Most rooftop units operate using the minimum controls required by code. Fans in the units operate at maximum speed and bring in a constant amount of outside air during occupied hours.
Read More
This year was a blowout for tomato production at the Ihnen household. Enough tomatoes were planted such that if a tomato plague blighted the Ihnen ranch, wiping out 90% of the crop, there would still be plenty for onsite production. What to do? We visited the People’s Food Coop in La Crosse where we buy nearly all our produce. Cherry tomatoes are selling for $1.80 per pint, and locally grown tomatoes are going for $3.00 per pound. This is great! Clearly, our crop as shown, represents a nice down payment toward an advanced degree for our K-9s. We loaded all…
Read More
As a writer and talker, there are certain phrases and clichés I practically refuse to use. These include: Boots on the ground At the end of the day Low hanging fruit Thrown under the bus Kick the can down the road Are there any psychiatrists, sociologists, social scientists, or psychologists in the audience to answer this question: why do people gravitate toward these phrases? Is it how they roll off the tongue? Thrown under the bus. Have you ever seen anyone thrown under the bus? Even in a movie? How would you throw somebody under the bus? Is the bus…
Read More
For any type of building (office, factory, school, or hospital), most equipment is selected to meet the worst-case scenario, which can result from factors like outside air temperature or peak production.
Read More
Last week’s post ended with a suggestion to use a benefit/cost metric like that produced by ACEEE, shown in the chart. The results of ACEEE’s study indicate that energy efficiency is the cheapest resource for “producing” energy. As long as it is the cheapest source, let’s keep buying. The regulated utility business is weird. The energy efficiency business is off-the-chart weird. Why? Because we produce the ballyhooed tawagem. We produce a lack of something. Nothing. A vacuum. We save energy at a lower cost per kWh than it costs to generate a kWh, with anything.So, what does this mean? How…
Read More
Back in May I wrote that we need to explain the benefits of energy efficiency in simple terms – like our mothers would understand. In that I explained that utilities serve a public benefit, like roads. Since the dawn of energy efficiency, there have been cost effectiveness hurdles – that make little sense to this 20 year veteran, let alone my 80 year old mother. Since this is not (thankfully) my normal area of expertise, it took me a couple hours to figure things out and I’m still not sure I have this all right. That my friends speaks volumes,…
Read More