Renewable Heat Sources???

[andywalsh31]

I am looking to build a 2 storey house approx 2,500 sq ft in size and i have been looking at having a renewable energy heat source such as geothermal or wood pellets. At present I am finding it very hard to get impartial advice as to what system would best suit my house. Would anyone out there be able to offer me some advice on what are the beneifts of each system, and are these inital high costs actually turned into saving in the long run??? Is there a good website i could visit to get impartial opinion.

[VikingHouse]

If you super insulate then the size of your heating unit becomes quite small. Putting insulation between two four inch blocks and drylining are a waste of time if you want to achieve low heating costs.
What type of house are you building?

[andywalsh31]

when you say super insulate what insulation are you talking about? I have heard about people who are now insulating on the outside of their homes, rather than in between 2 blocks which is common practice in ireland, as this is seen as a much more cost effective tool.
To be honest what i am trying to do at the moment is get as much information as possible on different types of structure ie Insulated concrete, poroton blocks or timber frame and what insulation techniques these structures would work best with. I have read about this stone wool being used as an external insulator but apart from that i don't really know much about it. HAve you heard of this type of insulation??
I have also gone off the idea of geo thermal as there is a large inital outlay and no 'factual evidence' to prove that you will make the cost saving that they suggest.
I am now thinking of going with a wood pellet burner and either solar panels or tubes to heat the water in the summer months but this obviously depends on what structure we go with and what insulation we have.

[jkforde]

I've come across a fella named Ger O'Donoghue in Wexford, his company is Igneus Ltd. - he sells and installs solar and wood pellet stoves and boilers. I was talking with him at the energy show in the RDS a while back and he wasn't full of corporate BS and was straight talking (he doesn't believe geothermal is worth it either if you have a well insulated attic and walls)

Hope this helps.

[andywalsh31]

thanks jk i will have a look into that.

[VikingHouse]

Hi Andy

There is one statistic about Geothermal which interests me.
In Iceland 85% of the homes are heated by Geothermal and this is not in the Geyser area as you are not allowed build there.
So I remain open minded.

We use external insulation all the time and it works really well.