5 ms·

Yeah those higher ceilings are very popular, andextremely inefficient. We recently saw this in the new constructed homes in Texas, which made their problem with

by chaxor 5y ago

Yeah those higher ceilings are very popular, andextremely inefficient. We recently saw this in the new constructed homes in Texas, which made their problem with the power grid last year even worse. The few minutes they gave power to those fancy new home regions (during the time they were cycling power steering) basically went to waste, because the ceilings were so insanely high, and everyone has the open and spacious aesthetic. Many of them had 2 story entrance like ceilings, and few doors to close off where the heat should be directed. Older homes in the north tend towards lower ceilings and smaller rooms with doors - so heating one room can be efficient and fast

bumby 5y ago
Sure, I was going to mention the tradeoff with the inefficiency but left it out for brevity. I will say, though, that the same inefficiency in those geographic areas exist when building multistoried buildings. A ranch is much easier to cool in west texas/new mexico/arizona than a multistory building where the bedrooms and living areas need to be cooled. I've notice the construction style also mitigates this somewhat. In the west where slab-on-grade is the norm, ducts run through the attic, meaning diffusers are in the ceiling. This makes natural convection of cold air more efficient, especially when coupled with something cheap like a ceiling fan. But at the end of the day, you're right that there's still substantially more air to condition. I don't know if I'd say that was even a proximate cause of the texas power grid situation though which was largely due to weatherization issues. Can you elaborate?
- giantg2 5y ago
  There are a lot of articles that go through the issues in detail. The main points they list are that in that climate heating is less of a concern and so inefficient resistant heating is common. Then the grid itself didn't winterize, which lead to some plants not staying up and the others not being able to cover the spike in demand with a reduction in generation capacity.
  - bumby 5y ago
    That's kinda what I'm getting at. The root cause of the failure was not winterizing the plants and infrastructure, not really about residential construction design. The resistance heating failed due to the grid design, not the other way around. Having more electrical demand would have not been much of an issue, I presume, had the grid been more resilient. Conversely, less resistance heating would not have magically made the grid more resilient.
giantg2 5y ago
Plus two story or more ceilings a pain to clean and paint.

by chaxor 5y ago

bumby 5y ago

Sure, I was going to mention the tradeoff with the inefficiency but left it out for brevity. I will say, though, that the same inefficiency in those geographic areas exist when building multistoried buildings. A ranch is much easier to cool in west texas/new mexico/arizona than a multistory building where the bedrooms and living areas need to be cooled. I've notice the construction style also mitigates this somewhat. In the west where slab-on-grade is the norm, ducts run through the attic, meaning diffusers are in the ceiling. This makes natural convection of cold air more efficient, especially when coupled with something cheap like a ceiling fan. But at the end of the day, you're right that there's still substantially more air to condition. I don't know if I'd say that was even a proximate cause of the texas power grid situation though which was largely due to weatherization issues. Can you elaborate?

giantg2 5y ago
There are a lot of articles that go through the issues in detail. The main points they list are that in that climate heating is less of a concern and so inefficient resistant heating is common. Then the grid itself didn't winterize, which lead to some plants not staying up and the others not being able to cover the spike in demand with a reduction in generation capacity.
- bumby 5y ago
  That's kinda what I'm getting at. The root cause of the failure was not winterizing the plants and infrastructure, not really about residential construction design. The resistance heating failed due to the grid design, not the other way around. Having more electrical demand would have not been much of an issue, I presume, had the grid been more resilient. Conversely, less resistance heating would not have magically made the grid more resilient.

giantg2 5y ago

Plus two story or more ceilings a pain to clean and paint.