Hybrid collectors are ..
Hybrid collectors are …
… suitable if you want to operate hot water preparation and power generation at the same time. They are a combination of a solar collector and a photovoltaic module.
"The combination of solar thermal and photovoltaic in one collector is an interesting variant because both technologies influence each other"explains Weber. However, due to the construction, the photovoltaic yields may decrease on hot summer days. You have to calculate costs from around 700 euros per collector.
Heating with ice sounds like a contradiction at first. How should you get heat from frozen water? Several companies in Germany are now installing ice heaters for private one and two-family houses – they have been around for a while in the commercial sector. The amazing thing is that heating with ice is extremely effective and often significantly reduces the running heating costs compared to conventional heating systems. Ice heating makes use of a simple physical phenomenon. Our photo show shows how ice heating and heating with ice work.
This is how heating with ice works
Photo series with 6 pictures
The inventor and patent holder of the ice heating, Alexander von Rohr, has already been named several times for the "SolarIce" The heating and cooling concept sold has received awards – including the SME Innovation Prize 2011. But how is that supposed to work – heat with ice?
The ice heating makes use of the crystallization energy
To melt ice you have to add heat. Conversely, the same thermal energy is also released when water freezes into ice. The resulting crystallization energy makes the ice heating usable. And the amount of energy that arises during the transition from the liquid to the solid state is considerable. About as much energy is released as you need to heat cold water to 80 degrees.
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Components of the ice heater
The energy yield of an ice heater is therefore very high – but the structural effort for installing the system is just as high. Ice heating consists of a large, concrete water storage tank, as well as collectors on the roof, which make air and solar energy usable, and a heat pump, which makes the energy obtained usable for heating.
Installation of ice heating
The water reservoir in particular could become a problem in densely built-up residential areas – if only because of its size. "For single-family houses, it is usually between 10 and 15 cubic meters", explains the inventor of Rohr. In any case, such a concrete monster doesn’t fit in the basement. "In residential buildings, the tank usually disappears under the garage or in the garden"the builder has a solution ready.
The permit for an ice heater is not a problem
In contrast to geothermal heat pumps, for example, which also disappear into the ground, the builder does not need a special permit for excavation for ice heating, explains Alexander von Rohr. Because the ice store is not submerged enough to come into contact with the groundwater, it is subject to less stringent requirements.
"The excavation is only three to four meters. A special permit is therefore not required." According to the inventor, an ice bank can also be placed in the ground in the middle of a water protection area without having to fear approval problems with the authorities.
Ice heating costs
If you plan to include ice heating when building a house, the installation costs are still acceptable despite the structural effort. "The installation costs about as much as a pellet heating system, around 12,000 euros for a single-family house", inventor von Rohr estimates the construction costs. The system is being installed by isocal from Friedrichshafen, which von Rohr is managing director.
In contrast to pellet heating, there are practically no costs when an ice heating system is running. "The heating medium ice is available almost free of charge"the inventor is happy. Only the heat pump requires small amounts of energy. In the residential area, it is mostly operated with electricity. "However, the consumption of the heat pump itself is only a fraction of the amount of energy that a conventional heating system devours, regardless of whether it is operated with pellets, oil, coal or natural gas", holds on by pipe. And unlike all these heating fuels, nothing is burned with ice heating, so no climate-damaging CO2 is produced.
Can you retrofit an ice heater?
The ice heating system is particularly interesting for home builders who are building from scratch.same sex marriage argumentative essay According to Alexander von Rohr, it can also be retrofitted, but where do you go with the huge concrete storage tank? Who wants to tear down the garage to install a new heating system so that they can sink the ice bank underneath?
At least for houses in densely populated areas, retrofitting the system does not appear to be very practical. If you live a little outside and have a large garden your own, you can have the concrete colossus dug there. "Sometimes even the old radiators can be used", advertises by Rohr. However, for a better energy yield, large-area radiators are generally to be preferred. In the case of small radiators, replacing them could be worthwhile in the long run.
The other components of the ice heater can be retrofitted without any problems. Sufficient free roof space is required for the air solar collector. If necessary, it can also be installed on garage or carport roofs or even in the garden. "The heat pump can usually be conveniently housed in the basement, it is about the size of a normal heating boiler"says Alexander von Rohr. The central control module, with which the entire system can be operated and controlled, is usually also housed in the basement.
State funding for ice heating
The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) is apparently also convinced of the principle of ice heating. It supports at least the subsequent installation of an ice heater in existing buildings with at least 2400 euros. This is the same funding rate with which BAFA also subsidizes pellet heating.
In the future, ice heating should not only provide heating
The heating industry also seems to have great confidence in ice heating: In October 2012, the major Viessmann acquired the majority in Alexander von Rohr’s company Isocal. Apparently the ice heating system is thought to be very promising. In any case, the inventor von Rohr is already in the starting blocks: he sees the ice storage system as an ideal energy storage facility.
"We believe that we have found a solution with which electricity peaks from renewable sources such as sun or wind can be stored on a larger scale in a particularly economical way." However, it is still in the development phase. The inventor does not want to reveal any more details yet. Our photo show shows how heating with ice works and the components of ice heating.
Air conditioning provides cooling in the heat. It is therefore understandable when a community of owners wants to equip their apartments with these cooling devices. However, this is not very easy in practice. Because sometimes the devil is in the details.
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Retrofit air conditioning
It is technically feasible to retrofit apartments with air conditioning. Legally, however, there are some traps lurking, especially in owner associations. The installation of an air conditioning system represents a structural change and therefore has to be borne by the other owners in many cases, as a judgment of the Essen district court shows (Az .: 196 C 288/16).
In the negotiated case, an owners’ meeting had unanimously decided to equip the apartments with air conditioning. The devices should be set up on the terraces of the respective apartments. Two years later, the work was actually commissioned at a further meeting, but without any specific specifications. However, the air conditioning was installed on the gable wall of the building between the ground floor and the first floor.
An owner whose bedroom window was on this side of the building requested that the air conditioning be removed. On the one hand, the building is being spoiled, and on the other, the device is so loud that he can no longer sleep.
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So the court decided
The owner was successful in court: The judges decided that the device had to be removed again. Because the installation actually represents a structural change that changes the look of the house. Even in this form, the installation of the air conditioning is not covered by the second resolution of the owners’ meeting. Because it does not reveal what type of air conditioning units are or where they will be installed. In the absence of determinability, this decision is therefore void.
Heat pump heating works as surface heating with radiators, but can also be used as air heating. The most important thing is the heat pump itself and the heating system connected to it.
Heat pump heating: this is how it works
A heat pump works on the same principle as a refrigerator, only with the opposite benefit. The pump draws heat from the earth, air or water and transfers it to the rooms via the heating system. The pump can still extract heat from the environment when the temperature is below zero. The ground, groundwater or the ambient air can be used as heat sources.
In order to be able to heat the air or the water in the house, the heat pump must be operated with electricity. A refrigerant circulates in the closed circuit of the heat pump, which extracts the heat energy from the heat source by means of a so-called evaporator. The refrigerant, which has now been warmed up by several degrees, is then fed into a compressor, where it is compressed. The refrigerant, which is strongly heated as a result, transfers the heat gained to the heating system via a condenser.
Heat pump heating makes sense for new buildings
Heat pump heating systems are installed almost exclusively in new houses. These have an appropriate thermal insulation. In older houses, the effort is usually too great, because heating by means of a heat pump can only be used with great effort. And in many cases that means complete renovation.
From April 1, 2017, there will be a new energy efficiency label for heating. What it means who is affected: This is what homeowners need to know now.
Which heaters are affected?
Oil and gas heating systems have had to be labeled in stores since September 2015. Now it is the turn of many new devices for logs, pellets, wood chips or other solid fuels. "The background to the later introduction of the energy label for solid fuels is the staggered legislative process of the EU", explains Jens Dörschel from the German Pellet Institute in Berlin.
In addition to woody biomass such as wood, pellets and wood chips, solid fuels also include coal. "However, coal is being phased out"says Martin Brandis, energy expert for the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations. "Hardly anyone will buy a new coal heater today". Heaters for the other solids are more interesting for consumers. "Since they are powered by renewable energies, it can be expected that they will be classified in very good efficiency classes."
Initially, a classification into energy efficiency classes A ++ to G. Brandis expects biomass boilers to be rated A + for most systems, and even A ++ for pellet condensing boilers and wood pellet stoves. New oil and gas condensing boilers usually have efficiency class A.
From April the chimney sweep will not accept any new stoves without a label
Solid fuel boilers and composite systems consisting of such a boiler with temperature regulators and solar devices each with a nominal heat output of up to 70 kilowatts must be labeled. "Without a label, the chimney sweep is not allowed to accept new solid fuel heating systems after April 1, 2017", clarifies Stephan Langer from the Federal Association of Chimney Sweepers in Sankt Augustin near Bonn.
Levels A ++ to G apply until September 26, 2019, then A +++ to D. "Older solid fuel heating systems can still be operated. You don’t need a label", informs Langer. From January 2018, the next group will be labeled – local space heaters, i.e. tiled stoves and chimney stoves.
Efficiency classes not very informative
The aim of the labeling is to create more transparency and to give consumers the opportunity to better assess and compare the energy efficiency of the devices. However, the energy labels for heating are only of limited informative value. "Unlike the label for refrigerators, for example, they only very rarely make the slight differences between the energy efficiency of individual devices from different manufacturers clear"argues Dörschel from the Pellet Institute. Rather, the signs only compare different device types such as oil condensing boilers with heat pumps or wood heating systems.
Labels do not consider limit values
According to Dörschel, comparing the operating costs of the various types of heating with the energy efficiency class is hardly any easier, because the heating costs depend heavily on the prices for the various fuels. The energy label also says nothing about the emissions of air pollutants and the maintenance of corresponding limit values. "These limit values will only be defined three years later, in 2020, with the Ecodesign Directive", explains consumer advocate Brandis.
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Homeowners in Germany do not have to worry that their new heating systems might not meet future EU requirements. "In this country, the regulation on small and medium-sized combustion systems applies", explains Langer.
