Radiant Barrier Is Obessession for Home Owners
According to the Paolo Alto Daily News, saving energy is Ross Koningstein’s hot button, and he’s pushed it to the extreme with 5,000 square feet of bubble wrap. In fact, every wall, rooftop, nook and cranny of his California home is covered in a double layer of radiant barrier.
An engineer with Google, Koningstein’s says the radiant barrier, which is inside the walls, blocks 95 percent of heat, meaning it stops warm air from entering the house in the summer and prevents it from escaping during the winter.
“That’s the difference between needing an air conditioner and not needing an air conditioner,” Koningstein said. “Radiant barrier possibly the cheapest building material you can buy.”
Along with the radiant barrier, Koningstein is using water through an intricate network of hydronic pipes to heat and cool the house. His garage has a three-kilowatt solar system to help reduce his electricity bill. For lighting, Koningstein is installing lights with nine tiny LEDs that use one-sixth the power of a normal light bulb. And all of that warm water going down the drain during a shower? Koningstein is harnessing it and using it to warm up unused water on the way to the showerhead.
To be sure it’s all working, Koningstein installed 15,000 temperature-reading sensors throughout the house that will send numbers to a tiny computer in the basement. To figure out how much air is escaping through the walls, he set up 10 larger sensors that can read the actual heat transfer.
“I’m doing that as a scientific experiment,” Koningstein said. “I want to know how much of a difference this is making.”
All of these energy-saving measures come at a cost, of course. The solar panels for heating and electricity top the list at about $33,000. The hydronic plumbing cost about $12,000. His shower re-heating system was $300. And so much radiant barrier costs around $2,000.
“It’s an up-front cost with long-term savings,” Koningstein said. “But not installing an air conditioner, I’m actually saving money. I’m not trying to be insane about energy-efficiency, but I am trying to build a comfortable home.” And long-term, radiant barrier is an important, cost-efficient component.