Mini Splits winning the battle; with PV as a source let’s even call it green.
Mini splits with PV are a great option even if not super insulated yet.
Pellet stoves do well, cost as much as a mini split and you have to attend to them.
Oil seems outdated and expensive and smells in old systems and very expensive to install.
Solar thermal there are a few that feel they can justify this, not all.
LP is never going to be as inexpensive as NG, NG is a good value for now, and maybe half a century more, depends on if we start really selling our frack fuel to Europe, which I doubt for now as they have Russia and Russia needs the sales Putin threats or no threats.
What else is part of this equation?
Dana referred to a great efficiency report, I’ll include a snip.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/brookhavenReport.pdf
Play with the numbers here
http://pelletheat.org/pellets/compare-fuel-costs/
As batteries improve and other sources of PV back up, we might build some great places to live off grid.
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Martin, if you're still off grid how far off grid are you (footage.) Would you ever consider hooking up?
AJ,
The last time I checked, the distance from my house to the powerline was about $20,000 to $30,000. That was a while ago, so I imagine that the distance has increased since then.
Martin, so how much have you paid for batteries since day one?
AJ,
First, I want to make it clear that I don't advocate that people should build their homes off the grid. I have repeatedly warned people that off-grid homes have limited electrical power capacity, depend on expensive fossil-fuel-powered generators in winter, and have high-cost electricity.
So, if you are thinking of following in my footsteps -- don't.
The answer to your question is about $8,200.
AJ: i believe there is not much more to it.
What we canbe sure :
all other fuel source pricing will increase in the near future
electricity will be lower than your 14c/kwh for sure
as discussed many times in the past,
with the advent of PV and soon energy storage ... kwh might be well south of 10cUS for almost everyone in USA/Canada
so the gap cost will only widen
as the newer minis will refine even more
then water heaters with similar cold temp cop as minis will be here soon
so +1 again for electricity
We all know it is the base form of energy,
and the cleanest ( if source is solar/hydro/wind )
You will be assimilated.
Martin, actually I advocate knowledge and the sharing thereof. Scarey as that is what Terry Lee also is beating the drum for and GBA and you Martin.
When I mention PV above I of course mean grid connected for now. Nano tech and research... the day of much better storage is closer and closer... small steps took centuries, then decades, then 18 months, the turn and churn and all is lightning fast now. The death of Kodak was directly related to the fact that we are in accelerated acceleration. My relative was one of the peeps assigned to speedily speeding up Kodak's overhead changes to what is current, low overhead outsourced fixed costs and no capital. They owned some of the key patents on going digital, but they were from the dark ages as to how to run fast like tech does today.,
Note; like Flitch.... please note that knowledge in my less than perfect hands is usually almost right... never right. I am waiting to apply to Jeopardy for their new show where only almost right answers are the only acceptable answers.