greenspree wrote:The first floor slab is a black coloured concrete which is 8" thick, coupled with the high thermal mass of the exterior walls themselves.
Yes, we do have most of our windows facing south and very little facing north.
greenspree wrote:An average thickness of about 3.5" of claw/sand/lime stucco.
For our house this is about 35,000lbs of stucco, and 77,000lbs of concrete in the floor.
Thermal mass is important, but not the only considerations, insulation and air tightness are in my opinion equally important.
greenspree wrote:Passive solar design =/= passivhaus standards from Europe for example.
Passive solar design means you are designing your house to take full advantage of solar gains, something difficult to rely on solely in a latitude where you have extreme cold and very limited hours of low angle solar energy per day during the heating season (For PEI -7degC average winter temperature, frequently dropping below -20degC during the coldest parts and a minimum of 8.5 hours between sunrise and sunset)
The average heating load for new homes in my area is 85MMBTu's and my house requires only 21MMBTu, so no, most of my heat doesn't come from wood.
But are you taking full advantage of solar gains? It seems most of your heating load decrease is to do with the great insulation rather than the passive solar side.
greenspree wrote:But are you taking full advantage of solar gains? It seems most of your heating load decrease is to do with the great insulation rather than the passive solar side.
And you're basing this observation on what exactly?
greenspree wrote:Certianly, my heat pump never comes on during sunny days and the wood stove is never lit. I only light the stove in the evenings after work on cold days for a maximum burn of about 4 hours.
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