Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency

Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency : ENERGY STAR.

Here’s the site with the requirements for the “green” federal tax credits.

WaterFurnace

I found a reference to the WaterFurnace on a different blog and was intrigued by the fact that that homeowner said one of the benefits of her system is during the summer, when the system is removing heat from her home, it redirects it to their water furnace so they get “free” hot water in the summers.

Geothermal Study

This article was really interesting! Several of the industrial applications are local to me, so that was especially helpful. It is an older article – 1998 – but still very informative. I saw a trend of two things:

1) Check your materials (there were a lot of problems with deterioration of parts b/c the fluid was incompatible with tape, fixtures, etc. and so caused leaks), and, 

2) Have someone experienced with geothermal systems do the installation.

Geothermal heat pump info

Found this site from a poster at Green Building Talk. I’m beginning to understand some of the geothermal options. For some reason I thought you could only use geothermal to run through radiant heat flooring but you can actually use it just like a regular air-to-air heat pump…so it’s basically just sourcing the energy from a different place but using ductwork inside your house that blows air around, just like a gas furnace would (and seems gas could be the backup source). This makes a lot more sense to me. Hmmm. 

radiantpro.net

Have been googling and found a some-what local company called www.radiantpro.net that deals with geothermal and solar systems. My husband and I were talking on our trip home today and he wondered how well the geothermal/radiant floor combo would work in the summer for cooling needs. Would it be adequate, or would you also have to have some sort of AC system? I don’t understand it well enough at this point…I’ve been on radiant-heat floors (particularly in bathrooms) and “get” that, but I’m not sure how the cooling part works…would only the floor feel cool, then? And then the air would be cooled by the coolness of the floor? Or is there some way to have a forced-air AC associated with it?

So many questions. I’m contacting the sales department at radiantpro. I’m sure they’ve dealt with folks like me before, heh heh.

Got a haircut today

And what does that have to do with dreaming green? Well, my hairdresser and I were chatting and I told him we’d bought a piece of land and he said, “Oh, are you thinking of anything “green,” like solar or geothermal?” and I said, “Actually, yes!” We got to talking and he was telling me about a couple clients of his who had installed geothermal units in their houses recently and have loved them. Also, the city hall where his business is has installed a geothermal heating/cooling unit.

I know only the bare minimum about geothermal (pipes filled with fluid going underground to keep a constant temperature) and have seen diagrams, but have never really taken it seriously because I thought it was cost prohibitive. Now I’m thinking, hmmm. What a great idea in the desert, where it would help so much on cooling costs in the summer. Hmmm.