This morning Lancaster County PA had the opportunity to "go solar" - at least in one small way.
The Lancaster County Career & Technology Center hosted an informational event surrounding the installation of a thermal solar system in their project "green" home adjacent to their Mount Joy facility. The event was promoted as an opportunity to see a hot water system going in and ask questions of the manufacturer's rep.
I had a great time talking to various attendees and looking over the systems involved. Kim Patrick and Doug Lyon from LCCTC have done their homework on many fronts. The system being installed is an Oventrop System 5 (see the brochure here) in conjunction with an instant-on electric heater by Seisco.
On-hand was the Managing Director for Oventrop US, Joseph Walsh. Joseph was very knowledgeable and has a good grasp of the emerging solar market in the US.
After a thorough explanation of the system and installation, he took questions from the audience. The topic quickly turned to cost issues, and his response was that a typical installation to drive an 80-gallon hot water heater was between $7,500 and $10,000.
The evacuated tubes that harness the sun's energy are made for Oventrop by Beijing Solar, and are based on a design originated by Daimler-Benz in Germany, where Oventrop is based. Joseph had a sample tube (he's holding it on in the photo) for attendees to handle.
Also note the Seisco unit on the wall in the corner of the photo. This heater will be arranged to provide support heat should the solar system fail to deliver the preset temperature. For example, if the desired temp. is 130 degree and the solar can only manage 100 degrees, the Seisco unit will pick up the extra 30 degrees.
Water distribution is via a PEX manifold - truly trick stuff!
This photo gives you an idea of how they've laid things out. The hot water is fed into a single manifold (to equalize pressure and allow a small 3/8 inch pipe to transmit better to the outlets) with separate valves for each need. Red piping denotes hot, blue cold. The white piping is another green building system - rainwater harvesting. As I've noted in other posts, this home has two 1,300 gallon rainwater harvesting tanks buried just outside. Water is pumped into the basement and into the lower manifold, which is completely separate from the upper blue/red manifold. The white pipes supply the washer, toilets, hose bibs etc. with recycled rainwater.
Overall, the morning was a great insight into just some of the new technologies that are revolutionizing home building in the US. If you are interested in talking green building in the Lancaster County area, keep your eyes on this space for more news as it breaks!
For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here. Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and an involved community member. Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal. Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured. Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. Jeff is also a photographer - view some of his portfolio. Comments are welcome!
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