Fresh AIRE

Temper(ature) Tantrums

With the coming days’ temperatures expected to approach 100°F, it’s undoubtedly a challenge to stay cool without blasting the AC.  Being new to air conditioning myself, it has been quite the struggle balancing my need to stay cool in balmy Arlington while satisfying those energy efficiency cravings.  Thus, I’d like to share my personal tale of how I cooled down my sun-kissed apartment.

 

After abandoning my first method to stay cool sans AC (heavy whining/tantrums), we tried turning the AC on sparingly (while at home and awake) and keeping the curtains drawn to banish direct sunlight.  This worked great most of the time, but on days when the sun and temperature were unyielding, the curtains were no match.  I’d arrive home to a sauna, an overheated, miffed cat, and giant cacti that had only weeks ago been humble succulents.  Something had to be done.  There had to be a way of keeping the place livable during the day without electrifying it.  

 

Internet sleuthing and a trip to a home repair store provided some promising options, one of which really did the trick for our abode: window film.  At first I was skeptical that a thin layer of grayish plastic would work, but with a receipt in tow, I stuck the film on our most sun-worshipping windows.  Success!  The film provides a pleasant, barely-there tint, blocks up to 99% of the sun’s UV rays, reduces heat gain through the windows, and will (fingers crossed) help stave off some AC reliance.

 

So that’s what worked for us, and I’m pleased as punch with the results.  How about you?  What has worked in your home to help cool things off without cranking the AC?

Snowmageddon Revisited

Summer heat has reduced last winter's 55 inches of snow to a fond memory.  Many armchair meteorologists and climate change deniers tried to use the massive snowfalls as evidence that global warming was bunk.  Scientists, on the other hand, realize there is a big difference between weather and climate – weather is short term phenomena while climate involves a longer time frame.

Let's take a look at the data, which reveals our snowmageddon winter was actually 5% milder than average (*).   Temperatures this past winter were slightly cooler than average in October and December through February, but we were much warmer (milder) than average in November, March, and April.  Overall, there were 3,833 heating degree days in the 2009-2010 winter season, compared to the long-term average of 4,041 heating degree days for Arlington (as measured at National Airport).

 

Local Heating Degree Days – National Airport
	Actual	Normal	Departure From Normal
Oct-09	208	205	1.5% Cooler
Nov-09	376	456	-17.5% Warmer
Dec-09	835	794	5.2% Cooler
Jan-10	914	906	1% Cooler
Feb-10	833	770	8.2% Cooler
Mar-10	419	562	-25.4% Warmer
Apr-10	159	269	-40.9% Warmer

 

For a cool visual representation of this data, check out the daily trend here.

 

Eight of the past 11 winters in Arlington have been milder than normal.  That is good for our heating bills, but I still miss Spring when we bounce straight from winter to summer heat!

 

(*) One common gauge of the severity of winter is ‘heating degree days’, which is the number of degrees that a day’s average temperature is below 65°F.  For example, if a day’s high temperature is 50°F and the day’s low temperature is 30°F, then the average temperature is taken to be 40°F, and there would be (65°F - 40°F) = 25 heating degree days for that day.  The heating degree day (HDD) is a common and well-accepted measure of the severity of weather over the course of a month, and a generally accurate index by which heating energy is needed for a building or region. Using weather data from National Airport, the long-term winter average for Arlington is 4,041 HDD per year.

 

Posted by: 

John Morrill, Energy Manager, Arlington County

Ceiling Fan Tip

This post originally ran back in 2007, but given the onset of summer weather, is worth bringing back.

Rule of Thumb #5 - Your Couch Doesn't Care

Ceiling fan tip. Ceiling fans do not cool the air. However, they do cool you.  Ceiling fans work by moving air around.  Humans feel more comfortable in the heat when the air is moving. You've probably noted that you can sit outside on your deck in 82-degree weather and feel terrifically comfortable, but 82 degrees inside your house is uncomfortably warm. That's because outside the air is moving, and it makes you feel cooler.

So inside your house you can feel cooler, too, by using fans to move the air. Then you can turn up the thermostat a couple of degrees and save on air conditioning. It does absolutely no good, though, to leave a fan on in a room where there are no people. In fact, it's counterproductive, because the fan is using electricity and providing no benefit. Your couch does not care that the fan is on, and it does not feel any cooler. It's true: I asked it.

So use your ceiling fans to keep you cooler, but turn them off when there are no people around to keep cool.
--------------------------------------------------
Steve Offutt,
Oh, and hey!  If your ceiling fan has lights, change them out for more efficient CFLs too.

Our Own Gusher Right Here In Arlington

Arlington County, VA, where I live, is making improvements to the water infrastructure. As I understand it, they are cleaning and lining the water supply lines systematically across the county. I applaud the county for being proactive in preserving and extending the life of this vital infrastructure.

As the workers laid temporary water pipe in the streets in my neighborhood, I noted that there were several locations where they allowed the water to gush out, as shown in this video.

The water was gushing out into a pail that had holes cut in it, so that it would then flow away in the gutter. You can see my hand holding a watering can and filling it up with the flow. It took about 13 seconds to fill it to the 2-gallon mark. I calculate that flow to be a little more than 9 gallons per minute, 550 gallons per hour, 13,000 gallons per day. This was not, I should note, the only location where this was happening, although the flow at other locations I noticed was not quite as much.

The part of this that bothered me was not that the workers needed to set these temporary pipes as part of the maintenance program. It was that this was put in place several days before Memorial Day weekend, and the water kept gushing 24/7 before, after and through the entire 3-day weekend. I believe it was at least 10 days total that this gusher was in place on my street. Roughly 130,000 gallons from just this one spot. Water rates in Arlington are $11.74 per 1000 gallons, so the opportunity value of that water was about $1,500.

Another way to evaluate is that Arlington pays Washington Aqueduct $795 per million gallons. From that perspective, the 130,000 wasted gallons only cost the county $150. Makes one wonder about the difference.

Given that these crews have been working for many months, I would not be surprised if several million gallons of water has literally been washed away. The County, in fact (and ironically), maintains a water conservation tips page.

There must be a better way to do this, particular on weekends and holidays. Obviously the contractors have no incentives to conserve the water. The county, though, does, since it has to pay for it. Also, it makes residents like me wonder how the county is working to conserve our resources and tax dollars when this simple, easy to see, wasteful practice is occurring right in front of our houses.

===========================

Steve Offutt is an Arlington resident

The Gas-powered Alarm Clock

Remember a couple months ago when ENERGY STAR shut down their entire labeling program? You know, the gas-powered alarm clock that achieved an ENERGY STAR label. 

Well, the program has started back up again as of April 16th, 2010.  Wonder what changed? See links below…

EPA/DOE Joint Press Release

EPA/DOE Joint Letter to Administration

EPA Letter to Manufacturers

Highlights –

• All electronic submissions will require staff review of lab reports showing product meets criteria.
• Self-testing is acceptable until the end of the year, after then the plan is for all products to be tested in a 3^rd party accredited lab. 
• All manufacturers will soon be required participation in an ongoing verification testing program to ensure continued compliance.
• Stricter rules on use of the ENERGY STAR logo have been implemented.

It's worth noting that ENERGY STAR already had been doing off-the-shelf spot check testing on labeled products and found that 98 percent of the products comply with ENERGY STAR criteria.  Also worth noting is that the company that manufactures gas-powered alarm clock is fictitious (as is the alarm clock), created by the GAO to show how vulnerable the program is to fraud. However, with more organizations and communities specifying ENERGY STAR in purchasing policies and development policies, this scrutiny couldn't have come at a better time.  Here's to hoping we won't see anything like Tropical Thunder Appliance's "Air Cleaner" on the shelves at Home Depot.