes loose. Then follow the same pulling and twisting method as before. You may get more cracked and broken studs using the method.

Richard Sims                                                                                                             Sims Construction

 Need your sewer lateral replaced?

So the question is to trench or not to trench.

Trenching is the most common and in some cities and counties the only choice.

I was bidding a new lateral on a home that is under a complete home makeover.

As it turned out I was on the Denver side of the street just one house from the Denver, Littleton county line.

So it’s back to the way I know tear up the yard from the sidewalk top the street. Cut up the street, sidewalk and yard.

Now you are ready for inspection, then back fill , repair the street, replace the sidewalk and your lawn.

So let’s say you live across the street, and then they would just dig a hole above the city sewer line and another at the house.

You have much less street to replace, no sidewalk and a small portion of the lawn along the house. You still need an inspection but the job is complete in one day in most cases.

You put a cable puller at the house and pull a new line to the house. Hook up the new lateral up on the street side and pull. Hook up to the city and house and ready for inspection and backfill.

At about 6 to 12” a minute it is not a long wait on average homes.

It is cleaner disturbs less of your yard and the cost is the same.

So the cost is the same or less , it is faster, cleaner and I am still looking for a down side.

Richard Sims,

 Sims Construction

Fire Safe Homes

Fire Safe Homes
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Building with Fire safe Materials

As wild fires rage in Colorado and fire fighters are forced to do what is called Structural Triage, where they have to make the hard choices of witch structures to save.

Do you have debris cleared?  

A defensible area around your house?

Do you have trees cut back from the deck, house and out buildings?

As stated by Fire fighter Jim Bolton of SmartStructure.com

 “If people aren’t going to pay attention to what the Forestry Department

and their local fire departments tell them to do to keep their property

safe, then their house may have to be the one that we can’t save”

What if you built fire safe?

We now have products to offer fire safe roofs, decks and entire homes.

SCIP “Structural Concrete Insulated Panel” Homes are made form a combination of steel, wire mesh, wire trusses and EPS “Expanded Polly Styrene”

The panel is covered by 1.5” of cement giving two hour fire rating.

All the components are made of a high percentage of recycled materials.

This coupled with the 50-70% energy efficiency of the SCIP panel system, with an average of 5% extra cost the pay back can be realized in a little as three years.

The cement gives you fire safety inside and out.

 The cement on the interior side of the exterior walls coupled with a thermal break (EPS)  creates a thermal mass system unequaled in standard building practices

For more information on the energy saving go to http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/research/detailed_papers/thermal/index.html

“Comparative analysis of sixteen different material configurations showed that the most effective wall assembly was the wall with thermal mass (concrete) applied in good contact with the interior of the building. Walls where the insulation material was concentrated on the interior side, performed much worse. Wall configurations with the concrete wall core and insulation placed on both sides of the wall performed slightly better, however, their performance was significantly worse than walls containing foam core and concrete shells on both sides.”

Next Fire safe Decking

SCIP Structural Concrete Insulated Panel, Highland, Denver home | Contractor Talk

SCIP Structural Concrete Insulated Panel, Highland, Denver home Contractor Talk

Researching (SCIP) Structural Concrete Insulated Panels

 

I am currently talking to one of the inventers of the earliest record of SCIP Panels I have been able to locate.

After talking to one of the inventers of the SCIP system I now know the rest of the story you might say.

I posted on a forum about a 35 story in Japan of SCIP Panels.

I have since found out the building was not built in Japan or of SCIP panels.

The building was built in Singapore and elevator shaft is where the panels were used.

Other buildings I am researching.

Houses built in Haiti before the earth quakes that were undamaged.

Houses build in Miami area built before Hurricane Andrews that were undamaged or still habitable where most all other houses in the area were not livable.

A house that was filled with mud from ST Helens volcano erupted. They remover the mud and power sprayed the house, replaced windows and doors and the house was good as new.

.

Reducing Energy Bills with Geothermal Heat

January 11, 2012 By Glenn Meyers 1 Comment

Merline Van Dyke and Richard Sims

The untapped and clean geothermal energy our planet provides is enormous. but in 2008, geothermal power supplied less than one percent of the world’s energy. However, that may soon change. By 2050 geothermal power might be able to meet between 10 and 20 percent of the world’s energy requirements, according to  a report from Renewable Energy World.

Engineer and geothermal innovator Merline Van Dyke explains that there are many different kinds of geothermal systems — some rely on hot water from beneath the earth’s surface, while others simply use the constant temperature of soil below the surface as a means of heating and cooling.

Van Dyke has worked with Sims Construction, a Denver builder. He has been erecting a three-story, 2,400 square-foot geothermal house — one that utilizes structural concrete insulated panels (SCIP) on the exterior to maintain efficient temperatures. Net result: R-40 insulation value and an electricity bill that will run half of a normal bill, and no need for natural gas.

Geothermal house under construction in inner city Denver.

Warming Your Home with the Earth’s Heat

The house features an Amasond geothermal system. Amasond, an Austrian-based company, provided a geothermal system where pipe was drilled to a non-water level of 118 feet, where the earth temperature was a constant 52 degrees Fahrenheit.

A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a system of pipes buried in the ground near the building. In the winter, the heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps it into the indoor air delivery system.

In the summer the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat removed from the indoor air during the summer can also be used to provide a free source of hot water.

Geothermal heat pumps use much less energy than conventional heating systems, since they draw heat from the ground. They are also more efficient when cooling your home. Not only does this save energy and money, it reduces air pollution.

Geothermal can provide a more sustainable renewable energy solution; it is a great option, except for the somewhat pricey up-front cost.

Photos: GR Meyers

Our Green Streets Blog

a communications hub & social network for green solutions

Tapping geothermal riches

by grmeyers

Published March 25th, 2011 at 8:34 am in architecture, renewable energy with no comments
Tagged with Amasond, Department of Energy, geothermal, Merline Van Dyke, National Renewable Energy Lab, Renewable Energy World, Sims Construction, structural concrete insulated panel

This California geothermal power plant is one method of using heat from the Earth.

Use a banking analogy for the untapped and clean geothermal energy our planet provides to find we live on top of a remarkable energy safe deposit vault.
In 2008, geothermal power supplied less than one percent of the world’s energy. However by 2050 it is anticipated that geothermal power will meet between 10 and 20 percent of the world’s energy requirements, notes a report from Renewable Energy World.
Colorado engineer and geothermal innovator Merline Van Dyke says here are many different kinds of geothermal systems, some that rely on hot water from beneath the earth’s surface, others that simply use the constant temperature of soil below the surface as a means of heating and cooling.
“What I’m interested in talking about are the efficient ones,” says Van Dyke. He began experimenting with making homes more efficient in 1994, building a home in the foothills west of Denver, using structural insulated panels.
Van Dyke is presently working with Sims Construction, a Denver builder, as they finish a three-story, 2,400 square-foot geothermal house that uses structural concrete insulated panels (SCIP) on the exterior to maintain efficient temperatures. Net result: R-40 insulation value, an electricity bill that will run half of a normal bill, and no need for natural gas.

Source: Amasond

The house is located in central Denver and features an Amasond geothermal system. Amasond, an Austrian-based company, provided a geothermal system where pipe was drilled to a non-water level of 118 feet, where the earth temperature was a constant 52 degrees Fahrenheit.  This past summer, Sims flew to Europe to participate in an Amasond training program.
“I am very excited about how efficient this home is going to be,” he says, noting this is the first home of this kind to be built in Denver.

Understanding Geothermal Basics

Geothermal energy – or heat from the Earth – has been used in a variety of ways since the early annals of human life on this planet. Perhaps best, in this day and age, most geothermal energy is clean and sustainable, depending on what procedures are used. Hydraulic fracturing of rock below the surface, a procedure used in oil and natural gas capture, is being explored as a way to obtain hot water, but the environmental impacts to this procedure are being questioned by some. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth’s surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.

Merline Van Dyke and Richard Sims in front of Denver geothermal house using structural concrete insulated panels

A geothermal heat pump system consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork), and a system of pipes buried in the ground near the building (see photo). In the winter, the heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps it into the indoor air delivery system. In the summer, the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat removed from the indoor air during the summer can also be used to provide a free source of hot water.
The Department of Energy, working with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, CO undertakes ongoing research to develop and advance technologies for various geothermal applications.
Geothermal heat pumps use much less energy than conventional heating systems, since they draw heat from the ground. They are also more efficient when cooling your home. Not only does this save energy and money, it reduces air pollution. The GEO Exchange http://www.geoexchange.org/ is a trade association for geothermal heat pumps, an integral part of any geothermal system.
In modern direct-use systems, a well is drilled into a geothermal reservoir to provide a steady stream of hot water. The water is brought up through the well, and a mechanical system – piping, a heat exchanger, and controls – delivers the heat directly for its intended use. A disposal system then either injects the cooled water underground or disposes of it on the surface.

Geothermal Electricity

In 1911, the world’s first geothermal power plant had a capacity of 250 kilowatts. By 1975 the Larderello fields were capable of producing 405 megawatts of power. It was the world’s only industrial producer of geothermal electricity until 1958, when New Zealand built a plant in Wairakei. The Geysers Resort Hotel, California, was the site of the first geothermal power plant in the United States. The Geysers currently produces over 750 Megawatts of power annually.
Today, 69 geothermal power facilities are in operation at 18 sites around the United States, and geothermal power is generated in over 20 countries around the world.

Structural Concrete Insulated Panel (SCIP)

Structural Concrete Insulated Panel (SCIP)

Having been in the trades for 38 years before hearing about SCIP systems I asked my self how could a building system be so unknown.

The big answer was the same as what we drove, we really did not think too much about energy consumption as a nation as it was relatively cheap. It seams better modern building systems had been around since the 1930s with the SCIP system following in the 40s first as fences and curtain walls.

During the Oil Embargo in 1974 we got serious for a while and every energy crises we wake up again.

This time it is clear we can not go back to the same old way we did in the past.

SCIP systems as we now know it have been around for 40+ years. You may see one almost every day as I did with out even knowing it..

From my engineer I found out I had been driving by one for years.

If you do not see one being built you would never know it was different that the building next door.

As a builder I was looking for a system that would be energy efficient and strong enough to withstand the moods of Mother Nature.

I also never felt we were building as energy efficient as we could.

 It was my quest to build a home to withstand forest fires the led me to SCIP.

I was designing a home above Breckenridge below timberline. I had seen the destruction fires cause more than once in the past between living in Colorado and California.

Having just built my first SCIP home all the information I had been told or read regarding how energy efficient the system is, how strong and versatile all came together.

SCIP Building have withstood

   

_Typhoon Pamela Guam 1979 - several multi-story apartment buildings no damage

_Hurricane Andrew, Homestead Florida 1992 - house at center of hurricane, no damage 
(constructed by a homeowner)

_Hurricane Ike, Galveston, Texas 2008 - (2) 2-story houses on beach no damage with others destroyed

_Hurricanes: Mexico *several historical hurricanes No damage to residential or commercial structures

_Earthquakes: California 1968, 1994 (& all smaller earthquakes) #3,000+ structures with no damage

_Earthquake Haiti 2010 - structures in Port Au Prince (single & 2-story) no damage

_Earthquake Chile 2010 - several multi-family structures no damage

I have not found evedince that there has been a SCIP structure destroyed by an adverse act of nature

How Home Builders Are Selling Green

Is a $5 monthly utility bill the new granite counter top?

If all these changes seem far-fetched, remember that times of stress like the ongoing housing crisis greatly accelerate changes already underway. This means that the future is closer than it may seem.

How Home Builders Are Selling Green