<DIV style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:10pt;"><DIV>On thing I have noticed in many of our discussions is we sometimes forget that many of us are from very different areas of the country and what you think works great for your area are not possible in other locations. Many good solar areas are also locations that are not too hot and not too cold. Other areas have very mild days all year long, but may need just a little heat from a wood stove a few nights during the winter, and some are in extremely cold locations for most of the year. I left Richmond at 98 degrees and 95% humidity last July 3th and flew to a client we have in Idaho and was standing in a 4 foot pile of snow and making snowballs the next day - July 4th, so we need to remember some of our great ideas are only great where we live.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In Virginia and this part of the east coast it is not just hot in the summer, this heat includes 80% to 95% humidity. For you in those cool and dry parts of the country, we have two large size SunFrost refrigerators and each summer I have to defrost them about every 4 weeks as they will build up 2" of ice in the REFRIGERATOR section because every time you open the door it lets in saturated air, now thats humid! Now imagine trying to live off-grid in places with high humidity. You must have air conditioning to reduce this humidity and as recent links have shown, its not easy to run a whole house air conditioning system on an off-grid solar power system. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For another example, I have a client in a true super-insulated underground home that has 4 feet of earth on the roof. Sounds like an ideal application for off-grid, until you find that they have to run 3 de-humidifiers 24 hours per day or the walls and ceilings start condensing water on the cool surfaces and everything becomes damp and mildews.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Some off-grid design tips for our part of the world that we have learned - </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Basements in off-grid homes are good for storage, mechanical and electrical equipment rooms, and laundry rooms, but not for living area as it takes too much energy to de-humidify.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>West facing glass is a killer and really heats up west facing rooms in the summers, north facing rooms are cooler and make good locations for bedrooms.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>South facing windows are only great for solar heating if you have large over-hangs or other shading devices to reduce summer over-heating.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There is no such thing as too much attic insulation, and there is no such thing as a well expansion tank that is too big.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>High ceiling living rooms and bedrooms and slow speed ceiling fans are cooler and require less air conditioning to feel comfortable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Radiant floor slab heating is great and only requires a small hot water boiler and tiny circulating pump which requires very little electrial power. The water boiler can be gas, oil, propane, or wood fired.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you must have air conditioning, zone the off-grid home so you are only cooling a small area where you will be most of the time like a master bedroom/bath, or a family room, and be sure the rest of the house can be isolated with doors or door drapes.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Forget heat pumps, if you need some cooling go for super efficient and small packaged split systems with soft start and high SEER ratings, some suggested units to consider:</DIV>
<DIV>Mitsubishi Mr. Slim "M" series 3/4 ton 13 SEER</DIV>
<DIV>Sanyo 3/4 ton #09KS71 with 16 EER</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Compact flourescent lamps are nice for off-grid, but the future will go to LED technology</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So what works for your part of the world?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jeff Yago</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR> <BR><HR>Netscape. Just the Net You Need.</DIV>