Powering through the first year on 272 kg of CO2

We have a Smappee power monitor on our panel in our 'all electric' house to track consumption. The house panel is a sub panel of the main power supply to the property. The only meter is on the main supply and so does not differentiate the house loads. The only house loads not monitored by the Smappee is the water well submersible pump, water softener and iron filter.

Interesting to note the difference between Nov-Mar 2018-19 and 2019-20 with the past cold fall and warm winter.

This not intended to be a research-grade data collection and analysis so I have taken some liberties as to assumptions in the spreadsheet below.

• heating [3,433 kWh/$412]
• cooling [179 kWh/$21]
• plug load/water heating [3,900 kWh/$468].

Total consumption of 7,512 kWh is 6% higher than the PHIUS modeling in this 12 month period. At $.12 kWh it cost a total of $901.

We are on time-of-use (TOU) billing for power and it ranges from $.08 to $.16/kWh . Allowing for 43% going to heating (which is predominately nighttime to offset temperature lows and lack of solar) I arrived at an average of $.12/kWh .

Compared to our previous century farmhouse our heating bill is just 10%. Our total energy bill, with delivery charges factored in, is down to 20%.

And of course, thanks to our very clean power grid, our carbon footprint for ALL our energy is a miserly 272 kg of CO2 vs >10 T!

Date	Consumption [Wh]	Always on [Wh]	Heating [Wh]		Cooling [Wh]	Plug loads, etc.
4/1/2019	729,939	190,337	404,939			325,000
5/1/2019	524,499	106,204	199,499			325,000
6/1/2019	386,653	105,575			61,653	325,000
7/1/2019	377,660	99,800			52,660	325,000
8/1/2019	346,917	100,174			21,917	325,000
9/1/2019	367,692	112,000			42,692	325,000
10/1/2019	401,155	95,048	76,155			325,000
11/1/2019	835,913	248,408	510,913			325,000
12/1/2019	1,175,299	376,306	850,299			325,000
1/1/2020	883,587	270,726	558,587			325,000
2/1/2020	726,997	191,756	401,997			325,000
3/1/2020	755,951	190,065	430,951			325,000
Total [Wh]	7,512,264	2,086,399	3,433,341		178,923	3,900,000
Total [kWh]	7,512	2,086	3,433		179	3,900
					[$/kWh]	0.12
Cooling		179	[kWh]		2%	$21
Heating		3,433	[kWh]		46%	$412
Plug loads, appliances, HW	water heater	3,900	[kWh]		52%	$468
Annual total		7,512	[kWh]		100%	$901
PHIUS modelling		7,062	[kWh]		94%	$847
Difference		450	[kWh]		6%	$54

What is a our earth tube really contributing?

A deep dive into earth tubes with a detailed look at the data collected on the Walton house. A Passive Buildings Canada presentation, part of "High Performance Design Meets Boots on the Ground" - Toronto Ontario, March 11, 2020. Presenters: Yury Petyushin & Rob Blakeney.  Earth tubes are praised by some people as an infinite source of absurdly cheap energy and are cursed by others as a health hazard due to the potential risk of mould growth. How many earth tubes have been installed in Canada and how are they operating? What is data really showing us? After analyzing more than 300,000 data points from a real project, Rob and Yury are ready to share the results.

Are you still pleased with the performance of the CERV2?

A question that has been posed in one form or another, numerous times, deserves a more nuanced answer than just 'Yes'.

First I would reframe the question. The CERV2 device, while it is an essential component, is only part of an overall design contributing to our indoor environmental quality. So my observations applies to the system performance.

Pro

• uniform comfort throughout the home - awesome
• quiet
• clean - MERV13 filters slash housekeeping chores
• peace of mind to know that 'invisible' health factors such as PM2.5 particulates, VOCs, CO2 and humidity are being monitored and managed
• works great out of the box with virtually no intervention needed yet allows tweaking for seasonality and home operation. 
• service and software upgrades are simple. We had a software and chip issue on the CERV that were promptly and easily addressed.
• incredibly efficient - in combination with the earth tube the CERV heat pump COP is optimized.
• the folks at Buildequinox are responsive knowledgeable and thorough.
• rich data acquisition and online reporting and control is outstanding.
• the CRV design is robust, simple, serviceable, efficient with quality components. 

Con (pretty much nitpicking here)

• CERV2 hasn't addressed a full Centigrade interface - its a Canadian thing.
• the fasteners on filter covers don't convey the underlying quality of the CERV
• the ducting design has to be done right the first time and the flow rates are bit out of 'normal' for HVAC installers. We are slightly warmer upstairs than down and can't quite balance it out.
• the inline resistance heater is a bit mysterious to setup and monitor although ultimately is just works.
• duct noise levels at night are more noticeable - comparable to a regular furnace install - but purely subjective as it is mostly me that thinks there should have been more duct muffling. 
• there are a few 'tricks' to learn such as dehumidification by lowered max temperature.
• there are few data points that aren't collected in the data acquisition such as outdoor temp in addition to intake temp.
• manual inspection of filters needed - pressure differential alarm would be sweet. 

Further thoughts...

Part of the IEQ equation is the Heat pump water heater and heat pump clothes dryer. These both contribute some heating/cooling and dehumidification. Our indoor plants contribute some humidification. One of the fascinating aspects of PH is how responsive the indoor environment is to small input changes.

In our experience, we have found Buildequinox are uniquely committed to leading-edge development of residential IAQ management and high-performance home design in general. They offer a constantly updated archive of related article and videos that are required reading if you really want to appreciate the complexity of optimal IEQ design. https://www.buildequinox.com/news/ and  https://www.buildequinox.com/publications/

Another thoughtful, leading-edge source of information on the topic is Nate Adams. Nate draws knowledge from many of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field and applies it in a practical accessible methodology. Download his 'Understanding your home heating and cooling system'  for some revealing tips and recomendations. http://www.natethehousewhisperer.com/hvac-101.html

Inside and Out Podcast interview on Passive House with Peter Smith

INSIDE AND OUT: Talk with CHRIS LEE, environmentalist, farmer, volunteer, about his and Judy's PASSIVE HOUSE in rural Ontario. Almost zero carbon footprint, cost and energy-efficient. Passive idea works in new builds, retrofits, and renovations. Time to get real about climate and HIGH PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS can help us get to where we need to go. Give a listen. Inside and Out are conversations with those impacting on the world in grand, eloquent, and loving ways. Here is a link for it: https://anchor.fm/peter-smith05

 You can also listen in on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Copy RSS under the In No Particular Order banner. email: innoparticularorder.podcast@gmail.com

Hunting for where the heat goes.

We had the opportunity to do an infrared scan of the house on a dull January day at outdoor freezing temperature when the loss prevention technician from our insurance company was here for an assessment. He is an experienced operator with professional equipment. None the less this was just a quick scan and should be interpreted with caution.

The second law of thermodynamics gives us the heads up that heat will eventually move from the warm interior to a cold exterior. IR scans point us to where this is happening and help us check on how much and how fast this is happening (despite our best efforts).

No startling revelations but several interesting observations.

• the scan is sensitive enough that the interior 2x4 studs are evident even behind 8" of EPS insulation, siding and two layers of OSB! It also confirms the contribution of 4" of blown-in fibreglass.
•  the overhang roof surface show 'warm' but I assign that to residual environmental heat and the surface change, going from the wood siding to the black rubber shingling. flir0082.jpg
• I may need to adjust the main door latching. flir0083.jpg This may be a trace heat signature of having opened then closed the door letting heat escape.
• The door latches are thermal bridges (we already knew that having observed some interior condensation on the deadbolt knob in cold weather). flir0083.jpg   
• the interior ceiling corners still show a 5C temperature differential despite heroic levels of insulation. It really drives home the difficulty of dealing with complex architectural features such as the lower floor ceiling corner with the setback of the upper wall corner.
• our Vetta windows are all performing consistently. The glazing may be better than the frames - we already anticipated that as we went with the most economical window. But the Elite 92 at 0.8 W/m²K still sneaks under the passive house bar.
• it is revealing that the CERV2 exhaust shows as 'cool' on the north side (upper right on flir0085.jpg). It is a tribute to the efficiency of this unit that the exhaust air appears very close to ambient outdoor air temp.
• no leaks in evidence!
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