Show HN: Acre Designs (YC W16) - Zero-Energy Smarthomes as a Consumer Product

Re:Show HN: Acre Designs (YC W16) - Zero-Energy Smarthomes a... by krapht on Thursday February 11, 2016 @11:04PM (#11085216)

These things work, but ultimately never turn out to be more cost-effective than sealing your house up better and adding more insulation. You will only see them in high-end commercial construction. The technical term for it is zone heating and cooling, although what is described in that paper is a little smarter than what is typically done.

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Re:Show HN: Acre Designs (YC W16) - Zero-Energy Smarthomes a... by andrewksu on Friday February 12, 2016 @12:09AM (#11085447)

Agree, there would only a handful of days where the combo of temps and solar gain would provide the right boost.

PCM's (phase change materials) might work better in this application. However, air tightness and a consistent insulation layer is best.

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Re:Show HN: Acre Designs (YC W16) - Zero-Energy Smarthomes a... by newman314 on Friday February 12, 2016 @01:39PM (#11089365)

Interesting. I read up more on PCMs.

The challenge I've had is keeping the house warm in the winter where internal temps will drop down to the 50s without the heater on. During the summer, I rarely have to turn on the AC even when it's a 100+ day so there's plenty of insulation. I suspect much of the heat loss is due to the giant windows that I have even though they are double pane.

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Re:Show HN: Acre Designs (YC W16) - Zero-Energy Smarthomes a... by dangravell on Friday February 12, 2016 @07:55AM (#11086850)

PCMs are being used in the domestic market for DHW (domestic hot water) now. Interesting developments - the batteries tend to leak much less energy than standard water based hot water cylinders.

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