Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

252National Energy Securitynumber ten can. The heat thus provided will ensure comfort throughout thehouse, whereas in a normal house with a failed heating system one would haveto huddle over a large stove trying to keep a single room habitably warm. 64In short, the efficiency of a superinsulated house (whether or not it usessolar energy) makes its occupants virtually invulnerable to failures of the heatingsystem or of its energy supply. Their neighbors, who would be in serioustrouble in a few winter hours without heat, can take shelter in the efficienthouse—and by doing so can provide enough body warmth to heat the wholehouse. (If there were more than one or two neighbors, excess heat would haveto be vented by opening the windows.) If the failure affected the heatingsources of all the houses in a region, the occupants of the superinsulatedhouse might find out only from the arrival of their chilled neighbors that anythingwas amiss. Left to their own devices, they would probably not notice forweeks that their heating system was out of order, and then the signal wouldbe a gradual decline from about seventy to about sixty degrees, not a catastrophicdrop to subfreezing or subzero indoor temperatures.Long time constants have one drawback: they require planning. OneSwedish superinsulated house took about two years to attain its design efficiencybecause its building materials had been left out in the rain. The houseneeded so little heating that it took two years’ heat leakage through the wallsto dry out the materials. Likewise, a large seasonal-storage tank for a communitydistrict heating system could easily take a year to “charge up” to itsnormal working temperatures—though once heated, it would “coast” indefinitelythereafter through normal recharging. Thus long-time-constant energysystems must be in place before an energy shortage strikes. But if this is done,the systems are likely to outlast the shortage and vastly increase the flexibilityof possible responses. Improvised substitutes which would normally be toolittle and too late become timely and more than adequate.The ability of either well-insulated buildings with some passive gain or lesswell-insulated buildings with strong passive gain to protect under all circumstancesagainst low (especially subfreezing) temperatures means that activitiessuch as greenhouse gardening can be guaranteed to work year-round anywheresouth of the Arctic Circle. Year-round passive solar greenhouse gardening,even using tropical species, has proven highly successful even in partsof the U.S. that have a three-month growing season outdoors. Another advantageis that even a very crude, unglazed solar water heater—such as a piece ofblackened sheet metal attached to a hot-water pipe—can work well inside sucha greenhouse to provide water at domestic temperatures. Being always protectedfrom freezing by the thermal mass and solar gain of the greenhouse, thesolar water heater needs none of the anti-frost precautions (draindown valves,