Smart Homes

"Traditionally, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems operate independently of each other... conventional environmental control systems typically waste 50 percent of a building's power. Much of this inefficiency is because each element, such as an office building's water chiller or heating unit, relies on a single control that measures only one variable."
--you can read the full article here

If large building can be made to make use of intelligent systems, would it be possible to do something similar with a home?
There are a variety of suggested uses in large buildings - such as HVAC control, personelle access, lighting adjustment based on available sunlight, and so on - though only some of them would apply to a home.

What could we do other than reacting to changes in temperature (ie. having a thermostat)?
One thing I've noticed recently is that I occasionally have to go outside to get a breath of fresh air after being inside for a while, and I regularly have windows and doors open to let air circulate. The change is noticable to me, like when you're dehydrated and take that first drink of water. So I'd suggest working on improving ventilation, whether or not such improvements take the form of a smart system.

Heat loss through windows

Talking to my dad:

Question: what happens when we have large glass walls/windows and all the heat gets lost through them?
The major heat loss in our house is apparently though the windows.

+One alternative is no windows. We could replace the windows with giant television screens! I'm very much against this. Lack of real light, and too many lcd screens.

+Or we could have insulating windows. For example:
--shutters over the windows
--fill the windows with an insulating gas
--have a setup that pumps tiny packing foam balls into the space between window panes (and can pump them out again)

Options such as shutters and packing material will block light as well as heat, so they would be closed when no-one is home or during the night.

These solutions could either be hand motivated or automated. Automated solutions could integrate the shutter/vaccum controls could integrate with the temperature sensors and be part of the passive heating and cooling system, or just be time based like current termostate setups.

Passive Heating and Cooling

Here's an interesting design which demonstrates some key principles of passive solar heating an cooling. It mentions the slate floor which acts as a thermal mass (slowing heating and cooling over the course of the day and night, respectively.) One of the ideas we've been tossing around is using the moss wall as our solar mass, as it's density may be appropriate. (We may want to consider adding a thin stone tile backing to it...)

I've also been reading the Humanure book online, and found the temperature that compost can reach- up to 70 degrees Celsius. This is pretty exciting, as we were also discussing an idea for a water heating system which would run a coiled pipe through the compost containment unit, and then through the central wall of the house. This would heat the house, as well as provide hot water. Any thoughts on how feasible this might be?