Casting a little shade on a hot day

taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_altitude.svg

This formula will help to calculate the sun's angle in the sky. Simply add or subtract 23.5° to or from your position to achieve the maximum and minimum elevation taking into account seasonal change. In my case, I am at 46° North Lat. From this number, I would add 23.5° which gives me 69.5° of elevation. This is the angle the sun will be at 12:00 noon on June 21, or It is also the day in which the sun will be the highest in the sky. On December 21, the sun is the lowest in the sky, or the blue line. You dont want your overhang to obstruct the sunlight at this time of year since you will want to maximize solar heat gain. You can adjust the lenght of overhang to permit or obstruct more sun or to widen the time of shading. For example: if you calculate your overhang based on July 21st, this will also affect the shading for the same amount of time prior to June 21. In this case, you will get the same amount of shading May 21st as you will July 21st. This will also give a longer shade time on June 21st.

All these calculations are based on a south facing window. Adjustments can be made to the angle of the louvers equal to the bias from true south. For example: If you house is 45° towards the west or 225° SSW, you will need to angle the louvers or shade by 45° to cast a perpendicular shadow on the house. Otherwise, creating an overhang that is perpendicular to the house will cast a shadow that is at an angle equal to the bias from south. It is for this reason that I have angled the overhang on my house.

Too much math for you? You can alway use the trial and error method. Just hold up a board perpendicular to the house at noon in the summer. The closer to June 21st the better since you want to be accurate in your overhand and not have it come out too far so as to reduce solar heat gain in the winter. Play around with angles and lenghts for a while until you are comfortable with the result.

If you use an air conditioner, it will drastically reduce the heat load and potentially save you hundreds of dollars per season. It might even eliminate the need for one all together. ...an even bigger savings!

bye bye clogged drain

As you know, I'm all about reducing the impact on the Environment. Hence the blog. Here is a nifty new product that will hopefully reduce the occurance of "Draino" in on our planet.


from the web site:

"Drain Cleaners are toxic to humans, pets, and the environment and are potentially extremely dangerous to use. They react with human tissue in a similar manner as they do to the organic materials in drain blockages, breaking down and decomposing tissue and organic matter. Using drain cleaner can result in spattering, eruptions, or the generation of hazardous and toxic gases."

Of course if you don't like the $30 price tag vs $5 for a conventional P-trap, then you can snake it out, use a plunger or wait a while and use enzyme "drain care". The drain care works great. In fact, very great, if I may permit myself to say that! Unfortunately, not everyone wants to wait for the "scrubbing bubbles" to do their work. In that case, there's Perma flow. Drain care is 16x doses and costs $10. that's enough for many years for one drain and a couple of years for just one nasty drain like the tub which always gets clogged with long hair or the kitchen sink which somehow get food in it. How did that happen?

A couple of ressources for your arsenal against chemical use.

"Please enjoy in moderation!"

Where did my driveway go?

Well it's that time of year again when you can see out your window and realize that there is a yard beyond your doorstep. Of course, the whole thing is a mess and you're wondering what you can do to "spruce things up". Short of planting a bunch of spruce trees, which, btw, would be a good thing, you'll be looking at getting the most effect for the least amount of work. Right? Well at least that's what most people in town are doing. Out comes the bucket of driveway sealer!


It's been the easiest way to get someone's attention off the ugly lawn or broken tree limbs. Both of which wouldn't be so if they were tended to in the first place. But that's another story.

The scenario goes kinda like this. Take out the pressure washer, waste hundreds if not thousands of liters of water and fuel, or coal if you are using an electric pressure washer. Blast away all the dirt and sand that has built up all winter. Not good enough? Didn't think so. Go get that mop and bucket of tar! That'll fix it! Sure it will. For a while. Remember last year when you went through this? Ya that's right. You went through all this last year. Go to the hardware store, get the stuff, spend all day fighting with the hose, the mop, getting all the tar or acrylic (acrylic sounds safer doesn't it!) off everything you can, but you can't. You get the job done and have a beer at the end of your driveway, looking at the beautiful job you did. Then suffer for 3 days because you ache! But... your driveway looks cool! Or does it?

But you say to yourself, "it's to protect my driveway. It's airport grade! My driveway will last longer." Truth is, the only thing it does, besides make your driveway blue and pollute the water and air, is make your driveway slipery! No, the Airport does not use it. The planes would just slide off the tarmac. The department of highways doesn't use it for the same reasons, plus, they tested it to see if it in fact increases the life of the pavement. Guess what! It doesn't. If you didn't use the blue one, you used "Coal tar emulsion" which you will track into your house all year, dirtying the floors of your house and car, plus you're contributing to indoor air polution.

Did you ever ask yourself why you need to "paint" your driveway every year? Yes that's right. Paint. That's basically all you are doing. With tar of course; or acrylic, which sounds safer and looks dumb because then your driveway is blue. Very dark blue, but it's still blue. So where did all the tar go? Since it's a VOC, part of it has evaporated into thin air which you are now breathing! Part of it dried up and blew away in the wind and is now in your plants and garden. Then a big part of it got washed away into the rivers and streams, percolating into the soil and contaminating wells or water tables; killing fish, animals, plants and the people who drink water. Don't drink water? Ah! then don't worry about it. Pollute away! It won't affect you. If you live in a city with municipal water, even less of a concern, right? Think again. Remember this rule of thumb. If you don't want to drink it or eat it, don't put it on your yard. You already knew this about pesticides but forgot about the other chemicals that you use in your yard. ie. Car wash soap, deck cleaner, siding cleaner, Armour All to make the tires black, you get the idea. You didn't think of those did you? Didn't think so!

So basically you dumped 22 liters of goop on your driveway last year and it's all gone. Are you going to drink another 22 liters this year? Why not try a little on your salad! It's easier to digest a little at a time!

By the way, I have a "dirt" driveway! It's staying that way!

... to be continued

Lots going on at home with renos and on the political front. Kitchen work, snowmobiling, ski trail maintenance, proposed sale of NB Power (this is taking a lot of my time, ask Maxx).

Articles to come very shortly since they are in the back of my mind all the time:

Local vs cheap lumber
Local vs cheap flooring (bamboo etc.) is it really green?
Design ideas for upcoming in-floor heating "outbuilding boiler"
More solar parabola stuff! I need a dish donor!!! Do you know anyone with a Parabolic dish that they would like to give up for science? Of course, I will take it down for free.

Trip planing to Labrador.

Ok enough about me, I'll be back soon!

don't go up in smoke! Gasification boilers vs outdoor boilers

When it comes to cheap, easy heat in rural areas, there seemed to be a continuing trend towards outdoor boilers. These "garbage disposal" type wood burners are touted as being able to burn "anything" from freshly cut wood to scap lumber. Unfortunately, these "wood doctor" type boilers are anything but cheap and easy. They are notorious smokers that never seem to offer an efficient burn; efficiency rarely above 50%. Combine that with household garbage that is sometimes disposed of in these units and you have a particularly toxic and polluting heat source.

Then comes the gasification boiler or furnace. These newer boilers use the latest in combustion technology; beyond the "secondary burn" technology offered in woodstoves which has been a huge benefit in home heating.

Where the difference lies between "secondary burn" woodstoves and "gasification boilers" is the temperature at which the fuel is burned. In standard wood burning appliances, it is well known that higher temperatures = cleaner burn. Hence the catalytic converter inserted in some woodstoves. The problem with woodstoves and most outdoor boilers is that they cannot effectively raise the temperature of the combustion chamber without damaging the firebox itself; not above 800°F in a woodstove and 500°F in an outdoor woodboiler.

Gasification boilers operate with a slight difference. First they combust the fuel source (wood) in a low temperature primary burn chamber. This releases all the fuel from the wood in the form of smoke and other gases. Then fresh "super heated" air is injected into this "smoke" as it enters the secondary burn chamber which is lined with refractory brick. This allows the burn temperature to rise above 1800°F offering a clean and efficient flame. All fuel that has been released from the wood is being burned without the use of a catalytic converter. These boilers/furnaces can reach efficiencies above 95% vs 70% for top quality wood stoves and 45-50% for the average outdoor wood boiler. This can equate to a fuel wood savings of hundreds of dollars or many, many cords of wood. If you burn 5 cords of wood in an outdoor wood boiler, you would use 3 1/2 cords with an efficient wood stove or just over 2 cords with a super efficient gasification boiler. Now you see why "cheap and easy" isn't so "cheap and easy"?

choosing a wood stove

So you might be considering a wood stove to heat your house. Assuming you have an abundant source of wood, it is a reliable and satisfying source of heat for your home since it does not rely on electricity to operate as does many wood pellet stove or liquid fossil fuel furnaces. (oil or gas)Also, it is one of the cleanest ways to heat your house using a consumable fuel source.

Contrary to popular belief, burning wood does not add new greenhouse gases to the atmosphere as the CO2 that is released from the combustion process is the same quantity of CO2 that would otherwise be released by wood decomposition if the tree where allowed to rot on the forest floor.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a stove: colour, style, pedestal or legs, size etc. The most important factor is to properly size your wood appliance to make sure it delivers the most efficient heat, cleanest burning and not to either overheat or underheat your home.

The most common error that people make when choosing a stove is to buy one that is too big for the area that it is going to heat. Having too big a stove is actually a bigger problem than too small a stove for the following reasons. With a stove too big, you will need to make a smaller fire to prevent overheating the house. By doing this, efficiency is sacrificed since the firebox temperature is not raised high enough to ensure complete combustion creating a potentially dangerous buildup in the chimney and offering sporadic comfort. A stove too small will mean more frequent refueling, potential overheating of stove or chimney if overfired and insufficient heat for the house. The up-side to undersizing is that combustion efficiency is increased and there is a reduced amount of deposits in the chimney. The ideal size of appliance offers adequate heating, low maintenance and minimal chance of overheating/underheating.

To get more detailed info on heating with wood, download this free publication from CMHC. It is a wealth of information to help you choose your wood burning appliance.







http://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/b2c/catalog/z_getpdf.jsp?pdfkey=2367912238736807498957944372812017562117778745946569768/66067.pdf

Down the drain!

One source of heat that we often forget about is the waste heat from the hot water that we use in our house. This "extra" heat can be recovered very easily and put back to use to reduce our energy requirement for heating. One system uses a simple coil-over drain pipe to recover wasted heat.


As the water goes down the drain, it coats the inside of the stack and transfers the heat to the incoming cold water on it's way to be heated. This system works great for end uses that use water as it is draining such as a shower. It does not however work if you are taking a bath as the waste heat only occurs at the end of the fill cycle, not during.


The best way to recover heat from a bath, or if you don't have a recovery heat stack, is to leave the water in the tub until the temperature has equalized with room temp. Of course, you only want to do this during the heating season as otherwise you would be taxing your A/C unit (if you have one). A second benefit of this is the additional humidity this provides during the "dry" season.