Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13-27 Solutions: energy-efficient, environmentally healthy, and affordable Victorian-style strawbale
house designed and built by Alison Gannett in Crested Butte, Colorado. The left photo was taken during con-
struction; the right photo shows the completed house. Depending on the thickness of the bales, plastered
strawbale walls have an insulating value of R-35 to R-60, compared to R-12 to R-19 in a conventional house.
(The R-value is a measure of resistance to heat flow.) Such houses are also great sound insulators.
thirds, lessen cooling costs in the summer, and reduce
CO 2 emissions. Widely available superinsulating win-
dows insulate as well as 8-12 sheets of glass. Although
they cost 10-15% more than double-glazed windows,
this cost is paid back rapidly by the energy they save.
Even better windows will reach the market soon.
Stop other heating and cooling losses. Leaky heating
and cooling ducts in attics and unheated basements
allow 20-30% of a home's heating and cooling energy
to escape and draw unwanted moisture and heat into
the home. Careful sealing can reduce this loss. Some
designs for new homes keep the ducts inside the
home's thermal envelope so that escaping hot or cool
air is fed back into the living space. Also, using white
instead of dark roofs can reduce city temperatures and
cut electricity for air conditioning.
Heat houses more efficiently. In order, the most en-
ergy-efficient ways to heat space are superinsulation,
a geothermal heat pump, passive solar heating, a con-
ventional heat pump (in warm climates only), small
Figure 13-28 Unnecessary energy waste: an infrared photo (thermogram) showing heat loss (red, white, and
orange) around the windows, doors, roofs, and foundations of houses and stores in Plymouth, Michigan. Many
homes and buildings in the United States and other countries are so full of leaks that their heat loss in cold
weather and heat gain in hot weather are equivalent to having a large window-sized hole in the wall of the
house. How leaky is the dwelling where you live?
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