3 ms·
In the United States, electricity use soars as temperatures rise and more households use air-conditioning more frequently. One recent study found that the Unite
by Mz 9y ago
In the United States, electricity use soars as temperatures rise and more households use air-conditioning more frequently. One recent study found that the United States’ electric grid would have to handle a 7.2 percent increase in peak demand this century under a moderate warming scenario.
It would be wise to promote passive solar design. Relying on AC just burns more fuel and this makes global warming worse. It winds up being a vicious cycle and it isn't actually necessary.
We also need to support more pedestrian and bike options. There are lots of little things that can help. These tend to not get counted and when things don't get as bad as people expected, this news tends to get swept under the rug. But if you are really concerned about this, you can make some modest lifestyle changes to help curb this trend. If you live in a first world country, your modest efforts will generally count for more than you think because we tend to consume so much more than people in less developed countries.
Some years back when I was taking environmental law classes, one American consumed something like 200 times as much as someone from India. So cutting back a few percent as an American is potentially about like outright eliminating the impact of several people from a less developed country. Even very modest cut backs can be about like someone from a less developed country cutting their consumption in half.
- w8rbt 9y agoThe smart grid is being designed now to solve this. Increase efficiency, allow for renewables (wind and solar), and reduce transmission loss (averages 7% in USA), etc. Let's just hope we can properly secure it, the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has a very large attack surface and spans from homes, to distribution, transmission and ultimately all the back to power generation.
- Mz 9y agoPassive solar is better than having a smart grid, and we can also do both. Using little or no electricity is more efficient than using green electricity. I think we really need to push for passive solar design. It is the answer that allows for high quality of life and lowered use of electricity. Most other answers involve doing without. This does not.
- aaron_m04 9y agoWhat does passive solar entail exactly? And can it make people comfortable on a 95 degree day?
- Mz 9y agoPassive solar includes a variety of approaches, such as thermal mass, architectural design that let's more sunlight in during winter and less in during summer and placement of deciduous trees to shade the house in summer and let sun onto it in winter. Yes, it can keep people comfortable on a hot day. It is typically far more comfortable than conventional housing.
- Johnny555 9y agoBut don't underestimate the effect of good insulation (including windows). When the temperature hit the upper 90's here, I didn't need any air conditioning at all -- just turned on a window fan after dark to bring in cool air, then turned it off in the morning and closed the windows, pulled down the inside sunshades and closed the curtains in rooms facing the sun. The upstairs gets a little warm during the day, but is tolerable by bedtime since the outside temperature has cooled by then. The downstairs stays comfortable all day long. It helps that this is an attached condo with neighbors to each side, so there's effectively no heat coming in from the sides, just the roof, front and back of the condo.
- Mz 9y agoUse of insulation and pulling down the sunshades and closing the curtains in rooms facing the sun is passive solar, in essence.
- petre 9y agoInsulation alone is not sufficient. During a heat wave, after 48 to 72 hours, the heat will go through the wall, eventually. The time lag of the building material and the decrement factor are also very important. Tge time lag should ideally be close to 10-12 hours in order to dampen day/night variations in temperature. https://www.new-learn.info/packages/clear/thermal/buildings/building_fabric/properties/time_lag.html https://www.new-learn.info/packages/clear/thermal/buildings/... This is why most of the time passive solar involves carefully planning before you build. Otherwise the best you can do is sunshades, insulation, landscaping and white roofs.
- patrickg_zill 9y agoWhen people quote that statistic about the American and the Indian, I always want to ask, "which Indian?" Isn't a huge part of it, that Americans outside of NYC basically have to have a car?
- Mz 9y agoI am an American. I have lived without a car for a lot of years. From what I have read, Millenials are putting some pressure on society to make things more pedestrian- and transit-friendly. And even with a car, I don't think that accounts for the entire 200 times as much consumption (a figure from a few years back, I don't know what the current figure would be -- it was given solely to make the point that people in developed countries can cut back modestly and have more impact than they think).