Aquion saltwater battery/绿色建筑和可持续的家庭装修正无穷ormation & Advice

Product of the month: Aquion’s Aqueous Hybrid Ion saltwater home batte
Renewable energy

Aquion’s saltwater home battery

...Aquionsaltwaterbattery:Aquionhasn't been on the market long enough to have an ironclad track record that can be cited, but here is some of what we've read that we like: They have no toxic chemicals or heavy metals so they are non-explosive, non-flammable and non-corrosive, making them the safest homebatteryon th...

Efficient home design

Phase change building materials - natural heat storage in buildings

...battery. The very idea of keeping a building at room temperature no matter the season, is something of an uphill battle against the laws of physics. We can't change or break those laws, but this is a case where we could use them to our advantage. Find out more about advanced home design, how to design for thermal com...

Lithium-ion solar home battery
Solar photovoltaic

Lithium-ion solar home batteries

...battery. No longer being limited to using only half of the stored power in abatteryeffectively doubles their capacity. The second big improvement is the advent of ‘smart’batterycontrols.Batterysystems have always required a charge controller to make sure the batteries are not overcharged or discharged too deeply;...

How solar panels work
Solar photovoltaic

All about solar panels - the different options and how they work

Going solar at home is more straightforward and affordable now than ever before, with areas throughout Canada experiencing a jump in residential solar power installations in the past few years. If you’re thinking about taking the leap into renewable energy in your own home but don’t feel you have enough information abo...

Thermal batteries for passive solar design
Efficient home design

Thermal batteries: how to passively store heat

...battery? Thermal mass of any kind can by definition be called a thermalbattery, as it has the ability to store heat. In the context of a house, that means dense materials like bricks, masonry and concrete. Even a jug of water sitting in a sunny window is a thermalbatteryof sorts as it captures and later releases hea...

Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

A Toronto Off-grid home 20 years later; how did it fare? How could it be optimized?

...batteryinto 120-volt domestic alternating current) can withstand a strong power surge without being damaged and consumes very little current when left idle. A gasoline generator provides an additional 900 kWh, which amounts to approximately 25% of the total demand. The annual cost of occupying the house was originall...

Solar Electricity Generation & Storage with no Batteries, Azelio
Renewable energy

Azelio Solar solutions combine electricity generation & storage without Batteries

...battery, it expands and forces a piston. Gas is cooled in the cycle, then re-heated again by the thermalbattery. This process is repeated about 25 times per second. We find this very impressive, because it is in part indicative of a revival in solar thermal heat storage systems, which was starting to go the way of t...

Off-grid home with solar PV & Battery backup
Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

Thinking about renewable home energy and a battery backup?

...batterybackup. Even with a system that doesn't meet your full daily needs, batteries can be charged by the grid during low-rate hours, allowing you to feed off it during peak-rate hours without paying through the nose. Watch for this sort of thing to take hold moving into the future asbatterytechnology improves and ...

HERD Home energy rating disclosure
Grants and incentives

Ontario's Home Energy Rating and Disclosure plan (HERD) is great news for home buyers

As part of its shift to a low-carbon economy, the Ontario government just released its Five Year Climate Change Action Plan to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. What this means for homeowners and buyers, is that before a house can be put on the market it will require an energy audit and rating, w...

Solar panel reflectors
Solar photovoltaic

Using reflectors to increase the yield of solar panels

The continuing drop in cost for home solar power generation has led to a dramatic increase in the rate of installations, for both residential and commercial use. Increasing the yield through reflection could make that an even more affordable energy supply option. Most of the advances in solar power production come from...

Solar panels power the Kenogami House in Saguenay, Quebec
Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

The Kenogami House: Energy systems in Net Zero Energy Home Design

...battery. Therefore, there is no need to go through an inverter or a chopper (which alters the type of current) during this step. Then, the current from the batteries charges a 12Vbatterythat supplies the home with power. The 48V batteries also supply power to outlets and home appliances that operate in AC (after pass...