From the Hombuilders Show

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swarmed the show floor in Orlando this year, over 100,000 expected!

Nice to see a good presence regarding hydronic and radiant displayed.

Rheem displayed some solar collectors and their Solarite tanks in the booth.

Wild window and door displays! This Pella window display was a favorite! Talk about living in a fish bowl :)

Amazing hi tech appliances.

I spent a few hours in the RPA booth and met plenty of interesting folks from all over the world. All were aware of radiant and it's benefits! An acoustical engineer and contractor from Ireland designing around radiant in their systems. Contractors from South America, a retired couple building a home in Florida and Alaska to follow the seasons, fun and interesting people.

I was most impressed with a group of students from Maryland researching radiant for their Solar Decathlon entry. Buzzing with excitement these students were researching ideas for this years event. Great to see these young, future engineers and designers interest in solar and radiant.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/teams.html

The mother of all pick up trucks displayed :)

hot rod

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Mark Eatherton1

Solar Decathalon Entry...

Keep an eye on the team from Colorado. I've been coaching them on their design for a while. They'll be using some state of the art solar thermal and PV equipment, combined with some state of the art distribution systems, and some state of the art control systems to produce a home that will heat for pennys per day, and be comfortable.

These students are facing an unbelieveable challenge. They're monitored for every watt of energy they consume, and generate. And they're not allowed to cheat. They MUST meet certain criteria as it pertains to indoor temperatures, water temperature for DHW etc.

They're required to pump their own water, and are made accountable for that energy.

They're required to have an electric car as a part of their energy load, and are required to drive it a certain number of miles per day. It'll be recharged from their solar PV array.

I met this group of students while speaking to a group of homeowners during a 1-1/2 hour speaking engagement on interfacing solar with RFH that I gave at the Solar Energy Research Institute last spring.

I can't tell you any more about the design of their project until its actually under way, but I can tell you that it's going to take names, and kick butt and probably stop the show...

Go Buffs!!

http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/team_colorado.html

ME

Rick Kelly_3

picture

Nice pic Hot Rod. For a moment I thought you were posing with your new hydronic room divider.

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Don't get me started,

Rick

hot rod

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Was there some Eatherton in

last years entry?

Be nice to get the RPA Washington chapter and national involved in some way!

hot rod

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Mark Eatherton1

No...

This'll be a first for me. I don't think they intend to ship me to Washington for the finals, but you never know. If I do, you can bet I'll touch bases with the DC group.

ME

Steve_70

make of truck?????

who's the maker of the truck?