After 3 years of constructing more than 25 individual passive houses in Ireland, Scandinavian Homes Ltd. in Galway is currently researching the possibility of generating 100% of the space heat and domestic hot water required for a single family house by passive means. It is the ultra low space heat demand of our passive and super-passive houses in the mild Irish climate that triggered the idea to strive for a completely zero-heat house.
First we have to realize that to heat space and water we have 3 practical alternatives:
1. Use electricity, resistive load or preferably with the assistance of a heat-pump.
2. Burn something, preferably a non-fossil plant-based fuel.
3. Use the sun, but then we need a seasonal store for the winter months.
The System
A detailed description of the system in pdf format is available for download here:
The Research
Shane Colclough of The University of Ulster is researching the area of Thermal Energy Storage and as part of a Doctoral Thesis. He is applying the use of Thermal energy storage to the Passive House standard in Ireland. He has engaged with Scandinavian Homes with the aim of objectively monitoring and reporting on the performance of the Seasonal Store installation over a heating season. Following this period he will make recommendations for future iterations of the Seasonal Store as part of his doctoral submission.
You can download the monitoring plan in pdf format for this project here...
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University of Ulster |
| Faculty: |
School of the Built Environment |
| Researcher(s): |
Shane Colclough BSc(Eng), MIE, MBA, C.Eng, MIEI |
| Supervisor(s): |
Dr Philip Griffiths, Course Director, Centre for Sustainable Technologies |
| Contact: |
Centre for Sustainable Technologies |
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University of Ulster, School of The Built Environment |
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Shore Road, Newtownabbey, |
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Co.Antrim, BT37 0QB |
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Tel +353 87 2421000 |
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contact by e-mail |
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Images
2009-06-19, images of this project
Shane Colclough, David Redpath and Philip Dalzell from Ulster University have finished installing their equipment to begin their research project, a green house was erected over the 23m3 tank and the tank has now been filled with 23,000 liters, the vacuum tubes have been fitted on the roof and all pumps and connections will have been installed by the end of this week.
pipe connections in the roof space |
connecting the vacuum tubes |
six panels of vacuum tubes have been installed |
the top of the 23m3 with its insulation is the base for the green house |
heat circuits in the tank |
construction of the green house |
Shane Colclough, David Redpath and Philip Dalzell connecting the sensors above the solar tank... |
...and in the utility room |
