About Mysite Ecovisualllc Wixsite Com

Leo Migdal

-Nov 20, 2025, 12:27 AM

Contact Us - Rick Colson, EcoVisual.org, 15 Laurel Street, Northampton, MA 01060 The 7 Rust Project is likely the most sustainable residential rehab ever done in Western Massachusetts. We converted an 800.s.f. single story, 1948 oil burning house with virtually no insulation, into a state of the art, sustainable home: • Dense-pack cellulose interior insulation • HVAC via high efficiency minisplit heat pumps

Many of the products used in construction were surplus, reclaimed or recycled. (The floors, for example, are 150-year -old douglas fir reclaimed from a demolished motel.) New products were responsibly sourced from local resources whenever possible. This was our third major construction undertaking. With a blizzard upon us my thoughts turn to heat. Basically, the most economical/sustainable form of heat is a geothermal heat pump powered by solar photovoltaics. These extract heat from a field or well about four feet below the top soil (in New England) or deep enough to be below the frost line.

Two feet in many locations with a big enough field is fine. Anything around 55 degrees is warm enough to extract heat. Earlier systems relied on deep wells with a coil sunk into the "well." Newer systems are efficient enough to work with a horizontal field of pipes (PEX typically) running back and forth in a... Heat and AC is distributed through vents and unlike old hot air furnaces these systems run continuously eliminating the hot/cold cycles forced hot air systems create. My own house has mini split heat pumps. These are air to air heat pumps that extract heat from the outside air.

Though it sounds counterintuitive, they can actually extract heat from even freezing cold air. They are extremely efficient and the lowest cost way of creating electrical heat. As the outside temperatures drop they become less efficient and they begin to struggle at temperatures below about 20 degrees F. We've had several below zero days here in Massachusetts this year and the heat pumps still work. They're fully powered by solar photovoltaic and essentially provide free heat. (Geothermal systems have the advantage that the ground temperatures below two feet vary very little hovering constantly around 55 degrees in the north, while outside air temperatures can vary by 100 degrees over the...

There is no doubt that on cloudy days like today when the air temperature is in the teens and the wind chill below zero, our mini splits struggle to produce enough heat. Ours are set to 68 degrees but a thermometer shows room temperatures are actually 65 to 66 degrees most of the time. We could turn them up and probably produce enough heat to get the inside spaces up to 70 but they would be working extra hard to do so. I am particularly sensitive to cold and so supplement this system with small space heaters (which are energy hungry). We have enough solar capacity that on average over the year we're still Net Zero. But I decided, as an experiment, (a very expensive experiment) to install radiant floor heat on the first floor of our house through a "staple up" sub floor system of PEX pipes in aluminum...

Working with PEX in a cold basement is difficult. It doesn't want to bend cleanly and sometime crimps. Those crimps have to be cut out and spliced but every splice creates an opportunity for a future leak. Radiant floor heat works best when there is a significant thermal mass like a concrete slab, but our system runs under the subfloor and finished hardwood floors on our first floor. One problem is that it tends to open up small gaps between the hardwood floorboards due to expansion/contraction. These gaps aren’t big enough to be problematic but they are visible.

Hardwood floors are definitely not ideal for radiant floor heat. The much bigger problem is the cost of heating the hot water (actually water and glycol antifreeze) that runs through the radiant tubing. In a concrete slab system, you only need to heat water to 110 to 120 degrees and often a lot less. You can do this easily with a simple on demand modulated domestic hot water heater but in a subfloor system sending heat up through subflooring and ¾ to 1-½ inch hardwood floor, you need... That means installing an actual boiler capable of 180 degree water. Electric boilers to heat water are very energy intensive and running our system adds about $600/month to our electric bill.

If we only run it December through February that’s nearly a $2,000 addition to our electrical demand and enough to take us out of Net Zero territory. The heat itself is wonderful. It’s even, comfortable, and has no trouble maintaining 70 degree inside temperatures. But as a sustainability enthusiast I haven’t run the system for the last two years. It’s just too “hungry.” I do recommend, however, that every house with mini splits has some form of backup heat in the event of a heat pump failure. In the sustainable rehab I recently completed I recommended a pellet stove for occasional backup heat but the new owner has not installed one.

Historically, powerful change has been created by grassroots efforts, efforts that a broad range of people can participate in. This is true of civil rights issues, women’s/gender issues, antiwar issues and other social movements. Might it also be true of sustainability? How does an average person address issues in their lives related to: More efficient, less- or non-polluting energy sources Cost effective, practical steps to live more sustainably

About Mysite Ecovisualllc Wixsite Com

People Also Search

Contact Us - Rick Colson, EcoVisual.org, 15 Laurel Street, Northampton,

Many Of The Products Used In Construction Were Surplus, Reclaimed

Two Feet In Many Locations With A Big Enough Field

Though It Sounds Counterintuitive, They Can Actually Extract Heat From

There Is No Doubt That On Cloudy Days Like Today