Another day of surprises

Our daughters were laughing when I came home after work today. "You've got to see this" they said and pulled me into the room where we used to play billiard.

The picture shows how the room had been turned into a ventilation room. The size of the piping is a lot bigger than what we had expected and occupies much of the room.

My wife is still in shock after having seen "this monster". The solution better work well when we push the "start-button". My daughters, however, keep on laughing and says it almost looks like art :-)

Even though there is a lot of piping in place, the team still has to install the heatpump and another fan - and more piping next week before we can push the start button.

Below are some more pictures from the ventilation system - in the attic, coming down to ground floor and different angles in the ventilation room.

More on ventilation

The scaffolding outside our house was still there when we came home today as the picture to the left illustrates. Probably because they have to put back the awnings.

We had hoped that they would replace the patio-door today, but the carpenters have been busy inside the house - helping the ventilation team add piping from the attic via first floor to the ground floor. This is illustrated in the pictures below.

Piping from the attic via a cabinet on the first floor to the ground floor (first picture) - where the ventilation unit has been installed (second picture).

Notice the diameter on the piping (ca 40 cm each). They say this is to avoid noice in the ventilation system.

We used these cabinets for clothes, but we'll have to find somewhere else to hang them now.

Above the ventilation unit you can see two holes in the concrete wall. The were made today to connect to the outside part of the heatpump and to get air for the ventilation system.

The outside temperature is below zero these days and we're really looking forward to start the ventilation-system and heatpump - because in this construction phase it gets quite cold inside as well.

The last picture shows were the piping comes down to the ground floor and from here they have to drill 40cm holes in the concrete wall to get the piping in to the room were the ventilation unit is located.

Highlights of our JAHUS projects

Background info: I realized that I have been so eager to get started with this blog that I forgot to describe what we’re trying to do in our house. Included below are the highlights of our JAHUS project:

Step 1: We asked specialists about where to start to get the most “bang for the buck” (“bang” for us = lower electricity usage). They recommended to replace old windows and doors and add more isolation in the attic – and closing all the old air-valves (minimum 2 per room). These are the actions that will give the best immediate effect (and it will give the same effect for the people living in this house in 2050).

Step 2: Because the house is better isolated there is no longer sufficient recirculation of the air. We therefore needed to add a ventilation system. It was a pleasant surprise to understand that the latest technology available on the market can recover 90% of the energy in the air before it is “blown” out of the house. This is obviously a better solution than a lot of air-valves that lets 22C air straight out in the cold outside air. (In Norway we say that the old way is “heating for the crows”…).

Step 3: The ventilation system does not add heat (or cool down) to the fresh and filtered air it pushes around in the house. And even though the above mentioned activities dramatically reduces the energy lost to the outside air – we still need to add heating (and cooling in the warmest summer months). We have not removed the electrical heating we have in all rooms, but we are adding a heatpump that is 3-4 times as efficient as traditional electrical heating (1KW gives a minimum of 3-4KW of heating).

Step 4?: Specialists also say that you can save 20%+ by implementing a central control system for lights and heating in the house. We have asked for proposals, but there seems to be issues associated with the integration of our ventilation-system and heatpump. This last step is in status = To Be Decided.

Decision point
There are multiple versions of heatpump to choose from:

• Air-to-air: these are the cheapest and most widely used.
• Air-to-fluid: used for new buildings or old buildings with a distribution-system for heating already in place (heated fluids).
• Fluid-to-fluid: requires drilling a well in the garden (typically 200m deep) and this system has the same requirement for an in-house distribution system. Into the well you insert a special fluid in a closed loop with the heatpump. After having pulled energy out of the fluid and transferred it to the loop inside the house – the heatpump sends the cooled fluid back into the loop (to be warmed by the higher ground temperature 200m down in the well).

We have an old house without a distribution system for heated fluids, and the only economically feasible solution for us was “air-to-air” heatpump. One of the challenges of a single air-to-air heatpump in a relatively big house is the distribution of the heat in winter and cold air in the summer. Hot air is lighter than cold air and hence tends to move upwards, and the opposite is true for cold air – so how to get cold air to the first floor in the summer and warm air to the ground floor during winter? The ventilation system we’re installing takes care of this (according to the specialists).

Note: the project is being implemented in a climate close to the polar circle, but in warmer parts of our planet – people face the same (but opposite) challenges. The outside temperature is very different from the comfort temperature inside and A/C systems are installed to fix this problem. You can either use a lot of electricity do drive the A/C at full throttle – or you can do like we did: isolate and add a ventilation system that recovers most of the desired energy (in this case negative energy = cold air).

Many small steps every day

Progress: Yesterday when I came home from work, the house was hidden behind massive scaffolding - and inside it was freezing cold.

The carpenters had replaced the big living room window (and probably let many doors open while moving in and out). The scaffolding has not been disassembled yet, because they have to rebuild the frame around the window and put back the awnings. We now have replaced all the old windows in the livingroom and kitchen – and they will probably replace the old patio-door today.

The team installing the ventilation system was back and had added more holes in the ceiling – holes that eventually will be used for pushing fresh air in and pulling “used air” out of the rooms. Now, during the construction phase, these holes contribute to making the house extra cold and draughty.

Unexpected event/decision point: the project leader sent an email saying that they had made a mistake and purchased one window more than what we have asked for. He asked us if we wanted to replace another window in one of the bedrooms. I said that we had planned to take them in the next round (some time in the future) because these rooms are rarely used during daytime and at night we want the temperature to be lower than the livingroom. He said that we would get a discount and we decided to accept the offer and replace the window that seemed to be in worst condition.

Background info: I realized that I have been so eager to get started with this blog that I forgot to describe what we’re trying to do in our house. My next blog post will include the highlights of our own JAHUS project.

Progress in our home today

They replaced 4 of the old windows (from 1971) in the livingroom with new low-emission windows today :-) Last week all the windows in the kitchen were replaced and status in the livingroom is now: 5 down and 2 to go (the biggest window and the patio-door).

The team installing our ventilationsystem has probably caught the flue or someting, but the manager still says that they will finish their part of the project this week. Half of the "piping" has been completed (most of the distribution system is located in the attic) and the ventilation unit that will pull in fresh air and recover heat from the "used air" is in its right place in the cellar - but is not connected to the distribution system yet. The same is true for the heatpump (A/C) - both the indoor unit and the unit to be placed outside are stored in the cellar.

Enova in Norway suggests that you can save up to 20% of your energycost by implementing a central management system for lights and heating in your house. They even offer up to 500 Euros is grants for those who implement such solutions. We therefore wanted to implement such a central management system. It's been weeks since we had meetings with to prospects - but neither has managed to send a proposal.

The whole project is quite complex and I believe that sharing some of the questions we have and challenges we face as we go down this path - can help others who want to achieve what we try to achieve in our house.

* a central management system for lights and heating/cooling can be very effective for houses with electrical heating/cooling. You define different temperature zones and depending on the time of day (and potentially based on motion censors) the target temperature varies. To achieve the same savings in a project like ours - it is important that the heatpump and the ventilation unit can be managed from the same system. This seems to be a challenge that the company who installs the solution didn't count on. Still hoping it will be solved.

* earlier today we passed a list of questions over to the company responsible for the new ventilation system. I will include the questions as comments below when we receive the answers.

Wait for someone else to fix the problem?

Like normal people in the streets can’t wait for governments to solve the challenges of global warming and shortages on energysupply - governments should definitely not wait for people/markets (or other governments) to fix the problem for them.

Given that forcing people by implementing unpopular rules and regulations is unrealistic (loosing campaign dollars and voters) - the most effective and likely path to success is to give people extra economical incentives to reduce energy consumption (because indirectly this leads to less green house gas - GHG, emissions).

What should the governments do? Make JAHUS projects so economically attractive that not doing it would be plain stupid (and the cost for this would be surprisingly low - because savings on the electricity bill pays for most of it)

- lower the threshold for ordinary households: make critical components of JAHUS projects VAT-free and like in the USA add the advantage of reduced tax payments (for JAHUS projects).
- lower the threshold for ordinary households: one big upfront investment of up to 30.000 Euros is a showstopper. Governments therefore need to offer cheap loans for projects that lead to lower energy consumption. One example is JAHUS projects that cut electricity consumption by 30-50% in the average household. I have been told (by Bellona, http://www.bellona.org/) that France leads the way by offering interest-free 10 year loans of up to 30.000 Euros for JAHUS projects.

Why now?

- most people believe the scientists who say that we face dramatic climate changes unless we reduce the emission of green house gases (GHG). Not only do we have to reduce GHG emissions

- but it must be done now. It is an escalating problem and failing to act now means that the challenges we face in 2020 will be more dramatic.

- with the upcomming UNCCC event in Copenhagen in December 2009 (http://en.cop15.dk/frontpage) all world leaders will be challenged to make serious committments. Europe sends a “clear message” to the world, offering up to 95 percent emissions cut by 2050 if a deal is reached in Copenhagen (http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2413)

- by (lucky?) coincident the world also is in the midst of a financial crisis and many countries face high unemployment rates and declining GDPs. Massive numbers of JAHUS projects will contribute to more money changing hands and hence more jobs being created (hands to do the job).

Note: Even though I sit in Norway and the outside temperature can be very low in the winter, JAHUS projects should be launched in most industrialized countries. The government in France leads the way with cheap loans, and look to California who has experienced a power-grid that breaks down on hot summer days because of all the A/C units on “full throttle”. With well isolated houses and a ventilation system that features heat/cool air recovery - the electricy used in these houses can be reduced by 30 to 50% also in sunny California.

You may find these links interesting too:

“15 million buildings to become eco-friendly” http://en.cop15.dk/news/view%20news?newsid=2322

“Obama wins Nobel recognition for his climate policy” http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2321

Welcome to the JAHUS blog

I have created this blog to share with you my thoughts and experiences as we try to make an effort to use less energy and hence reduce the emissions of gases that cause global warming.

There are too many people who expect the government to deal with these questions (on our behalf). They seem to think “if my neighbor doesn’t do anything - why should I”. This isn’t only the case for people in the street, but seems to be the case for countries who, in preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, fight over the amount of cuts - and who should pay the highest price for saving the planet.

We all know that politicians (at least in a democracy) have a short political life if they try to introduce dramatic changes to peoples everyday life - so rather than try to force people to act, I believe that they should focus on efforts that make it in peoples own interest to do what the politicians want them to (tax relief, cheap loans, etc.)

“I have a dream”: just think what we could achieve if for instance there was an easy way to reduce energy consumption in normal houses by 30-50%. Wouldn’t everybody do it if the cost was zero and the quality of life actually improved?

I was inspired to write this blog when I watched the movie “Julie and Julia” ( www.julieandjulia.com ) - Amy Adams is Julie Powell who decides to make all 524 recipes in 365 days and write about this adventure in a blog. As Julie in this movie, we are quite ordinary people. Rather than cook for a year, we want to turn our house in to a JAHUS (“a yes-house”: in norwegian). We want to properly isolate the house, install a ventilation system and a heatpump and some other recommended tasks that according to specialists will cut 30-50% of our yearly energybill. Initial calculations indicate that this can be done at a cost no higher than what we save on electricity for heating.

The technology is available, but the up-front cost is too high. If it turns out that our JAHUS project is successful, I hope our government (and other governments) will follow the example from France where such projects are financed by the government (10 year interest-free loans up to 30.000 Euros). Make these types of products VAT-free and also add possibilities for income tax deductions like they do in USA - and it will be a “no-brainer” for people to sign up for.

This blog will initially include descriptions of pitfalls and be used to let out some steam when it turns out that implementing the recommended energy saving projects are more difficult than anticipated.

It is said that all countries need to spend 2% of their GDP on these types of projects (reduce energy consumption and increase the production of renewable energy). This translates to 10.000 million USD here in Norway - and I’d hate to see these dollars be spent on projects that do not give the best “bang for the buck” (we don’t have the time…). 40-50% of all electricity spent in Norway is used for heating in building and with a massive adoption rate (many JAHUS projects), savings could get as high as 10TWh per year by 2020. If 1 kwh saved in Norway means 1kwh exported to Europe and hence 1 kwh clean energy (hydroelectric energy from waterfalls) replacing 1kwh coal-fueled energy - there would be one kilo CO2 less in the atmosphere (or 10TWh => 10 million tons of CO2 per year)

You may also find inspiration (like I did) in David MacKays book “Sustainable Energy - without the hot air” (http://www.withouthotair.com/)