Madaket family counts on the sun to heat their home

Tag : heating radiant tube


Mary and James Taaffe are looking to Mother Nature to heat theirMadaket home and keep their showers warm. So far, she seems to bedoing a pretty good job.

Late last month James Taaffe installed three solar hydronic heatingpanels – a series of metal rods inside glass vacuum tubes– on the roof of their F Street garage, three less thanhe’d originally intended.

“At this point, I’m fearful that I’m going to becreating so much heat, I’m not going to have anywhere tostore it,” Taaffe said yesterday. “With just thosethree, we’re able to get our domestic hot water to 130degrees by 11:30 in the morning. We’ve also got the capacityto store 160 gallons at 130 degrees, which is more than enough fora family of four whenever we need it.”

Taaffe said he will likely hold off installing the remaining threesolar panels approved by the Historic District Commission earlierthis year until he needs the extra hot water to heat the house aswell as the hot water.

“It’s going to take care of all our domestic hot water,plus a great deal of our in-floor radiant heat,” Mary Taaffe,a real estate agent, said shortly after the HDC approval.
“Right now, they are definitely meeting ourexpectations,” James Taaffe said yesterday. It’s allstill trial and error, and it’s the summer. We’re justgetting it up and running smoothly, but it seems to be goingwell.”

The Taaffes are just one of a growing number of island families,businesses and nonprofits looking to alternative energy to heattheir buildings and power their appliances.

The HDC has noticed the trend, as the trickle of applications forthe installation of solar panels and even a few windmills has beensteadily increasing in recent months.

The town’s architectural review board has been cautiouslyreceptive to alternative-energy projects in recent years, approvinga number of solar panels on homes around the island, and windmillsat Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm.

Solar panels similar to the ones approved for the Taaffes’home were also approved for Windwalker Real Estate owner AlanWorden’s Esther’s Island retreat. He has also installeda ground-level windmill that generates much of the home’spower.

The HDC had been leaning toward having the Taaffes install thesolar panels on the roof of their house instead of the garage,where it will take up an entire roof plane, citing its visualimpact on the neighborhood. But the commission – which lastmonth also approved solar panels on a Long Pond Drive house ownedby Jeff Donnelly, and on Tuesday reviewed a request from Flint andCorky Ranney to replace the four existing solar panels on theirMonomoy Road home with two newer, more efficient panels –ultimately OK’d the installation of the six solar panels onthe Taaffe garage.

“We lived in the house for years getting to know the site andour neighbors,” said James Taaffe, a builder. “It willbe easier to repair the system if it is on the garage, where it isless likely to blow off or get damaged in high winds than if placedon the roof of our house.”

“The HDC has been very accommodating. They had to think hardand carefully about the project, and they saw the value init,” Mary Taaffe said.

The HDC’s solar-panel siting deliberations have not alwaysbeen smooth sailing, but at least one member feels that now’sthe time for the commission to find a way to embrace alternativeenergy.

“There’s lots of new technology coming along. I thinkit’s incumbent on the HDC to make it work in the context ofhistoric Nantucket,” Linda Williams said.

The Taaffes bought their house near Hither Creek in Madaket fromthe Grieder family in 2004 and lived in it, learning about the sitein relation to the sun, wind and surrounding water temperature,before planning an addition and considering theirenergy-conservation measures. Three years later, when theyrenovated the house, which was originally built in the 1970s, theydecided it was time to replace their outdated heating system andreduce their carbon footprint.

“The latest energy crisis did not come until after we madeour decision,” said James Taaffe. “We were thinkingabout reducing our carbon footprint and not having a hugedependence on fossil fuel. If we were building a spec house, Idon’t know if we would be putting in this system.”

“I can’t say it’s a LEED (Leadership in Energyand Environmental Design) house, but we’ve been reallycareful with the decisions we’ve made. We’re usingreclaimed floor boards, and super-efficient in-floor radiant heat.The grass we put down is drought-resistant fescue, and we’retrying to go with organic landscaping. We’re trying to makethese all thoughtful decisions,” Mary Taaffe said.

Inside, the kitchen island has been constructed of end-caps fromthe outdoor decking fastened together with non-toxic epoxy, thereis no medium-density fiberboard anywhere in the house, and thematerial for the stone countertops was locally mined in Vermontrather than being imported from Europe, she added.
The solar hydronic system should pay for itself in six to 10 yearsgiven today’s oil prices, James Taaffe said.
The system was invented in Germany, and is not reliant on thesun’s rays to function, only its heat.
“It’s not like the flat-panel solar system thatrequires the sun,” he said. “The vacuum tube systemwill produce energy on an overcast day. It works on ultravioletrays. It is perfect for the conditions we have on Nantucket. Itwill work in the fog.”
The glass tubes have a copper rod inside which collects heat fromthe sun’s ultraviolet rays. The tubes are small, each oneless than three inches in diameter. Inside the tubes is a fluidwhich exchanges heat with the solar hot-water heater, which is usedto heat the house, said Taaffe.
Taaffe has also insulated his house with blown-in foam insulation,which has a similar R (resistance) value to fiberglass and allowsfor very little infiltration of cold air.
“Our home is very energy-efficient,” said Taaffe.“The whole house is a heater. I will only need oil when wehave severe weather.”