9
votes
Is heating with candles economically and/or ecologically worthwhile?
A related question was asked on SE Skeptics - Is this tealight-flowerpot heater more efficient than just tealights?
In the third answer, it is claimed the heat produced by one tea light candle is 0....
- 3,517
7
votes
What should I do with coal that I have been given?
Well, if you are really into it and quite handy, you could turn it into activated charcoal, and then add it to your soil!
Grind it into small bits, heat it anaerobically, then introduce high-pressure ...
- 248
6
votes
How to heat an isolated room
Water has a very high specific heat capacity, which means it can store a lot of heat for its weight compared with most other materials.
If you want to warm something in front of the fire and then ...
- 8,755
6
votes
Accepted
For overnight heating, is it more efficient to use an electric space heater in a bedroom or a whole house natural gas furnace?
In terms of energy-efficiency within your own home (i.e. when we ignore energy losses outside the home), it will almost certainly be more efficient to use the electric space heater. It will be close ...
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5
votes
Heat Pump vs Air Exchanger, What's the difference?
Yes, the terms can refer to different things. There are two types of heat pumps (and A/C units in general). There are "air source" and "ground source." Ground source is often known as Geothermal and ...
- 676
5
votes
Most cost effective heated flooring?
It will depend on your local cost of fuels and of equipment.
The most energy-efficient way to do it would be to have a ground-source or water-source heat-pump that fed your under-floor heating. ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Will a warmer climate reduce energy demand and increase solar PV production?
tl;dr -- For the west coast of the U.S., a 20% decrease in heating demand and 18% increase in cooling demand results in a 5% reduction in carbon emissions from electricity and natural gas usage
Here'...
- 11.8k
5
votes
Will a warmer climate reduce energy demand and increase solar PV production?
Wouldn't it therefore be better to have a small rise in global temperature?
No. The radiative forcing by carbon dioxide does not increase solar radiation that can be captured by solar cells. The ...
- 4,786
5
votes
Accepted
Keep my hands warm while working on a laptop?
I use a pair of wool fingerless gloves. They don't impair dexterity and even though they leave fingers exposed they cover enough that my entire hands remain comfortable.
- 1,603
5
votes
Accepted
What makes swimming pool heat pumps unsuited for home use?
There are a few factors here:
Temperature range. Domestic heating water ranges from about 90 F (35 C) to 140 F (60C) The latter is used in radiators and fan coil heat exchangers, the former used in ...
- 7,207
5
votes
Accepted
Flying vs heating and cooling
Firstly, you have to notice that heating is not optional, it's mandatory. If you leave a home unheated, the water pipes will freeze.
So you could perhaps reduce half of the heating bill.
Where I live, ...
- 4,786
4
votes
How can I decarbonise my domestic heating, given severe physical constraints?
The glib answer is to use less energy.
The best way of doing that is fixing the fabric of the house - massively increasing insulation, massively decreasing air permeability (and as a result fitting ...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
Why are electrical cars encouraged but is electrical heating discouraged?
There are several reasons why a policy of encouraging electric cars, but discouraging electric heating, might make sense. I can't answer for the specific case of Belgium, which currently has some ...
- 14.7k
4
votes
Heat Pump vs Air Exchanger, What's the difference?
A heat pump heats or cool your house by exploiting a cycle. For example to heat, it expands a gas to make that gas cold, then sends the gas through pipes outside to be warmed by the air or ground (the ...
- 1,897
4
votes
Accepted
Can a household's organic waste alone produce enough methane for its own space heating?
Let's see:
This paper states numbers for organic waste production from 0.14 - 0.32 kg/ person day for developing countries. Elsewhere it is said that the total amount of organic wastes differs little ...
- 2,836
4
votes
Most cost effective heated flooring?
The most cost effective and energy efficient heat is the heat that you don't lose through the envelope of your house.
Look at the whole house system and consider whether improving insulation (in the ...
- 1,603
4
votes
better to heat house with gas or with electricity?
If you have access to electricity that comes from renewable sources (sun, wind, hydro, waves, biofuel) or from nuclear, then I would recommend getting a heat pump. Simply said a heat pump takes energy ...
4
votes
Accepted
Can the heat generated in a data center be used to heat households and offices?
Yes, when the data center is located near heating loads
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO features a prime example of this, at the Energy Systems Integration Facility:
With heat ...
- 11.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Direct Electrical Heating
There are three forms of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. Physically, there is no such thing as "direct electrical heating".
The most "direct" way to convert electricity into ...
- 2,579
4
votes
Is it possible to use sand for heat insulation at walls?
Even though rock is a poor heat conductor for example in geothermal wells that slowly become cooler over time as heat is extracted, you cannot use sand as a general purpose heat insulator in houses. ...
- 4,786
4
votes
Can a compact compost heat recovery system reduce the usage of fossil fuels on household heating?
Reduce yes. Reduce markedly, no, unless you live in a passive house.
A normal human eats about 12 megajoules per day. If waste food is at such a high level as 3 megajoules per day (most people on this ...
- 4,786
3
votes
How can I vent smoke from a non-rangehood stove without losing too much hot air?
Not all "range fans" blow the air out of the house. We discovered after decades that ours does not. It has filters and the air just comes out of the sides and right back into the kitchen. You might ...
- 1,897
3
votes
Accepted
Good alternatives to a fuel oil heating system in an apartment block
TL, DR Solar thermal with a gas burner for peak demand. Possibly improved isolation.
First, you need exact data on how much heat you need, and when, during the year and during each day.
This should ...
- 2,836
3
votes
Accepted
Are there different types of water-source heat pump?
They can be the same thing; the terms have overlapping meanings.
A seawater heat pump is a specific type of water-source heat pump that uses seawater. Water-source heat pumps can also use fresh ...
- 3,690
3
votes
Why are electrical cars encouraged but is electrical heating discouraged?
There are a couple of good answered already, but here's another perspective (who said a question can only have one right answer!).
In a possible future world where electricity generation is ...
- 3,690
3
votes
Why are electrical cars encouraged but is electrical heating discouraged?
The biggest reason is why it is being used. Converting combustion heat into electricity and then converting electricity back into heat is highly inefficient. Better to just create the heat by ...
- 187
3
votes
Why are electrical cars encouraged but is electrical heating discouraged?
The first part of your question is about where pollution happens as much as about pollution reduction. Cars emit pollution where people are, while electric generators can be built further away from ...
- 3,875
3
votes
What is an energy efficient way to get fresh air indoors during winter?
Simple Answer
There is a simple answer that does not require significant modification to an existing residential or commercial building. This is the standard high efficiency HVAC answer to the ...
- 276
3
votes
How can a rocket mass heater be combined with a tight modern construction?
It's probably not the answer you want to hear, but no sensible options exist for running a RMH inside of a tightly sealed building.
At least, that's the case if you are talking about the ...
- 2,804
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