EcoRad Radiators Warm Rooms not the Planet

Where does heat come from? If you’re a New Yorker, the answer is probably a radiator or a hot water pipe that runs through your apartment threatening to scald you or melt your belongings without the appropriate precautions. Central air, a standard for new construction, or the space heater, my favorite little fire starter, both of which blow glorious, warming air to heat a room. The real downside to the forced air is its short term gratification, once it’s off, the heat source is gone and the cold returns. Forced air is also a very dry air, which anyone who’s slathering on lotion during the winter months would like to avoid.

EcoRad.

A second look at the radiator and one realizes, the hefty hunk of metal retains heat for hours. In green design, temperature retention through mass is a sustainable solution to heating and cooling a home. Thermal mass allows a small amount of energy to control temperature for a much longer period of time than a blast of air. But radiators are loud, they hiss and thump, they require water, they leak and rust, and the list goes on.

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The Canadian company EcoRad, has taken the benefits of the radiator and eliminated the negatives. EcoRad converts cast-iron radiators into an electric heat system with 99% recycled materials. The radiators are refurbished instead of melted down (melting cast-iron releases greenhouses gasses), and transformed into works of art that can be connected to a programmable thermostat for ultimate efficiency. EcoRad has a collection of refurbished radiators dating back to 1850 (some in really fun colors), or they will convert your radiators to your specifications in about four to eight weeks. I like this product because it allows the recycled material to act as it was originally intended, with a few minor, environment friendly tweaks.

via Planetgreen

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