Solar Panels and Heat Pumps

User: cwlidz1@gmail.com

Vendor: Drive Green - Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Action: 3552 - Insulate and Air Seal Your Home

When we lived in Maine for almost a decade, we lived in a super-insulated house that had 2 walls of 2X6s, effectively a foot think wall, filled with fiber glass insulation. It was heated with a single wood stove. It had solar hot water and windows facing South but no solar panels. The effectiveness of the insulation was amazing so, when we built our house in Ashland we did super-insulation, South facing windows and solar panels. In addition, we put in a wood stove and heat pumps, both to heat the house and for hot water. As my wife says, we pay for water and trash and nothing else. Indeed, Eversource owes us a lot of money because we generate much more electricity than we use. One extra expense is that, because the house is so tightly sealed, we have to run an air-exchanger so that the air does not get too stale. An air exchanger brings in outside air through piping that is right next to the indoor air being exhausted. The result is over 50% of the heat in the outgoing air is transferred to the incoming air. A neat trick