Village Energy at the National Home Show
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04. 8.08
I must have spent half of my visit to the National Home Show talking to Jup Bhasin, a former straw bale builder who moved to the big city and now works with Village Energy. It is one of the many companies springing up in Canada to provide inspections and services to homeowners who want to reduce their energy consumption and get rebates from programs like ecoENERGY. Their little 10x10 booth was packed with interesting products.
I did not know that there were now so many shapes and sizes of CFL and LED bulbs;
They even make candelabra-sized miniature ones now.
This is clever: a window-sized heat recovery ventilator (HRV) designed to be stuck in a window like an air conditioner, bringing fresh air into houses that otherwise might be sealed up all winter.
Self-portrait in Redwell infrared radiant panel. This is a European heating system that purportedly projects infrared energy to heat bodies or objects within about 14 feet rather than the air, which they claim saves energy. I was sceptical, but Jup claims that it feels far warmer and that the thermostat can be set lower. Redwell's website devotes a lot of space to the subject:
"In contrast to convection heating, when heating with infrared, the energy is transferred not through the air, but through electromagnetic waves, meaning, the air between the heating unit and the “recipient” does not warm up. The human body prefers radiated heat to convection heat. The larger the surface of the heating element, the less the air is moved and thus, more warmth is radiated."
Interesting stuff from ::Village Energy
Please keep doing stories like this, people need to know this stuff is out there. Where we live the green movement has been slow to start ,but is coming. I will email this story to everyone I know.