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Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

nytimes.com

251–260 of 349 posts

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to men preferring cooler temperatures in general (probably for metabolic reasons), men in offices are usually required to wear warmer clothing than women (though anecdotally I suspect that because of the AC, pantsuits are becoming more popular). In one office I worked at, the AC controls were not accessible, and because there was no dress code whatsoever, everyone complained about the temperatures being t…

"Looks professional" is all about what "successful people" wear. If everyone in the US who was successful took to wearing Moomoos... then we'd all be wearing moomoos and the schlubs would be wearing suits. Just look at the hoodie pre and post zuckerberg. If Mark had instead wore a tank-top and board shorts 50% of SF would be wearing that year round instead.

No, there really is something objectively attractive about handsome clothing. Well made and handsome clothing, especially that which obscures the aesthetic weaknesses of the wearer, is a global concept.

Hoodie and jeans is an okay uniform inside a business (though I would argue that if they're not well-kept, it lowers the standards of the people in the office), but in customer-facing roles I think it's inappropriate. It can be done well, but most hoodies and most pairs of jeans are an aesthetic disappointment, since they're built for casual warmth and gold panning respectively.

I would not trust a bank which faces its customers with hoodies, T-shirts, and jeans. The appropriate attire for a clerk usually involves a shirt (especially with a vest) or one/two tone blouse, and trousers or a skirt. Makes you look kempt, but dynamic. A unifying visual theme for staff also makes it simpler to identify them. If the clerks all have a consistent uniform, the custodial staff a different but thematically matched uniform, it makes it simpler to navigate a customer-facing office. I think Hooters does a good job of this, it is easy to locate and discern the staff from other guests, and contributes to the environment (a casual, consistent dining establishment which has attractive, well-trained, and helpful service staff).

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO2, and its interchangeably-used measure of CO2e (which is a sum of all greenhouse gases weighted based on how much they contribute to global warming) is the only pollutant that matters in this context. Our disposable-good society is a small fraction of our overall impact on the climate. It is 100% possible to power our world with solar, wind, and batteries while keeping the rest of our lives largely unchanged. The…

Air travel? Sure, that ones hard to fix, but we have had a solution for years which would drastically reduce the environmental harm done by cattle farming - eating plant-based foods instead of beef.

Hobson's choice.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#253
post #160

So we curb emissions by building a bunch of new A/C units? Sorry, that's silly. CO2 is just one of many many forms of pollution. Think you're doing your part by purchasing a hybrid or electric vehicle? There are barrels of oil that go into those tiers, the plastics, not to mention all the pollution that goes into battery production. If your car is fuel efficient, the best thing you can do for the environment is drive…

Rampant consumerism is the exploitative pyramid scheme that's made the U.S. (and really the entire west and the part of the world that mimicks its economics in some form or other) wealthy. There's no possible way U.S. or global plutocracy is going to be kind and look the other way at attempts to shrink their economy. They'd sooner see the world burn. I think what it would take, is a genome change. We'd need to be a d…

You're getting downvoted but you're basically correct. Notice how human civilization is dictated by a four-generation cycle like Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. We're in the Summer/Fall transition and we will soon be entering the Winter right now. But if the baby boomers, Gen X and Millenials could have some genetic memory of WW1, the Great Depression and WW2, then we might not be in this situation.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately, the actual spending decisions are made by Congress, so the content of the President's proposed budget doesn't matter.

I think "don't worry; the Republican-controlled Congress will not cut funding on environmental initiatives" sounds like a bit of a pollyannaish proposition.

Well, they didn't cut this particular program during the Bush years when the Congress was under Republican control also.

That, and generally Republicans tend to do far less cutting than they say they are going to. They talk about it to get votes, but they rarely actually follow through. Again, see the last time they had control of Congress, when spending was considered to be through the roof when the deficit was only $187 billion. And, that was when they could actually manage to pass legislation, unlike the current mess they're in right now.

So, no, it's not actually me being Pollyannaish at all. I'm being extremely cynical. I think they're basically lying about wanting to and they're too incompetent to manage it even if they did want to.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#255
post #34
post #18

> The Lawrence Berkeley study argues that even a 30 percent improvement in efficiency could avoid the peak load equivalent of about 1,500 power plants by 2030. Okay, but where is this 30% jump in efficiency going to come from? That seems like a pretty big leap!

Most home AC units in the US are single-stage, where they're all the way on, or all the way off. You can pay more for a two-stage unit, which has low & high operation. But in other countries, VRF systems are more popular (variable refrigerant flow) - they operate their fans & compressors at speeds which match the demand, and so use less electricity. And are quieter.

There's also a cost issue:

If you have a one stage furnace - your only option is a one stage AC (vs 2-stage or variable speed AC). You need to upgrade the furnace/blower to take advantage of the more efficient AC model

Mini-Splits are great but much more expensive to purchase (~4k USD per Unit which covers 400-500 sqft). They also don't heat as well as a traditional gas fired furnace.

Heat pumps are probably the way to go in moderate climates but I haven't looked into them in much detail.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#256
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off the top of my head, * A lot of home conditioners are fighting the weather in conditions with poor insulation, running when nobody is home, or running in rooms when people are in different parts of the house. * Office air conditioners are often set too cold, subjectively speaking, sometimes resulting in workers bringing sweaters or even space heaters to their desks. This is shockingly common. Multi-zone cooling ca…

Also, people who set their home heat pump to "auto" instead of "heat" in winter and "cool" in summer. No-one should mind if they have it on 18 in winter and the sun heats the room to 20 in the afternoon, but a heat pump on auto will start cooling to maintain the room at 18.

I've never understood why we even design most HVAC systems to maintain one temperature. I don't care that my home or car is exactly 18°C warm, I just want to keep it at a temperature between 18°C and 25°C year-round. It feels completely unnatural to be forced to set a single temperature and change it depending on the situation.

A less straightforward change for further automation would be to make that temperature depending on the humidity. On a dry day, 28°C is perfectly fine, on a humid day it's way too hot. I can't be bothered to adjust my desired temperature depending on humidity, but a computer could easily do that.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My bedroom in Tampa, FL reaches 90F at night without air conditioning. There is no way I could live without AC here. You obviously could live there... it would just be unpleasant. I lived a year in Singapore where temperatures were in the 80-90 range. I stayed on-campus at NUS and was lucky to have a room with A/C, but it wasn't common. The majority of students make do with big fans and windows. I remember working…

Turns out that the GP could adapt to sleeping in 90F temperatures as the human body is adaptable. After a few weeks you'd be used to it and it wouldn't matter. The Creek/Seminole did it in the southeast.

[deleted]

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#258
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Berlin doesn't nearly get as hot as the United States. Try sitting inside a house in Mobile, AL in July without air conditioner and see how long you last. Using your water example, what about the deserts in the US that don't have a nearby water source to cool everything. Europe is much cooler in comparison to the US.

I agree with most of what you've said, but I'd also argue that having large groups living out in the desert is such an absurd configuration for humans that it presupposes an indifference for any sort of sustainability.

> I'd also argue that having large groups living out in the desert is such an absurd configuration for humans that it presupposes an indifference for any sort of sustainability.

It's easier to irrigate a flat desert with fertile soil than to move the flat terrain and fertile soil closer to a water source.

Food production is a fairly important component of sustainable human societies, and a major reason for the US (California particularly) having inhabited deserts and semi-arid regions.

Re: Improving air conditioner efficiency could reduce worldwide temps

#260
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> an indifference for any sort of sustainability. That's a pretty apt general description of Las Vegas.

And Phoenix, and Los Angeles, and much of the southwest in general.

The LA Basin is not a desert.
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