[RE-wrenches] offgrid system question

[Joel Davidson]

Interesting discussion.

Wrenches can figure out how to do just about anything, but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. The transition from holier-than-thou to hipper-than-thou is morphing into cleaner-than-thou. Yet death by pollution hardly impacts world population growth which drives resource depletion which drives politics toward more war. Not very "carefree summer days" thoughts, but something to keep in mind with the November election just around the corner.

Back to wrenching...and hammer-and-nailing. I have lived the past quarter-century in a climate that requires no heating or cooling more than 70% of the year so I'm out of touch with how people retrofit to reduce heating and cooling. Could wrenches in hot-dry and hot-humid regions share how they eliminate or reduce air conditioning in existing homes?

For wrenches in cold climates, send an email and I will share a pdf of a 1980 New Shelter magazine article about a double-wall superinsulated home that had a $50/year fuel bill.

Joel Davidson
"Two explosive growths are occurring: growth of superinsulated houses and growth of double-envelope houses. Estimates made by friends suggest that by March of 1980 as many as 25 to 100 superinsulated houses had been completed and about 300 to 1000 others were under construction. The estimates for double-envelope houses were similar." - Bill Shurcliff
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: R. Walters 
  To: jryago at netscape.com ; RE-wrenches 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:31 PM
  Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] offgrid system question


  Hi Jeff;


  I'm learning to start charging for that precious ZEN time. I try not to tell them they can't do it. 
  Instead, I charge for extra design time beyond a regular system, and I let the ridiculously expensive prices do the talking. 
  If they still want to do it, I start looking at a solar / generator hybrid, where the generator picks up the slack on hot summer days. 
  I start pushing efficiency, cut the costs in half, and make it work. 
  Is it fair for the client to brag about their environmental impact: No. The grid would be cleaner. 
  For me, I look at what they would do if they didn't go solar. If I'm keeping a generator from running 24 hrs/ day, I figure I'm still doing the world some good.
  (This may just be a bogus rationalization for some whopper jobs that kept me in business)


  Ray Walters






    Sorry, but sometimes you do have to tell a client they are wrong, and I do not always have the Zen time to help them discover that realization on their own through a slow learning process. 
    Jeff Yago 
      


     

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  R. Walters
  Solarray.com
  NABCEP # 04170442 








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