Madison (Maine) testing the heat of the night (off-peak electric ceramic heaters)

[jpak]

http://www.pressherald.com/news/madison-testing-the-heat-of-the-night_2011-09-18.html?pageType=mobile&id=1

Maine's heating season has begun and average fuel oil prices are already high, above $3.35 a gallon. But in the central Maine town of Madison, residents who burn oil have a new option to consider: electric space heaters that run on discount power equal to oil at $2.20 a gallon, with the rate locked in until the end of 2013.

A mid-sized version of these heaters costs roughly $3,500 installed. But if oil prices remain high, the fuel savings could help pay off the purchase price in four years or so.

With Madison as a pilot program, advocates hope to roll out similar rate plans statewide next year. They foresee thousands of Maine homes and businesses cutting oil use with "thermal storage" heaters that take advantage of the cheaper electricity available at night in New England. In time, they see the heaters complementing development of wind power in the region, which tends to be most available in winter and at night.

"It's going to ultimately serve as a template for programs across the state," said Sam Zaitlin, an owner at Thermal Energy Storage of Maine LLC in Saco.

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[elocs]

1. My 9/11 moment was when my full fuel oil tank fell over. I've used space heaters ever since

and they heat my small mobile home very nicely. I only heat the rooms I am in and keep others cool. I have definitely saved heating costs over the price of fuel oil.

[kristopher]

2. You didn't use this kind of heating system - it is a thermal battery

It is one of the many end use storage options that are out there which will go into making a renewable grid a practical reality.

[MineralMan]

3. Seems a bit overpriced to me, based on the photo of the

$3500 unit. But, that's modern marketing, I guess.

[eShirl]

4. If it offsets 60% of the winter's heating costs, it doesn't need marketing.

What it looks like in a photo is irrelevant, wouldn't you say?

[MineralMan]

5. Not really. I look at things to see what they cost to manufacture.

At $3500, that unit is way overpriced. When you figure out the time needed for something to pay for itself in terms of savings on energy costs, the price of the hardware is a significant factor.

There is no way that thing should cost anything like $3500. Maybe $1000. Someone's getting ripped off on the hardware in that scheme. That harms the consumer and makes it difficult for them to actually take advantage of this old heat storage technology. In Russia, ceramic wood stoves did exactly the same thing. They stored heat when the fire was lit, then released it into the room without any fire at all. Heat storage in ceramics is hundreds of years old. It goes back to a stone-lined fire in the caveman days. The stones stored the heat, so you didn't have to always have the fire burning for heat. This is nothing different from that, and the concept has been used for centuries.

Basically, what the thing is is a stack of bricks that are heated up by electricity. Low tech stuff, and it should be less costly.

[jpak]

8. business opportunity

:hi:

[MineralMan]

12. I'm not interested in manufacturing, really. It's too capital intensive.

I prefer my current business, which is writing. When I'm done, I get paid, and I don't have to keep any inventory, since I can make new inventory whenever I wish.

[FBaggins]

17. Or at the very least, a DIY opportunity.

Doesn't seem to be anything particularly complicated about it. You could rig up something similar for a couple hundred dollars and the willingness to reuse junk.

A key step will be getting variable electricity pricing. If wind penetration gets high enough (say... at Germany's levels) that they're almost giving the stuff away at some points... such a plan would make great sense.

[txlibdem]

11. Room unit is $3500, whole-house models run up to $11,000.

Per the link in the OP: "The heaters range from room units to whole-house models that also warm water. Costs run from $3,000 to $11,000."

But when you think about the cost of heating fuel, it's easy some years to get a $600 a month heating bill in Maine, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, etc.

I'd say that a bigger savings would come from properly insulating your home and putting caulking on all the places where air leaks in or out.

[TheMadMonk]

19. Yes and no. Fit as part of new construction, yes price would be...

...much lower. Manufactured to be safely used on almost any flooring substrates somewhat more expensive. Particularly for early adopters. Wait for the rash of cheap knockoffs catching fire to end before buying your own.

[elocs]

7. I know, the point is that I've been able to heat my home quite comfortably without a central furnace

for 10 years now.

[formercia]

6. Madison Maine gets a special electric rate

The power company gave a special rate to Backyard Farms and the Town enjoys the benefits of additional jobs and cheap electricity.

The equivalent electric rate vs fuel cost would not likely apply elsewhere.

http://www.backyardfarms.com/

Areas in Canada that have cheap electricity are also home to Tomato, and other Greenhouse crops.B-)

[jpak]

9. If they are able to lock-in cheap off-peak electricty - it will work everywhere in Maine

All those CMP smart meters can be used to facilitate this business model...

:hi:

[formercia]

10. I hope it pans out.

My son's school just opened last year. They use the Earth to store energy for the Winter by pumping the waste heat from the Air Conditioning into the ground. There are over 150 wells that are part of the heat storage system. They have fuel oil heat as an emergency backup but it is only used a couple a times a year during the coldest days.

:hi:

[Marnie]

13. Good for Maine.

I lived in Down East for three years and the fuel oil bills were eating me alive. God knows if they can line the coast with turbines they could produce enough electricity during an NorEaster to heat the whole East Coast.

Just feed into the regional grid and cash the check.

The coasts in that latitude also have very large differences in high and low tides as well as Maine having a gagillion tidal bays. There is huge potential for power production in their rivers and bays and the lee sides of the mountains as well as the coastal winds.

You go Maineiacs. Play it smart and in 20 years you may have gone from one of the poorest to one of the richest states in the US.

[jpak]

14. Maine could provide most of its electricity, home heat and electric transport (cars, buses)

with our indiginous renewable resources

and then some

:hi:

[madokie]

15. As my Harman pellet stove cruises along saving me gobs of money each day and night

The last time I put a pencil to it we're over 7000 bucks to the good over using propane for heat since the winter of '90 '91 when we bought our first wood pellet stove. I love our Harman pellet stove

[jpak]

16. Harman stoves rock - and we ave several pellet mills in Maine to fill them

:hi:

[madokie]

18. I've had three different kinds of pellet stoves and Harman is by far the best of them all

I love the way it changes the size of the fire to suit the needs rather than turn on and off constantly like the other brands that have a thermostat connection do. It matters not the style of Harman you buy they all use the same process.
This summer I've been taking the vinyl siding off as I replace our windows with vinyl windows and putting house wrap on before I put the siding back on. I have one window to go and a 20 ft wall to do to have this job finished. We can already tell the difference in the comfort level too. At first I was worried that it might turn into a big job removing and replacing the siding so I could house wrap but it really hasn't been that much of a problem. I think in energy savings and in comfort the work will pay for itself in energy in at most two winters and one summer.
Theres a lot that home owners can do to help with our energy problems here in America if we'd just do it. Or at least I think that is the case anyway.