Heating and Cooling Challenge Wrap Up

So here we are, wrapped up in sweaters in late October, and wrapped up on the heating and cooling challenge for Net Zero 😊.  

Check out our video on what we did during the challenge – and scroll down for a briefing on how a heat pump works from a 10-yr old aspiring engineer; and a dive into designing an addition with underfloor heating and differential temperature zones for improved efficiency.

Hugh loves understanding how things work, so the explanation that a “heat pump is like an AC” wasn’t sufficient at all 😅.  So we did some research, and now he can explain it to anyone – tech and learning are exciting and important motivators for upgrading lifestyle 🧠🎓.

Finally, its been brilliant imagining and planning for our “3-season room” (a term for a space without heat or insulation) to become a greenhouse / dining room to keep plants, and grow vegetables, from next year. We can make this function all year around, by implementing radiant floor heating, which can reduce energy consumption by 30% over forced air, and by using heat zones to bring different areas of the home to different temperatures, improving overall efficiency.