Success

We filled Al Henrick's solar loop on Saturday night. Night is best to prevent steam from forming. The big delay was running the electric power to the pumps from a remote PV panel. Today was the first sunny day after filling and the system worked flawlessly. By the time I left around 1:30, standard time not daylight time, the tank was around 120 degrees F. The coldest water off the bottom of the tank was 114 degrees, and the heat exchanger was returning 124 degree water to the center of the tank. This was a cold start since the system had never run before, and the starting temperature was around 55-58 degrees.

It was interesting to listen to the pumps slow down and speed up as clouds reduced the output of the PV panel and then moved away. I worked on the insulation for a little while, and the tank rose from 84 degrees when I arrived around 11:00 standard time to the 114 degrees I mentioned earlier by the time I left. The storage tank holds 105 gallons, so this is a substantial rise in temperature. All we need to do now is finish up insulating the elbows and other fittings, and then install jacketing on the exterior insulation to protect it from UV rays and we are DONE!

Dan Michelsen

Just got back from attending the Energy Center of Wisconsin's Better Buildings Better Business Conference Wisconsin Dells.

Boy was that place buzzing with great ideas! Just a quick wander through the trade show area was enough to make your head spin - and the gears inside that head start spinning with possibilities. To list just a few resource-saving innovations:

* The Green Switch, a brand-new device that saves you having to individually unplug or turn off all your power strips, appliances and lights when not in use in your most power-hungry rooms

* Structural Insulated Panels - basically big styrofoam sheets sandwiched between pressboard, which eliminate the need for studs. They're supposed to result in leak-free constuction and result in a 50% more efficient building. It's available in 4 thicknesses with R values from R-18 to R-40.

* The Solatube, a high-tech skylight that effectively brings daylight into hard-to-reach places

* Rain catchment and greywater recycling systems; super-efficient windows; a souped-up Prius (a plug-in hybrid equipped with lithium-ion batteries such as you'll find in the newest power tools; it's a fleet car owned by WPPI Energy; financing options for homeowners considering energy-efficient upgrades (more on this in future posts); and a whole lot more.

By the way, the Kalahari resort, where the conference took place, is home to Wisconsin's largest solar thermal installation. We figure this impressive project is saving the Kalahari about $15,000 per year in water heating expenses. (The picture above shows just a few of the 104 panels in the installation.)

Better Buildings Conference

The Energy Center University's Better Buildings Conference kicks off this Wednesday evening, March 4 at the Kalahari Resort with a welcome reception from 4-7 PM.

I'll be missing the reception, but plan to dig in to the rest of the conference on Thursday and Friday.

The conference features practical, skills-based workshops and presentations on green building topics by nationally-recognized home building professionals. Presenters on the hot water front include Niels Wolter, Bobbi Fey and Kari Heinrich from Focus on Energy, Dan's mentor Bob Ramlow from the Artha Sustainable Living Center LLC, Kurt Koepp from Hot Water Products, and others.

There will also be plenty of great information on other topics, ranging from zero-energy buildings to retrofitting older homes.

I'm looking forward to soaking it all up and meeting others in Wisconsin's sustainable building community!