From Robert Bean’s Blog, Healthy Heating:
This home belongs to Doug and Maire Muncaster. Its an ICF home with a radiant based HVAC system. Total of 7800 s.f. of floor area heated for …are you ready….less than $280/month. Yep and it is the most quiet, comfortable and healthy home I have ever been in. This is as close to the perfect system that I have ever seen in over 25 years.
Read more about this ICF home and view the healthy heating systems in use.
UStec is now shipping ceLAN, an affordable, entry-level structured wiring kit that lets the home builder’s installer easily add modules as the homeowner’s requirements change. The ceLAN cabinet costs the builder approximately $100 installed, not including wiring, and will deliver telephone and cable TV capability in four rooms.
According to Thompson, first the Category 5 and RG6 wires go into the wall; then, before the drywall goes up, the builder installs a special bracket. The drywall is installed around the bracket. When the time comes to put in the home-technology gear, the installer pulls the wires from the wall and sets up the equipment in a metal cabinet that attaches to the bracket. Additional cabinets for features such as distributed audio and video, security, and lighting can be surface mounted on the wall by turning drywall screws into the walls.
SUNRIVER ST. GEORGE, A SOUTHERN Utah retirement community, now offers a home automation system that lets homeowners manage everyday tasks such as HVAC, lighting, and security over the same touchscreen panel or Web tablet that controls their cable television, home videos, and audio system.
The framing still has not been started, but today the electrician from Rinaldi Electric was on-site. We had a special request that our meter be inside the basement’s mechanical room, so the installation was not as easy as most projects. See more pictures of the electrical service being installed by viewing the January 17th Gallery page.
I know I posted on this a few weeks ago, but here is a link to today’s Clean Break column in the Toronto Star about phantom loads in the home. My previous post on this issue was based on a CNET News.com article. My column takes this a bit further, adding a Canadian spin and some information from Natural Resources Canada.
If you want to listen to this via podcast, click here — you’ll find a link on the podcasting section of the Toronto Star’s site.
(FYI: Rob Hyndman forwarded this link to a product called Kill-A-Watt that can measure the watts used by individual devices and appliances. Thanks Rob! You can apparently buy a similar device at Canadian Tire stores.)
What's happening at www.ramsayhome.com 