RECOVER YOUR HEAT

Imagine you are a passenger on a spaceship that lands on a new planet. There are about thirty people on board including yourself. Now imagine what profession you would think would be useful for you to have on that planet to get the civilization moving. It’s a new world so what skills would best suit the situation? A builder perhaps, a ballet dancer, plumber or shopkeeper? I played this game when I was at school in a geography lesson and the profession I thought that would be most beneficial to a new society was an architect. I figured that a new world would need houses and these would need designing. The object of the exercise though was to highlight the fact that what would be needed in the brave new world was people who had basic skills like knowing how to chop down a tree, make a bowl out of a coconut shell and concoct a roof out of banana leaves as well as being able to work in a team. I felt a bit daft at the time but so did everyone else because most people had chosen professional jobs such as accountants, estate agents and lorry drivers. Thinking about it now though I don’t think my idea was all that silly. All right, I would still have to muck in and put the dung on the walls and build a chimney, but I think the idea of a good solid, dry living area is very important. Even in the present climate of house design there are still serious issues such as cold draughts in the house. No architect would intentionally include poorly fitted windows, gaps where pipes come into the house or gaping holes under doorways in their designs. But sometimes the practicalities of translating the design into reality can lead to drafts when the house has been completed. If you have an open fire you will always be aware that there is a cold draught coming in the house as the hot air goes up the chimney. The same problem occurs with poorly fitted windows and leaky floors. These issues can be eradicated with careful planning and thankfully there are new measures afoot that look seriously into the affects of draughts in the home.There is a new system out at the moment, which goes against most people’s ideas of ventilation in the home. Heat recovery ventilation systems as they are known, are growing in popularity and it is claimed the system manages to retrieve 90% of the heat generated in the house to use again. The idea gets away from the idea that you have to open a window or door in winter to let the fresh air in as it wastes valuable heat in the process. The heat exchangers work with a well-sealed house with all of the windows, walls, roof and doors being airtight and very well insulated. After this is achieved there is a device called a heat exchanger fitted to the house. The exchanger takes out the warm stale air and as it passes the cooler fresh air in the exchanger it warms the incoming air to the same temperature. The system keeps the house at a constant temperature and also regulated humidity to combat any damp. There are houses in Co Mayo and Co Claire that have been successfully using the idea and it is claimed that when fitted can save up to 75% of your annual heating costs

Environmental.