Lower heating and cooling costs

[bryn]

gallon jugs sound like a real pain to me. our thermal mass is the foundation itself.
bottom floor east, north, and west walls, and the floor are poured concrete insulated on the outside.
the south wall is windows with an overhang so that direct sunlight only comes in during the winter

[MazdaMatt]

I read that a LONG time ago people would keep a huge tub of water in the basement where their heating fires were to maintain a more steady heat night/day. It is definately a sound principle.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by saunders1313

I was thinking of a concept as it works with a fridge. It only cools off the inside when the temp rises above a certain set level. If there is nothing in there then it cools off faster and needs to be cooled off less once the desired temp is reached. But if there is food in there then it takes longer to cool off initially, but then it also requires more cycling more often. Does this work for a house? If most of the living space was open as opposed to having stuff all over the place then wouldn't that concept still apply? Any thoughts on this?

Your cost is a function of your internal load,and energy lost or gained through the envelope of your home,and the efficiency of the HVAC equipment used to maintain your design indoor conditions,for any given temperature differential across the envelope.You can't control the weather(outside air temp.) and after you've arrived at the minimum tolerable indoor conditions,basically it becomes the U-value of the composite structure and SEER rating of your equipment,along with your internal load, which will dictate Btu's in or out of the structure(your energy bill).Air is easy to cool,as it only weighs 0.075 pounds per cubic foot,however,if the interior surfaces of the house are above or below your comfort range,then,they'll take a little longer to bring to design temp.Furniture and belongings gives you a thermal-flywheel effect so to speak,however,at some point,everything must either be heated or cooled,depending on the season,or you will feel radiant energy effects from these infrared sources.