New construction - assessment of energy efficiency

Please think it over and inform yourself again about the topic of fuel cells.

And before you blare out such scaremongering, why don’t you inform yourself with your professor about the different types of fuel cells and their use as heating systems. And if they explode so often, he can surely give you a few newspaper reports where it is reported in a panic-mongering way.

I don’t know what your professor is up to in the middle of nowhere, but fuel cells in heating operation connected to the natural gas network do not have a hydrogen storage. The hydrogen is produced on demand directly in the process from methane in the reformer and fed to the stack. Without pressure, or without any significant pressure. A combustible mixture only forms in the combustion chamber and not before. The units are no more dangerous than a normal heating system and the biggest risk factor, as always, sits in front of the system.

Do not confuse this with hydrogen tanks with several hundred bar. However, these do not explode either, at least not Hollywood-style with a fireball.

By the way, really dangerous is driving a car or the airspace in a house, whether with or without small children. And the airspace doesn’t even warm the house.

by using a pellet heating system instead of gas. As for solar thermal energy, I agree with you. It’s the crazy idea of a misguided energy policy, but what can you do.

I don’t see what’s easier about a pellet heating system compared to a gas-powered fuel cell. Ash, pellet storage, tanker trucks, refilling when empty, more frequent chimney sweeps – I’ll leave reliability aside since I don’t know how the fuel cells operate.

And solar thermal energy: why is it a crazy idea to use the sun as an energy source in the simplest way possible, which exists: heating a dark surface to warm water and storing the hot water cheaply? With glycol and vacuum tubes it’s no longer quite so simple, but all the more effective. If the roof surfaces are there anyway and properly oriented, there is absolutely no objection. Misguided energy policy is happening in NRW at the Hambach Forest.

What is simpler about a pellet heating system compared to a gas-powered fuel cell is not clear to me. Ash, pellet storage, tanker trucks, refilling when empty, more frequent chimney sweeper visits – I’ll leave reliability aside, as I don’t know how the fuel cells perform.

And solar thermal energy: Why is it a crazy idea to use the sun as an energy source in the simplest way possible: heating a dark surface and thus warming water and storing the warm water cheaply. With glycol and vacuum tubes it’s no longer quite so simple, but all the more effective. If the roof surfaces are already there and properly oriented, there is absolutely no reason against it. Misguided energy policy takes place in NRW at the Hambach Forest.

I literally said that it is easier to achieve KfW40 with a pellet heating system than with gas. Please read everything and then comment.

That a solar thermal system generally saves money unfortunately also belongs to the realm of myths.

I literally said that it is easier to achieve KfW40 with a pellet heating system than with gas. Please read everything and then comment.

I must have misread that, or misinterpreted the "easier". Regarding the KfW requirements, that is true, you are right. It is easier to install a pellet heating system there.

That a solar thermal system generally saves money unfortunately also belongs to the realm of myths.

Here you misunderstood me. I did not write that nor did I mean it. Only that the promotion or encouragement of solar thermal is a bad idea, I see differently. By using solar energy you need less fuel to heat the building. Switching to pellets only changes the fuel, but not the amount of fuel required.
There are other requirements of the Energy Saving Ordinance and the Renewable Energy Act that I view much more critically than using solar thermal for heating/hot water preparation.

If you want to save money when building a house, you should simply build a smaller house. That is not that complicated.