the heating conundrum

Hydronic heating is a benign system of heating - good for indoor air health

Any inquiry into the most sustainable options for home heating is fraught with confusion and conjecture.
It is a difficult choice for today's homeowners because we want to invest in a system that will last a couple of decades, yet the landscape is changing rapidly in terms of the efficiency of heating technologies plus the cost and environmental impacts of energy supply choices.

There are so many pros and cons to every type of heating that in the end you need to decide what pros are the highest priority for you and what cons you can’t live with.
The ATA published an article by Alan Pears (environmental consultant and one of Australia's leading energy efficiency experts) on heating choices in Renew magazine in which he states in the opening paragraph:

“Achieving winter comfort in a way that is affordable, effective and environmentally sound is tricky….advising people on this topic is difficult and frustrating. I still can’t find the ‘ideal’ answer”

And more recently the ATA published this study "Are we still cooking with Gas?", comparing various cost/ benefit scenarios for heating and cooking with gas vs electric over different regions in Australia and in various scenarios (new homes, existing homes, etc). The conclusions the report draws are varied dependant on factors such as existing infrastructure and local supply costs.  So if you are feeling confused - don’t worry. So are the experts.

Basically, the only type of heating that has the potential to be 100% renewable is electric. 
However a high initial investment in a stand alone, hybrid or grid connect PV system is likely to be needed to achieve that. Or paying a higher purchase price for 100% green power and incurring high costs in the short term, until renewable electricity prices fall.

At the other end of the spectrum the most benign system for indoor air health is hydronic style heating.
Radiant heating is the healthiest type of indoor heating and I would argue in most situations the most effective, (in terms of the occupants comfort). Currently electric radiant options (oil heaters, panel heaters) are vastly less efficient than gas ones, although some pioneer households are installing evacuated tube systems to partially run hydronic heating, however the effectiveness of this in various climate zones across australia is yet to be measured accurately.In the end you have to make a very personal decision based on what your priorities are, the way you use heating and live in your space and what the thermal capacity and limitations are of your home.
Here are a couple of ideas to consider about your space:

If one part of your home is newer and more thermally efficient, use space heating to heat this area and separate it from the rest of the home.
All heating will perform better with better sealing and insulation. Your money should always go there first. With good pump in options for cavity walls and numerous under floor and roof insulation system available, this should be the first thing you do in an uninsulated existing home, and can probably be achieved for around $12,000 for an average size home with reasonable access. It is very important the reputable experienced installers do this job, as badly installed insulation will have little benefit and can do damage to your building. That action alone will save you more on heating bills than anything else.
Any type of ducted heating or cooling creates large holes in your rooms thermal envelope, that will leak heat and cool air when not being used.

Although I adore the ambience of an open fire, I would forget about wood burning unless you have your own coppice forest, if you do then it is a great idea. If your going to burn wood, use a slow combustion burner combined with an inbuilt or overhead fan. Open fireplaces do an excellent job of heating the atmosphere and not much inside the home.

Every company out there will say their heating is the most efficient. It’s not true.

Below are some of the pros and cons of various heating types to use when deciding which is right for your particular living situation.

PROS: GAS HEATING AND COOKING
• Good options for radiant heat, which is more effective in open-plan spaces or draughty/ poorly insulated/ high ceilinged spaces.
• Radiant heating from hydronic or power-flued gas fireplaces is less aggravating to asthma or allergy sufferers as it does not circulate dust and indoor pollutants
• Gas is relatively cheap for the time being (this is not likely to last)
• Gas appliances are generally well tested technology with long lifetimes
• Balanced or power flued gas heater have zero interior emissions
• Heat shifting ducts can be used to move space heating to bedrooms of other parts of the building
• Gas cooking provides instant heat adjustments which is preferred by many cooks
• Radiant heating can provide a focal point in a room and create ambience
• Radiant heat can be stored by high mass objects in the room, meaning the heat is retained for longer after the heater is turned off.

CONS: GAS HEATING
• Gas is a polluting fuel source contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, especially when produced from coal seams
• Gas prices will increase in years to come, either to cover the cost of increased demand leading to increased infrastructure or from less demand from more people leaving the gas network.
• In new houses the cost of running gas through the building is high
• Connection to the gas network incurs fixed ongoing costs.
• Un-flued or chimney flued gas heaters are a safety hazard and release by-products of combustion into the room
• Gas heaters must be regularly serviced to ensure safety and optimum performance
• The ducting in ducted gas central heating is subject to massive heat losses and is prone to damage potentially wasting huge amounts of energy.

PROS: ELECTRIC HEATING AND COOKING
• Can be powered by 100% renewable sources, either from purchasing wind power or an onsite renewable energy source.
• Easily zoned and provides instantaneous heat, only the space in which it is needed
• If auxiliary cooling is required then the heating unit can provide this as well reduce up front costs
• If hot water, cooking and heating is electric then you can disconnect form the gas network and save on fixed charges
• The air filters in reverse cycle units can remove pollutants from the indoor air, increases the indoor air quality when cleaned regularly
• There are now floor console reverse cycle units that produce the heat where it is needed
• The potential to go off the grid and use battery back up to provide all of your electricity needs would mean avoiding ongoing fixed electricity provider costs.
• Induction cookers are efficient, quick to heat and cook and easy to clean

CONS ELECTRIC HEATING AND COOKING
• Reverse cycle heating efficiency drops off significantly in very cold weather
• Reverse cycle used significant loads of standby power keeping a 100W element warm constantly
• Radiant/ resistive electric heating is 3-6 times less efficient than reverse cycle, and only suitable for short bursts of heat such as in bathrooms
• The air filters in reverse cycle are often not cleaned regularly which leads to a drop off in efficiency and a decrease in indoor air quality
• The convective heat generated by reverse cycle can aggravate asthma and allergy conditions by moving dust around and drying out the indoor air.
• Connection to the electricity network incurs fixed ongoing costs
• Smart metering technology allows electricity to be charged at constantly fluctuating rates according to peak use-age, so it will potentially become the most expensive when heating and cooling needs are highest
• The up front cost of PV installation is high, and the feed in tariff is low so to offset your electricity usage financially a very high capacity system could be necessary.
• Solar PV production is at it lowest when usage is at its peak, and due do the difference between the purchase price for electricity and the buy back price you must generate more than what you use to offset your costs financially or have significant battery storage to cover the low periods.

In summary, one of the things I aim to do in my ESD consultations for households is help homeowners indentify what type of heating will be the most effective and efficient for their particular living situation. The reason third party advice is so beneficial is because it is independent of a sales objective, and further than that, a human to human assessment means I am able to factor in all the subtle observations about the way the home is used, the inhabitants future plans and personal preferences.

the comeback curtain

Window furnishings are the nerds that no one wants to invite to the energy efficient house party. Curtains have had a bad rep for the last few years as natural light and indoor-outdoor connection drive home design. Our windows are getting larger relative to interior spaces and to cover them we often use blind systems that do very little to thermally seal your windows. Many ‘eco’ houses are designed around walls of glass with no thought given to hanging window coverings on them. There is a common misconception among consumers that double-glazing is a replacement for curtains. Double-glazing is an almost essential building element in this day and age, but it will not work to its optimum to thermally protect you home unless combined with high quality window furnishings. 

Good window coverings are an excellent way to increase the energy efficiency of existing homes and new buildings. The humble curtain is set to make a big comeback. If you are sitting in a warm room at night between an uncovered window and your heating source it is likely you will feel a chill, as you are sitting the middle of a draught created by the interior heat making a beeline for the cool exterior. Properly fitted and lined curtains and window treatments are the best way to avoid this effect and to slow down interior heat loss. They also work to reduce heat gain in summer; however shading the glass externally is the better way to achieve this. 

However, not all window treatments have a beneficial thermal effect, they must be designed, constructed and hung a certain way to work. If you are wondering if your sheer curtains have any insulating qualities, imagine standing in the snow in a sheer nightdress and you will have your answer. The curtains/blinds must create a seal over the window so that a layer of warm air can become trapped in between the curtain and the glass. If the curtains hang in front of the window with gaps at the base and top it will become a passive cooling system, sucking warm air from the upper part of the room down beside the cool glass and pushing it out the bottom freshly cooled.

4  WAYS TO CHECK IF YOUR CURTAINS WILL SLOW HEAT LOSS:

1. The are fully lined with 3 pass thermal lining.

2. They touch the floor.

3. They  wrap around at the sides to the wall. (Use track rather than rod and ring hanging systems.)

4. They are sealed at the top by a pelmet. These can be timber, fabric, or invisible (achieved by resting a piece of lightweight timber along the track mounts between the wall and the curtain).

THERMALLY EFFECTIVE BLINDS:

1. Thermally lined roman blinds that sit against the window frame and make a reasonable seal.

2. If you have deep timber reveals or window frames and can mount a blind against the glass and inside the frame of the window then block out roller blinds and honeycomb blinds can be effective, but these must have a snug fit! You can tell if they are sealed at all sides, bottom and top by the amount of light getting in around the edges.

5 TIPS FOR CURTAINS THAT LOOK GOOD:

1. Have them reach the floor: Curtains half way down the wall look like a man with suit pants that are too short. Also mount them at least 200mm above the window (or from the ceiling) so it looks balanced.

2. Pick your fabrics carefully as curtains are a long-term investment. Make sure you don't pick something that will date in 5 years as hopefully they will last at least 10-15 with good care. 

3. If you don’t want to feature them, match the fabric to the wall colour, they will blend in and disappear.

4. Make sure you allow enough room to stack back the curtains off the window so you don’t block any views or light when they are drawn back.

5. Get expert advice. Badly made curtains and poorly fitting blinds draw attention to themselves. Interior designers and decorators often offer you good discounts that mean that you pay less for your curtains and blinds and all of the stress of figuring out what will work and look good is taken care of. Brave New eco specialises in custom curtains and blinds in a range of sustainable, natural fibre and hand printed fabrics by local designers.

Why sustainable retro-fit are always part of our work

The owners of this inner north Victorian weatherboard have installed insulation, solar hot water, photovoltaic panels, rainwater tanks, efficient heating and ceiling fans since having a home sustainability consultation with Brave New Eco.

The majority of Australians live in housing stock that was built with little or no consideration of energy efficiency. The average home over 10 years old would rate at between ZERO to TWO stars. In a rating system that now says new buildings should be a minimum of 6 stars you can see our existing housing stock is in a sad state, and is going to become increasingly expensive  and uncomfortable to live in as energy prices and temperatures continue to rise.

Any renovation of change you make to your home is an oppurtunity to improve improve the thermal efficiency. With appropriate updating and retrofitting older and existing homes can be brought up to their full potential and be very comfortable and economical to live in.

The complexity of this task is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution as all houses are different and are often made up of a variety of materials, Every project we work on entials a ecologically sustainable retrofit considerations. We aim to the confusion and guess work out of where to start, what to do, what to use and in what order. Our design process begins with an inspection of the home and property to gather important information about the orientation, existing technologies, current thermal and insulative qualities, lighting, passive heating and cooling potential. We spend time discussing the way you live, , how long the occupants intend to live in the house,  how to increase comfort and health in the house, and what human and economic resources are available. With this information we are able to outline the potential of your home from a sustainability perspective, and what is going to be relevant, practical, feasible and effective for your particular situation. 

WHAT WE LOOK AT:

• Passive solar design - potential for passive heating and cooling
• Zoning
• Draft proofing and retro fitting insulation
• Auxiliary heating and cooling
• Hot water heating
• Renewable energy
• Rainwater harvesting and grey water use
• Energy efficient appliances
• Lighting, power saving technology
• Cross flow and passive stack ventilation
• Adapting spaces to facilitate sustainable lifestyle
• High performance windows and coverings
• Energy efficient Appliances
• Non-toxic materials

Retro-fits of existing spaces may not have the glamour and excitement of new sustainable buildings or stylish eco renovations, but they have more positive impact on our environmental footprint than either of those things. This is simply because they already exist!
It it the biggest gift you can give your home, to transform it for living in the 21st century. I like to think of it as up-cycling our housing stock into a new, more efficient product.
On top of that, once you properly insulate your home and upgrade your technologies, your comfort and enjoyment of that space will increase exponentially. So many of the retrofit changes are simple, and so effective and many of my clients cannot believe they have not done them sooner. Positive changes that can be made on any budget.  Retrofit investments will be reflected in the value of your home in the future. As electricity, gas and water prices rise renters and home owners are becoming increasingly focused on the real cost of living in a potential house.
The most important factor about seeking expert advice about your home, is that it is impartial. If you do your research by talking to the suppliers of green products, they are likely to say your house needs their hotwater/ solar/ rainwater/ ventilation/ shading/ insulation system. We work to identify which investments are appropriate and will have the most satisfying impact on an environmental, economic and comfort level.

The happy co-inhabitation of old and new

Left to right: Aged brass sliding door furniture; Salvaged brass door handles

There are many schools of thought when it comes to renovating and extending period homes.
One is to provide a stark contrast between the contemporary and original build and many council heritage departments support this idea. This came out of a reaction to faux victorian or edwardian extensions that were popular a few decades ago, and an idea that any contemporary additions should be easily distinguishable from the original building.
I like the authenticity of this idea, but on a slightly different spectrum. I believe the old should be old, and the new should be new but they should have an intimate conversation with one another. For me the key to cohesion is in the details, the small signifiers in the interior finishes that reference both the past and the future of a building.
How do you bring a sense of nostalgia to the blandness of contemporary finishes?  Or lift the heaviness of period features so they can dance lightly with the new build?

HIGH QUALITY MATERIALS AND FINISHES
We have all been in a home where the 1980's renovation is falling apart while the original 20th century features still stand strong. Materials such as timbers, stone and metal are timeless and can provide a continuum between the old and new.

LINKING FLOORING
If you are extending consider sourcing either recycled floorboards to match the original; replacing all of the floors with the same material (and sending the existing for recycling); or if you do change the type of timber board, using the same width boards and having the whole floor stained or oiled in the same finish.

LINKING DOORS
If you have unpainted timber doors in the old house consider using timber veneer doors in the new.
In the renovation above of a californian bungalow, the original doors had been replaced with poor quality cavity doors in the 1960′s. I sourced these salvaged 1940′s solid timber doors from Select Salvage and had them dipped to remove the many layers of old lead paint. These are not a traditional Californian Bungalow style but the simplicity of three long panels meant they could be trimmed to fit and worked well with the contemporary spaces. For door furniture I sourced salvaged brass 1940′s handles, that despite the beautiful aged patina they had, were a very classic line that is still used today in contemporary door furniture.

LINKING FITTINGS AND FIXTURES
As some rooms would have both old and new doors in them I wanted the door furniture to be of the same material, so I selected new brass door furniture that echoed the lever shape of the salvaged ones. I then had the difficulty of having to find several pieces of sliding door furniture that would tie in with the original aged brass pieces. The solution was to use pretty awful but readily available bright yellow brass door furniture and age it by hand using very fine steel wool to remove the lacquer and a special solution to darken the brass. For the exterior sliding doors I found beautiful aged bronze handles made in New Zealand by Halliday Baillie.  Brass and bronze are wonderful materials for door furniture as they are 100% recyclable at the end of their life and some high end products from companies like Chant, use recycled material to make their products. If left un-laquered brass will develop a beautiful patina over time. Chrome door furniture requires carcinogenic and highly toxic chemicals used in the chroming process, and the chrome does wear off eventually.

Back to the subject of this post, relationships between the old and new. I used salvaged period and new door furniture in the same space unifying them by the materials they were made of. These small details show that the building is one, that the new respects the old, and the old is willing to move with the times.

COLOURS
This idea can also be utilised in the choice of paint colour and wall coverings. In this californian bungalow I chose softened classic early 20th century colours for the original bedrooms, such as soft blues and mushroomy pinks, washed right out with lots of light grey so that overall effect was still light and modern. In the contemporary space I used warm neutrals so you did not feel a sense of cold or emptiness when you transistion into the extension, which are often lighter and more open plan than the original building.  In the front hall, which is visible from both the new and old part of the house, I selected a contemporary wall paper by designer Penny Maskell. Designed in Tasmania and hand printed in Melbourne, this gum leaf and abstract flower design is new in style but classic in it’s subject of native flora and fauna. In this case I used the gum leaf as a nod to the three enormous gum trees at the base of the property that would have been around when the house was originally built and have watched it ever since. The new extension frames these trees in large picture windows, so the unremarkable front entrance, with its lovely wallpaper provides something in the way of a little promise of what is to come beyond the hall.

Back to the subject of this post, relationships between the old and new. I used salvaged period and new door furniture in the same space unifying them by the materials they were made of. These small details show that the building is one, that the new respects the old, and the old is willing to move with the times. A theme that will always defy the ages is the natural environment, and natural materials. Using recycled architectural features and materials in your extension will help to soften the hard lines of contemporary building and add texture and depth to the spaces.