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PURETICS...

PURETICS...


Interesting Findings And World Unfolding Through My Eyes.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

A Home Which Behave Like Air Condition

About 25,000 inventors from all walks of life entered this annual contest, which is run by the History Channel and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. I was among the six judges who were asked to declare a winner from among the 25 finalists still standing.
The grand prize ($25,000) went to something called the Enertia house, which was invented by an engineer and former log-home architect, Michael Sykes. It’s a design for a home that heats and cools itself, with benefits both the homeowner and the environment.
Two factors contribute to this effect. First, the entire house is made of southern yellow pine. According to Mr. Sykes, this wood is especially efficient at maintaining a constant temperature; it absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night.
Second, air circulates in a convection cycle from top to bottom of the house, constantly redistributing the heat. Interviewed Mr. Sykes by e-mail.

DP: What is the “sunspace?” It looks like a sort of windowed atrium the full height of the house, but how does it play into the envelope concept?
MSS: The sunspace is always on the south, or the side that’s within 35 degrees of south. It connects to the attic, which connects to the space between the double north walls, which connects to the basement. There are metal grilles in the sunspace floor to complete the convection loop.
The space in the north double wall is also a great place to put pipes and wires, which would otherwise be a problem, since the walls are solid glulams [glued wooden blocks].
DP: How did you get into this? Where did you pick up all the science?
MS: I built houses to pay my way through engineering school, and I was asked to build a log house for a friend. We used the resinous local southern yellow pine; everybody else used white pine or cedar, which are lighter. To my amazement, it was more energy-efficient than anything I had built — but it was getting too hot on the sunspace side. I could have put in ducts and fans to move the heat, but that takes energy.
At the Equator, the sun creates what’s called a Hadley cell; the weather equalizes temperatures, rushing warmth to the polar regions. What I needed was a Hadley cell [for the house], and that required an atmosphere. The house already had a sunspace, an attic, and a basement; simply add a space in the north wall, and you have an atmosphere. Short-wave sun comes in, but long-wave heat energy cannot get back out. It’s like the greenhouse effect that warms the earth, but in miniature.
More at:http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/a-home-that-heats-and-cools-itself/

Posted by Ajay :: 11:00 AM :: 0 comments

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