Space and Water Heating
Space and water heating offer a huge potential for energy savings. In an airtight and well-insulated home, the mechanical set-up can be scaled down to the exact heating and cooling demand. It is important to plan the system out in the early design stages of the home. Dual fuel and hybrid HVAC systems have become popular solutions. Some are operated off a manual switch from heat pump for cooling to gas for heating; some combine air and water heating. The Multi-Source Clean Energy System in the Next Generation Home uses both ideas and increases efficiency even further.
Tankless water heater provides home heating and unlimited hot water
Drain Water Heat Recovery recaptures heat from drain water to reheat fresh water
Genesis Controls/Honeywell sensors monitor the energy performance of the home
Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) – located in the room behind
iFLOW air handler connecting the tankless water heater and heat pump to distribute conditioned air through the home
Seamless interaction of active and passive energy sources
All steps in the heating and cooling process happen seamlessly. Once the homeowner sets the desired temperature for each of the four zones, they can relax. A consistent comfort level is maintained, while active and passive clean energy sources interact.
The main components:
- An air source variable speed electric heat pump
- An on-demand gas hot water heater
- An intelligent air handler equipped with a hot water coil
- A 4-Zone system with supply and return air ducting
- An Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV)
Each of the four zones of the Next Generation Home has its own temperature control as well as its own supply and return air ducting. This allows the intelligent air handler to tailor the supply of heat to each zone exactly to its demand.
Pump Up The Heat! (And Cooling!)
An economical and environmentally friendly solution for heating and cooling. Local utility rebates make Air Source Heat Pumps a highly cost-efficient component in net zero homes. Using electricity the outside air is either heated up by compression or cooled down by expansion before being distributed through the ERV (energy recovery system).
Heat pumps are a good choice for high performance homes—and maybe yours—because they heat and cool the air with less energy. They work by pumping heat from one place to another rather than generating it.
How does it work? Heat pumps compress and expand fluid to make it hotter or colder. Compressing a fluid, such as air, makes it hotter. Expanding a fluid makes it colder. Have you ever noticed how a spray can, like spray paint, gets colder as you use it? The can is soaking up heat from the air around it. Refrigerators work in the same way. You might notice the top of your refrigerator is warm. That’s because it’s giving off heat in order to cool the inside.
Since the envelope of the Next Generation Home is already highly effective in keeping the inside temperature stable, little electricity is needed to run the air source heat pump.
On-Demand Water Heater
The Navien on-demand tankless water heater saves energy by only heating water as needed versus keeping a tank full of water at a high temperature. Aside from supplying hot water it also serves the hydronic heating system when multiple zones call for heating and the heat pump can’t keep up.
iFlow
The iFlow intelligent air handler is the core piece of the set-up. iFlow connects water and space heating and controls all components of the system. Through the iFlow App you can set temperatures for the different zones in your house on your phone.
iFLOW combination systems can outperform even the highest AFUE rated, Energy-Star labelled furnaces by an average of 9% because of their exceptional hardware and software engineering. On average, an iFLOW combi-system delivers payback in 3.5 years.
