Replies

Also tell him to subsidize insulation. Instead of throwing money after THIS source, THAT source; to get out of the foreign oil narcotic habit, just INSULATE the living bejesus out of every home in america. The SUN does a perfectly good job of heating the air, why do YOU have to spend YOUR money heating it? Also, 3 KW of heat energy at that distant coal fired electrical generating plant only gets 1 KW to your home’s electrical panel, that lost 2 KW goes as waste heat in the thermodynamic process, CO2 exhaust, transmission line losses. Super-duper insulation gets rid of that 2 out of every 3 KW thermal loss(with electrical heating).

Example : thought experiment : suppose you have a 3 BR floor plan, 1500 sf footprint. 8’ high ceilings, 30’x 50’ interior volume; 2’ thick urethane skin all around for a 12’x 34’x 54’ outside dimension. Outside temp at 32 deg F, inside at 72 deg F(dT of 40). Urethane foam(2” thick w/silver foil)is rated at R7/”; thus 24” x 7 = R 168.

Now, taking the mid-line depth, 10’x 32’x 52’ as surface loss area(ignoring windows, doors for the moment), you get 10x64 + 10x104 + 32x52x2 = 640 + 1040 + 3328 = 5008 sf. Then 5008 x 40/168 = 1192 BTUH loss/hr. HEY, a person at rest(couch potato)puts out about 1250 BTUH. Thus, discounting doors, windows, infiltration; a couch potato can heat his own 3 BR house with his own body heat, and it’s FREEZING outside, his food bill becomes his heating bill; with 24” of solid(like a refrigerator)urethane high density foam insulation.

Sounds wonderful, until you look at the cost : $5/cf retail for urethane, then there’s installation(mat’l, labor, overhead/profit). That box-shell contains about 7000 cf x $5/cf = $35,000 mat’l(retail). Double that + 15% = about $80,000; WAY more than normally insulated walls, ceilings, floors cost in construction.

That’s where Inslee comes in : federal matching funds for home insulation remodels. Get that $80K price hammered down to 10% or $8K and it becomes worthwhile to practically every homeowner. Selling points : one shot price : your heating/cooling bill drops to ZIP for the life of the home, also, insulation is already an integral part of the construction industry, no foreign labor required, just make a whole lot MORE of it by american insulation suppliers. Also it means more new siding, roofing...basically a new “quilt” with new skin.

So, enough already with the hydrogen economy this, solar that, nuc this, windmill that, coal this, ethanol that...just INSULATE the living bejesus out of every home and that whole SOURCE thing dwindles in importance. Or, first plug the holes in your boat before you bail like hell....

As to the Sci-Fi story, the bottom line goes something like this : it’s a gruesome thought but uncle george, you light up my life...