I was just reading about how homes are being built to very tight standards with very little heat loss. It makes me wonder how this will change the choices for future heating. With heat losses in the single digits/sq.ft. who will be willing to spend a huge sum of money for a sophisticated heating system? When a candle will heat the place who needs all that stuff, that will need service. I think elec. radiant has to be considered. Fuel cost will not be the biggest factor when controllability and reliability are factored in.

Troy,
you are absolutly right with negligible heat loss we would not require much of heat . little heat will be sufficient to keep whole house warm for weeks. Who will then need a sophisticated and complex system. As simple system like electric radiant will be the obvious choice.

careful with this one troy.

It's a small step from that to, "why would you pay for any radiant system" in that type of house. the cost/benefit ratio gets low if the floor won't be very warm (or on, most of the time). and electric may be cheaper to install but it's not exactly *cheap* like FHA is cheap.

In hydronics, radiant ceiling is cheaper than radiant floor because we don't cover the whole ceiling with material. I generally use it for those ultra-low load situations quite liberally.

Can a similar tact be taken in electric, for those situations where radiant floor, even electric, would be too expensive for the lessened comfort advantage? Are there products/materials that make good "partial ceiling" coverage easy to achieve?

glad there are more of you guys finding this place.

NRT: I agree that we are heading to that point of cost vs. value. I think as you say we will be designing differently. We have seen in Europe that they really spot heat. In other words put the heat in front of the sitting areas. Split up the coverage but not a blanket coverage. There are ceiling and wall products available in electric as well as hydronic. I see simplicity as being the key to future sustainability of our trade. Affordable and comfortable and controllable.

actually, that's another actual benefit of the electric mats: in MOST hydronic systems, it's tricky targeting just the portions of the floor that you might want try to get warm (imagine trying that in a joist system with pipe.. tough!).

but that would seem to be much easier for electric systems, and it would reduce its cost as well, while allowing you to deliver a real "warm foot" where needed. nice.

Thats exactly why electric sysems are so popular in Europe. In US as people will learn more about the electric system and more importantly learn to use them properly ( concentrating heat where it is actually required) then they will start aprciating the advantages and simplicity of the electric systems. I personally feel that the old radiant heating people sould increase there product base and ad electric system in there product base so that they can start to take advantage of this system and provide better options tot he customers to choose from.

Super-insulated homes have been around for a few decades now and work great. In fact, if they were cost effective everyone would be living in one.

I like them.

As for Europe, the French derive about 75% of their electricity from Ivy covered nuclear powered electricity plants: for the most part using technology from our own Westinghouse.

http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html

If you want people to use electricity to heat their homes you will have to first support and promote such practical avenues as drilling off shore (we are the only country that can and won't) digging a 250 year supply of coal (again we have most of the known usable coal but refuse to expedite it's extraction) or build more nuclear plants (we are still the leaders in nuclear technology but would rather dream about sun soaked wind tunnels).

MA

Dear Badger,
America is the biggest consumer of oil.
The person who hires someone to do murder is more guilty then the person who does the killing by taking the money. Hence even if America is not fossil fuel near its shore it is the biggest contributer to fossil fuel shortage.
Increasing use of Electricity does not mean at the cost of Environment. Yes with he present policy and not giving enough emphasis on renewable energy and not seting definate targets to shift all energy to renewable in specific time frame and only depending on fossil fuel ( for electricity generation, for boiler heating for running cars etc even if the fossil fuel is drilled in some other country)will definately be harmfull.
That Why I feel there should be a urgent shift towards harnessing wind and solar ( be it solar thermal or PV) .

Badger: I could not agree more. Using our own resources be it clean burning coal, nuclear, drilling in our own country, and renewables is our future. We shouldn't demand cheaper fuel when we refuse to help ourselves. It is like the spoiled kid on the playground whining because the other kid won't share his sucker having his own in his pocket. Give me a break.