Of late I’ve seen reports about how high grid voltage is supposedly a problem and why voltage optimisation may be the solution. But is high grid voltage the villain it’s made out to be?
By Richard Keech
2018-11-08
In selecting home heating, a common choice is a ducted system. Generally I think ducted heating is a bad idea for homes. Here’s my take on the problems with ducted systems.
By Richard Keech
2018-10-20 based on earlier work from 2013
by Richard Keech
2018-10-10
Downlight fittings that you commonly see in Australian homes are often an energy and comfort nightmare. They can be associated with up to five different problems. Before you go replacing a halogen bulb with an LED replacement, read this.
This outlines a possibly novel approach to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of heat pumps used for home heating, cooling and hot water. This involves placing the units in the sub-floor space to exploit the thermal mass of the ground in both summer and winter.
By Richard Keech
2018-10-02
There’s been lots of talk of late about a hydrogen economy. I’ve looked into this. In a nutshell I can’t see Hydrogen being widely adopted for energy storage within our electricity system. Likewise, I can’t see it being widely used for transport except in some very limited cases. Its use within the gas network seems like greenwash. However there does seem to be some potential in using hydrogen as an intermediate product in creating transportable liquids like ammonia, methanol and methane for use as export feedstocks or as fuels.
by Richard Keech
Published 2018-09-23, based on investigation done in early 2017
By Richard Keech
2018-08-14
Do solar air heaters or coolers live up to their promise?
At face value the idea of having a device which uses sunlight directly to heat air in winter seems like a good one. It’s the idea behind a number of products on the market that promise really high-efficiency heating for low cost. We can lump these together in the category ‘solar air heating’. Solar air heaters sometimes claim thermal efficiencies greatly in excess of that possible with a solar PV panel.
By Richard Keech
2018-08-12
Some systems used for heating and cooling depend on air displacement. Understanding what this means is valuable, because systems like this are usually inefficient.
So , what do 1) evaporative air conditioners, 2) fireplaces; and 3) solar air heating systems have in common? Answer – their normal operation usually requires air displacement.
