Heating the house without gas and electricity

Recommendation points

• What alternatives are there at all
• Application of energy saving technologies
• Solar energy
• Low potential heat collection
• Biofuels
• Solid fuel boilers

What should the developer do if none of the common energy sources is available in the selected construction area? This time we will talk about both modern and technologically advanced heating methods and traditional units operating on solid fuels..

What alternatives are there at all

In deciding the choice of a suitable heating system, the concept of energy balance is key. The calculation arithmetic is simple: the building loses thermal energy, and accordingly a heating source is needed to compensate for these losses. For some reason in our society it is considered quite acceptable to provide an excess injections of energy to your home, ignoring the rise in energy prices. This is quite understandable: for the sake of comfort, we neglect savings, because the energy source for heating is literally at hand, and in the future for the next five to ten years, it is quite possible to put up with utility bills.

The situation changes to the radically opposite when there is no gas pipeline or a sufficiently powerful municipal power grid in the construction area. Here, the problem of providing a house with thermal energy is divided into two components: the maximum possible approximation of the energy balance of the building to zero and the search for an energy source that can replenish the remaining heat losses.

In modern realities, there are not too many alternatives to gas and electric heating:

1. Use of solid fuel resources available in the region, such as firewood, coal, peat or waste from the wood processing industry;
2. Renewable energy sources such as sunlight, heat from the earth’s crust, or hydropower;
3. Independent production of fossil fuels.

The main catch lies in the fact that the use of such solutions in private is always associated with significant investments of funds, while these investments will be one-time. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the cost of thermal energy will ultimately be several times lower than when using gas and electricity, so innovative heating methods in the long term will serve well and will be extremely beneficial in the face of constantly rising heating prices..

Application of energy saving technologies

However, one should start not with the choice of the method of heating the home, but with work on reducing heat loss. Even in the most crude approximation, measures that can reduce the outflow of heat from a building are cheaper than increasing the capacity of alternative heating installations. Therefore, it is much more profitable to resort to a number of engineering solutions, some of which are introduced even at the stage of laying the foundation..

An example of a “Swedish plate” insulated foundation that can almost completely suppress the release of heat from the inside of the house into the ground

Here’s what a developer can do to reduce heat energy costs:

1. Correct orientation of the building on the ground in order to maximize the receipt of solar energy during the day;
2. Use of high-quality materials for house insulation, creation of a continuous thermal protection belt for walls, roofs and foundations;
3. Optimization of ventilation, return of heat from the exhaust air back to the building – recuperation;
4. The use of high-quality glazing, arrangement of a warm attic.

The synergistic effect of these methods is quite powerful, so the owner of the house must do everything in his power to use the least powerful source of heating in the future. Otherwise, the organization of alternative heat supply may simply not be affordable..

Solar energy

The most popular way of autonomous energy generation is sunlight. Here you can count on both the photoelectric effect and the direct heating of the inner atmosphere by collecting thermal radiation. The benefit is unique in each case.

The collection of solar thermal radiation by collectors is extremely profitable due to the minimum number of intermediaries in the energy conversion chain. The only problem is that it is rather difficult to stock up on thermal energy for those periods when its source is not available, that is, at night and cloudy days. The higher the geographic latitude of the object, the lower the minimum daylight hours. Practice shows that the use of heat collectors is beneficial in the belt up to 55–60? and only with significant storage capacity of the building or its heating system.

The possibilities of electric solar panels in this matter are somewhat higher. With a sufficiently large area of ​​a solar farm, even in a short daylight hours, enough electricity can be accumulated that can be effectively stored in a battery park. However, during the conversion of solar radiation into electricity and back into heat, up to 20-25% is lost, besides, the resource of batteries and photocells is limited, they degrade quickly enough.

Low potential heat collection

People in the know are extremely negative about claims that a certain heating installation can have an efficiency of 200 or 300 percent. However, unlike electrode boilers, devices for the collection of low-grade thermal energy can indeed have a high energy conversion coefficient, although they require its initial investment for this..

At the moment, there are two most profitable types of equipment that can cool the outdoor environment even more, and send the resulting kilocalories to heating the home. The most efficient are geothermal heat pumps, followed by air heat pumps. But the simplicity of their design and cost are inversely proportional to energy efficiency..

Devices for the collection of geothermal energy require either an external heat exchanger with a long length of pipes, or a natural source of heat seeping to the surface from the lithosphere: a geyser, a tectonic fault, or a fairly extensive and deep body of water. Air heat pumps are much simpler in design, but they are limited by the permissible minimum outdoor temperature, which, even for advanced technology, is from -25 to -30 ° C. When heated by heat pumps, energy is obtained practically free of charge: each input kilowatt of electrical energy at the output is converted into 2.5-4 kW of thermal energy, which makes it quite reasonable to set up your own small power plant.

Biofuels

The construction of your own gas bioreactor is no longer seen as something from the category of fantasy. Today there are quite a few examples of the successful use of such installations, which in excess provide the house and economy with heat..

Gas generating plants are extremely attractive, but complex in design and require constant technical supervision. Building the reactor itself is only half the problem. To maintain a constant production of methane, the bunker needs to be filled in time and constantly monitor the operating mode.

However, almost any organic raw material can serve as a fuel source, from cereal oilcake to manure. Often, for these purposes, they set up their own livestock complex on the site, which over time turns into a good source of income. As for the maintenance of the gas generator set, you will need not to shy away from dirty work or hire maintenance personnel for this business.

Solid fuel boilers

All the methods described above to provide housing with heat can scare an unprepared person with the complexity of their organization and high initial financial investments. If you are not ready to look so far into the future, it is quite possible to use fuel that is considered traditional for almost the entire history of human existence..

Burning wood, peat or coal is quite capable of replacing gas or electricity in full, even without reducing the energy balance. And for this there is no need to smoke the sky beyond measure: modern solid fuel boilers have efficiency reaching 80–85%. To heat an insulated house, 2.5-3 tons of firewood per season will be enough, while the main difficulties associated with equipment maintenance have long been eliminated. The issue of adjusting the power was solved by the automatic boost control, and the need to constantly replenish the fuel supply – with mine boilers of long burning.

Finally, do not forget about the most technologically advanced types of solid fuels. Briquettes and pellets are quite cheap and widespread. At the same time, they have the highest heat capacity among other types of wood fuel, while ash content, on the contrary, is minimal. Finally, the extremely low moisture content does not cause problems of condensation and tar formation, and for pellets it is even possible to automatically feed them from the hopper..