Anyone doing infloor radiant or solar heat+power?

[ErnestBidder]

  We are building our final home this year; ultra energy efficient ICF house with infloor radiant heat, and/or solar heat+power combo without Aircon. Am building near Brighton. Anyone have expertise in these areas?

[Driver]

I have some knowledge with in-floor radiant.  What type are you looking at doing? Electric, hot water in poured concrete, hot water through floor joists???

[dingodean]

have infloor (concrete) radiant hooked to a gas thermal unit with solar. Solar is only for the hot water as you use a lot more energy for hot water than heating and the alternative is a lot more expensive and will not amortize within 30 years so why bother.
what do you need to know? If you skip building a basement (gonna get clobbered for this suggestion!), your heating costs are going to be a heck of a lot less and no worries regarding moisture. Consider a separate larger 1.5 storey garage for your storage.

[ErnestBidder]

  Sorry, folks, got busy & forgot to check back. I can't delete the basement, as I hate slab on grade, and, besides, the stairs keep you excercised. As well, we are in an area that suffered huge damage from hurricane/cyclone/whatever, years ago, and we like the idea of being well planted in the ground.

  We will be building a bungalow using ICF from footings to roof, with hydronic heating under the wood mainfloor and in the basement slab (over 5" EPS & vapour barrier). I'm also building same type workshop, with the hot water being piped underground to/from the house. I'm considering everything possible to have a retirement home with low operating costs and a high comfort factor. Am even thinking of a concrete roof over an attic totally filled with EPS. I agree with the idea of solar hot water heating, during appropriate weather.

  Just after doing the first posting here, I got a deal on a brand new CNG/Propane furnace, manifold, extra bits, etc, but, in the end, may change direction slightly, as I've been talking to a chap well versed & experienced in geothermal, and he has some really interesting ideas in regard to heating a thermal bank in off-hour and off-season timeframes. Think year-round heat transfer both ways.

  Again, my apologies for losing track, and I welcome any ideas on increasing the efficiency of our new home.

[Frank]

I read an article not long ago that was interesting.  It is apparently being used by some big stores.  They essentially have chest freezers filled with water (located outside), and air tubes that go through them.  They freeze the water at nite, when electricity costs are lower, then pump air through them during the day to bring the cold into the building, and reduce their air conditioning costs.  Anyone got anything on this?

[ErnestBidder]

  You're right, it was a very good story, and the savings were, I think, around 30 - 40% annually. Of course, that's for cooling a commercial building, and they're drawing heat from the waters of Lake Ontario, but the investment for ground source heat pumps, for a single family residence, is pretty healthy, with a long payback time, and I'm pretty sure the Powers That Be have not allotted any extra time in my life span, so I have to make a few informed decisions (read: "on the cheap side"!) To me, it seems to be ICF, with super-insulation above & below, hydronic heat in the floors, HRV with underground airducts to counteract whatever the season happens to be, and prudent planning on the windows(ie: why would you want low-E windows on the north side of the house? Argon, yes).
  Still, I'm willing to listen to any better ideas, and would appreciate any input.