Re: New paradigm for home heating automation and control

[Pat Farrell <pfarrell@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Green wrote:
> I think Marc was just trying to be humorous!

On the topic of keeping warm for less than the cost of
burning dollar bills in a franklin stove, humor is good.

> With gas and oil as pricey as they are, it's almost an economic certainty
> the price of electricity will rise.

I think its a given. Nuke and coal can help, but they have other issues.

> It does give rise to an interesting question:  Does it pay to have two
> types of heating systems if there's a tremendous flux in availability of
> fuel  sources?  How would that be manageable from an HA standpoint?

Commercial plants have done this for ages.
Typically with oil and natural gas.

I had a brother in law with two furnaces. He was a tree surgeon
and got lots of free firewood. He had one wood fired boiler
and a backup oil boiler. Set the thermostats at different
points and life was good.