http://lifealternate.com/home-energy-saving/rooftop-home-solar-panels/ What other people just dream off... Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:06:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://lifealternate.com/home-energy-saving/rooftop-home-solar-panels/comment-page-1/#comment-22093 Solar Powered Roof Tiles For your Home | Life Alternate Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:40:24 +0000 http://lifealternate.com/?p=212#comment-22093 [...] of solar roof tiles is quite small as it is still a new area and mostly in development, Photovoltaic solar panels are more common, becoming more efficient and are really not that unsightly, These new solar roof [...] [...] of solar roof tiles is quite small as it is still a new area and mostly in development, Photovoltaic solar panels are more common, becoming more efficient and are really not that unsightly, These new solar roof [...]

]]> http://lifealternate.com/home-energy-saving/rooftop-home-solar-panels/comment-page-1/#comment-16132 Ground Source Heat Pumps | Life Alternate Tue, 26 May 2009 08:47:22 +0000 http://lifealternate.com/?p=212#comment-16132 [...] Ground source heat pumps are another form of extracting natural free energy that can be used to warm your home and reduce your energy costs. Pipes buried a few feet under your garden or lawn can draw the heat from the ground. A few feet below the surface the ground temperature is more stable than on the surface, so while you may have a layer of snow on your lawn, underneath the ground temperature is fairly constant. That ground heat can be extracted easily for your home use. Ideally installation should be done with a new build as excavation work is required and may require  some form of machinery heavier than a garden spade.  Coiled pipes are laid in trenches under you garden covering as much area as possible to maximize the heat transfer, smaller gardens may require laying the piping vertically to gain as much contact area as possible, this would involve  deeper digging than a larger lawn where the coils can be laid flat. Once that is complete the trenches are refilled and your garden is restored back to its normal appearance. Water, with some antifreeze, is then circulated around the pipes returning warmer than when it entered full of free heat. Now what can you do with this heat? Underfloor heating, where another layer of piping is laid under your floor to provide warmth all year round as well keeping your energy costs down. A small amount of electricity is needed to run the heat pumps and economically this could be acquired from solar power via your rooftop solar panels. [...] [...] Ground source heat pumps are another form of extracting natural free energy that can be used to warm your home and reduce your energy costs. Pipes buried a few feet under your garden or lawn can draw the heat from the ground. A few feet below the surface the ground temperature is more stable than on the surface, so while you may have a layer of snow on your lawn, underneath the ground temperature is fairly constant. That ground heat can be extracted easily for your home use. Ideally installation should be done with a new build as excavation work is required and may require  some form of machinery heavier than a garden spade.  Coiled pipes are laid in trenches under you garden covering as much area as possible to maximize the heat transfer, smaller gardens may require laying the piping vertically to gain as much contact area as possible, this would involve  deeper digging than a larger lawn where the coils can be laid flat. Once that is complete the trenches are refilled and your garden is restored back to its normal appearance. Water, with some antifreeze, is then circulated around the pipes returning warmer than when it entered full of free heat. Now what can you do with this heat? Underfloor heating, where another layer of piping is laid under your floor to provide warmth all year round as well keeping your energy costs down. A small amount of electricity is needed to run the heat pumps and economically this could be acquired from solar power via your rooftop solar panels. [...]

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