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I believe Home Automation needs to start with proper climate control (not with iKettles) because just bringing fresh air from outside probably isn't enough, it

by xaduha 5y ago

I believe Home Automation needs to start with proper climate control (not with iKettles) because just bringing fresh air from outside probably isn't enough, it depends on many things. There's so much wasted heat, varying humidity, overabundance of co2 and particulate matter due to pollution in some places - keeping it all at optimal levels throughout the year is no small task. Everyone knows about air conditioning, but barely anyone knows about recuperators/heat exchangers or has an air quality monitor in their house or at work. If you don't have proper ventilation then most of those air conditioners just recirculate stale air, change its temperature and mess with humidity.

myroon5 5y ago
I've been thinking the same and mainly found this so far: http://wyndflow.com/ http://wyndflow.com/
- xaduha 5y ago
  There are some DIY recuperator videos on youtube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=diy+recuperator https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=diy+recuperator
m_mueller 5y ago
Totally agreed. Smart homes seem to lack focus in that area - this seems to be by far the lowest hanging fruit in terms of improving quality of life / health, that smart homes could tackle. Central heating & air, heat exchangers, good isolation, sensors in every room for CO2, humidity, temperature, pollution and maybe O2. A small LCD per room with some warning & error lights (and otherwise no background lighting) if anything goes outside set parameters. In countries like the US where smoke detectors are already mandatory, maybe they could just be replaced with a new generation that offers these capabilities.
fy20 5y ago
In Northern Europe and (slightly slower) parts of North America heat recovery ventilators are becoming standard on new buildings. In my country all new homes need to come with a unit that is at least 90% efficient. Retrofitting such systems isn't that hard, especially if you already have ducted AC. If you don't there are units that can ventilate a single room, they just need a 15cm hole in the wall. You mention home automation, but it's actually interesting with newer houses that are built smarter, there is less to automate: - The ventilation system needs to be sized for the house, then it can be left running all the time (you could turn it off or down when nobody is home, but these systems often consume under 100W of electricity - it's just two fans). - With low temperature hydronic underfloor heating in a concrete floor, it takes so long for the system to heat up or cool down that turning it off when nobody is home will barely affect the temperature. If the system is balanced correctly, taking into account how much energy from the sun each room receives, you can do without individual temperature controllers in each room. Once it's setup the only adjustment needed is to turn it on in the autumn and off in the spring.
- xaduha 5y ago
  Not everyone lives suburban houses, some live in apartment buildings with central heating that you have little control over. It's a problem for people all around the world in different environments.
  - fy20 5y ago
    FYI my experience of these things is in an apartment building. Of course retrofitting old buildings is hard and landlords aren't incentivized to make changes which save energy (after all, the tenants are paying the bills), but new buildings can be built a lot smarter than what has been done previously. The whole building technology topic is very interesting, as even today in many parts of the developed world (southern US seems to be a big offender here) they still build residential buildings the same as they were done 70+ years ago.

by xaduha 5y ago

myroon5 5y ago

I've been thinking the same and mainly found this so far: http://wyndflow.com/ http://wyndflow.com/

xaduha 5y ago
There are some DIY recuperator videos on youtube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=diy+recuperator https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=diy+recuperator

m_mueller 5y ago

Totally agreed. Smart homes seem to lack focus in that area - this seems to be by far the lowest hanging fruit in terms of improving quality of life / health, that smart homes could tackle. Central heating & air, heat exchangers, good isolation, sensors in every room for CO2, humidity, temperature, pollution and maybe O2. A small LCD per room with some warning & error lights (and otherwise no background lighting) if anything goes outside set parameters. In countries like the US where smoke detectors are already mandatory, maybe they could just be replaced with a new generation that offers these capabilities.

fy20 5y ago

In Northern Europe and (slightly slower) parts of North America heat recovery ventilators are becoming standard on new buildings. In my country all new homes need to come with a unit that is at least 90% efficient. Retrofitting such systems isn't that hard, especially if you already have ducted AC. If you don't there are units that can ventilate a single room, they just need a 15cm hole in the wall. You mention home automation, but it's actually interesting with newer houses that are built smarter, there is less to automate: - The ventilation system needs to be sized for the house, then it can be left running all the time (you could turn it off or down when nobody is home, but these systems often consume under 100W of electricity - it's just two fans). - With low temperature hydronic underfloor heating in a concrete floor, it takes so long for the system to heat up or cool down that turning it off when nobody is home will barely affect the temperature. If the system is balanced correctly, taking into account how much energy from the sun each room receives, you can do without individual temperature controllers in each room. Once it's setup the only adjustment needed is to turn it on in the autumn and off in the spring.

xaduha 5y ago
Not everyone lives suburban houses, some live in apartment buildings with central heating that you have little control over. It's a problem for people all around the world in different environments.
- fy20 5y ago
  FYI my experience of these things is in an apartment building. Of course retrofitting old buildings is hard and landlords aren't incentivized to make changes which save energy (after all, the tenants are paying the bills), but new buildings can be built a lot smarter than what has been done previously. The whole building technology topic is very interesting, as even today in many parts of the developed world (southern US seems to be a big offender here) they still build residential buildings the same as they were done 70+ years ago.