CH₄ + 2O₂ ⇒

For every forward pointing finger, there are 3 pointing in the reverse direction .

 

I envy you. Our last house in city was also all electric, but no where close to net-zero. Our entire house was heated by electric baseboard heater. Our house was too far away from gas main for service. Conversion to oil furnace was thought but still too expensive to retrofit ductwork. Heat pump were not yet advanced enough back then to be very effective in sub zero winter temperature, and our house was completely surrounded by tall mature trees and had almost no direct sunshine. We heated our house with wood burning stove. After we moved away from city, we now have no natural gas service at all in our town. Our house was initially heated with propane and oil first. I managed to get rid of propane heaters and now use wood burning stove as supplement to oil boiler, but our electric use are still too high for cost effective solar PV conversion. I recently had solar analysis done on our house, and they came up with 20+ years payback period if we are to install large enough PV panels to cover our use.

 

What is your annual electric use (in kWh, not $)? What is your hot water energy source?

This house initially burned 10,600 kWh/year over a long period, or 11,000 over a shorter period. But we cut that in half, down to the 5000 to 5500/year range (under 5k the first net-zero year, but now we are getting lazy ), while producing a hair over 6000 kWh/year. The biggest single chunks of energy savings were displacing baseboard heat in most of the house with the DHP, and converting hot water from electric to a heat pump. But upgraded floor and attic insulation (discovering more than 100 ft^2 of uninsulated ceiling), improved air sealing against infiltration, and a variety of other things also contributed. This happened in numerous steps over 9 years, not as a single project.

But as you are not starting with electric heat, your potential electric savings are unlikely to be as large. And if you have a newer house in a colder climate, it would be a different challenge than my 1980's house in a milder climate.

BTW, as an engineer, I designed and installed the PV system myself, lowering the cost. PV was installed in three stages: a starter system, then expansion to a substantial system, then a jump to net-zero after conservation greatly lowered the bar. Professional installation will be a significant cost adder.

 

Our current home electricity use is bit higher than your initial mark. Last 7 years record show it has been fairly constant about 12,000 kwh/year or 1,000 kwh/month. No big seasonal or yearly fluctuations. We do not use electricity for heating house or water so those two usually largest source of energy demands are not included in this figure. Our water is heated by oil boiler system which is main heating source for the house using hot water baseboard radiator for heat distribution. Our house has no AC, thus no high power demands in summer. We do not even use any type of space heater and/or electric blanket type of heaters for winter, so there is no sharp spike in electric use in winter either. To be honest, I am baffled as to why our electricity use is so high. To this end I have done some individual appliance level energy monitoring using Kill-a-watt type meters. But this did not pinpoint a single big item. Although some big ticket items, including well pump, oven range, clothes dryer, forced vent fan for the oil burner, other exhaust fans and lightings which are either directly wired or connected to 240V were not measured. To really get closer look at our electricity use, I am thinking to install whole house energy monitor with appliance level identifier like Home Monitoring by Sense. Over the years, I have done most of obvious energy efficiency improvements, such ase switching to high efficiency appliances, installing LED light bulbs, increasing attic and window installations, but have not seen much reduction in total usage so far. It seems to reduce the electricity use in our current house requires some drastic lifestyle changes.

Yeah, I would love to tackle PV installation DIY, but I have no qualification or knowledge. If I jump to solar, I would have to have professional installer to do most of work for me. That does make cost prohibitive. Make no sense to invest in PV system or any other major renovation of house that I would have to be paying next 20+ years when I don't even know if we will be living here longer than 10 years, the time frame I would like to retire and may move to a "tiny house" with passive solar built in.

 

Aged infrastructure (worn out). Gas pressure spikes above the ability of pressure regulators to contain. The pressure increase affects the entire section of the distribution system instantly. Similarly worn/constructed devices of the same age fail in typical pattern. See: Takata airbags. Manufacturing limitations/defects are the same across devices of the same manufacture specifications due to tight tolerances and quality control (Six Sigma) that limits variation. One bad apple is an indicator of a defective device similarly made and properly deployed.

Gas must be highly pressurized for transport in order to deliver the volume needed at the consumer end. It's science!

 

It has to moist soil. It is the water that absorbs the mercaptan.

 

Watching closely myself.
My first theory was air in the gas lines, but I have to keep that to myself because they say Chicago has very similar over-pressure issue. I'll be looking to make sure they are being open and honest on causes.

I had some unversity advanced degree technical training from a world class expert on air fuel combustion, so I am inclined to that, but I know I can be wrong until they say more.

PS- I had a gas leak at my house this year a few months back.
The prior owner ran a natural gas line (copper) and a phone line to the family room - which we never used the phone line. Well the darn phone line apparently had power, and apparently the squirrels took a few bites out, Then we had a short circuit which somehow ate thru the copper line over time. Smell was the clue as this is under the deck/inaccessible under the low-to-ground deck. I am a believer in natural gas to save the planet from coal burning, but I believe there are problems with natural gas workmanship/safety etc that need to be addressed.

 

And these unnoticed leaks essentially wipe out the AGW benefit of natural gas.

 

"effectively removed by filtering through soil"@27 Whenever discussions far afield turn to rarely-recognized soil properties, I get a warm fizzy feeling.

H3CSH a bit soluble in water, but I suspect main effect happens at chemically active soil surfaces.

 

gas company and fire dept getting whiffs of gas again today

 

A methane-detecting drone doing transects through low sky would be very handy in such situations.

Countries with antiquated infrastructure provide market demand. If somebody is not making these, they will be soon. Nation's second-best technology school ( ) is in Boston; no shortage of skills.

 

politics is complicated

 

Oooh neat stuff. Thinking about "telltales"; shipping labels that change color when exposed to temperatures or acceleration forces beyond safe ranges. Could such a thing be made for over pressure and built into gas regulator hardware?

 

Usually a pressure relief device when exposed to an over pressureevent will not completely reseal itself. This is the case with most refrigerant reliefs, requiring purchasing a new one.

Haven’t researched this in the residential market, but similar line of replacement should occur. But that’ll involve the utility company and a quick supply of replacement parts.

Hopefully they have better luck with sourcing, as a recent source we used for refrigerant reliefs no longer manufactures in the US.

 

I live out in the country and the three acre lot next to me has three high pressure gas lines running through it. The largest one is 40 inches in diameter. It runs from Oklahoma to Michigan. Just last week there was a gas line blow up just outside of Pittsburgh Pa.

Massive Gas Line Explosion, Fire Prompt Evacuations In Center Twp. « CBS Pittsburgh