Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

news.cornell.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 226 posts

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#191

Post by asfsaf »

celticninja wrote: post #50
MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like heating/cooling your house more in advance of demand? It would be neat if they could enable/disable demand on a rolling basis where AC runs for one subpopulation for part of an hour then for another subpopulation the next part.

or you know, dont live in the desert e.g Phoenix Arizona, or if you do decide to live in the desert then realise that's your choice and dont add to pollution and climate change by trying to cool down a desert with AC.

Heating is far worse than cooling for energy consumption. It just doesn't produce the same moral outrage that AC does.

Which is funny, because you can always and universally add an extra layer of clothes to keep warm. You literally don't need heating as long as you forgo internal plumbing. But there is no universal alternative to AC to cool something down and people die all the time from heat exhaustion at home.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#192

Post by KennyBlanken »

dragonwriter wrote: post #133
rblatz wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does precooking really work? I’d assume it would have to cool my house down below 65 to keep it below 80 all afternoon. 111+ days are brutal in certain rooms even with both ACs set to 76.

> Does precoo[l]ing really work? Depends on the shape of the temperature graph for the day, the power of your AC system, your insulation, etc. If your on a day that doesn't get below 90 and gets above 110 during the hottest part of the day and your AC is barely rated at the minimum recommended for your square footage and you have average insulation, no, and even regular AC use is going to be marginal and your AC is p…

Does for me. Around 7 PM, my AC kicks on to drop the house a few degrees; sun's down low and air temperature has been dropping by then.

Later in the evening, it drops lower to be able to sleep, but also cool down the house, and taking advantage of the coolest part of the day for best efficiency of the AC system. It stops holding that temperature around 7-8am and goes to a much higher set point.

The house stays dry enough through the day that it never really gets uncomfortable, especially with a gentle breeze from a small, quiet fan in the room.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#193

Post by andrewf »

ceejayoz wrote: post #70
hyperman1 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found a toilet requiring 4 or 5 flushes before things move. Otherwise they just go merilly around in circles. It has 2 buttons, and a message to push the right button and save the planet. If there exists a hell for toilets, that one belongs down there.

That's another thing Australia one-ups us on; the toilets are vigorous . None of this slow swirly watch it spin away shit; it's more like an airplane toilet in aggressiveness.

They're washdown toilets. https://www.ortonbaths.com/siphonic-vs-washdown-toilet-bette...

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#195

Post by megaman821 »

asfsaf wrote: post #191
celticninja wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or you know, dont live in the desert e.g Phoenix Arizona, or if you do decide to live in the desert then realise that's your choice and dont add to pollution and climate change by trying to cool down a desert with AC.

Heating is far worse than cooling for energy consumption. It just doesn't produce the same moral outrage that AC does. Which is funny, because you can always and universally add an extra layer of clothes to keep warm. You literally don't need heating as long as you forgo internal plumbing. But there is no universal alternative to AC to cool something down and people die all the time from heat exhaustion at home.

I have noticed this too. It is just AC is perceived as decadent and heating as primitive. It takes a fancy machine to cool your house, but you can heat your house by burning a log. The actual energy expenditure to accomplish temperature change doesn't affect how people how energy intensive people view each method.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#196

Post by ceejayoz »

andrewf wrote: post #193
ceejayoz wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's another thing Australia one-ups us on; the toilets are vigorous . None of this slow swirly watch it spin away shit; it's more like an airplane toilet in aggressiveness.

They're washdown toilets. https://www.ortonbaths.com/siphonic-vs-washdown-toilet-bette...

Ah, thanks! When I remodel I know what to look for.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#197

Post by caf »

slavik81 wrote: post #187
jffry wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dehumidifier does use power and produce heat which must be removed from my apartment by the air conditioner. Because it's less humid, I can maintain a higher indoor temperature and still be comfortable, meaning the air conditioner needs to run less. Do I use net less energy? In my case, yes, but your mileage may vary depending on your equipment, insulation, etc.

He's saying that you have two air conditioners: one that vents heat inside your house and one that vents heat outside your house. Your dehumidifier and your air conditioner are mechanically identical. The only difference between the two is where the waste heat goes. The exact same device is called a 'dehumidifier' if the waste heat is vented indoors and an 'air conditioner' if the waste heat is vented outside. There'…

There's also dessicant dehumidifiers that don't use a refrigeration cycle. They do also warm the air a bit but may be more efficient per mass of water removed from the air, depending on the temperature and humidity range.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#199

Post by CardenB »

namecheapTA wrote: post #128
moralestapia wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sorry, not sorry: I'm not willing to sacrifice my comfort for the ~$10/mo incentive. Hey, but at least you don't use plastic straws, right?

The plastic straw thing confuses me. I'd like someone to explain to me how anything besides the random runaway straw gets into the ocean. I live 60 miles from the ocean. We're people throwing them into storm drains that flow to the delta that flow to the ocean? We're people in San Francisco traveling to the beach and throwing them into the ocean? Couldn't we focus on not littering instead of legislating things like s…

we literally ship our trash to china to "recycle" it (now china wont take our trash anymore). Turns out they were often just dumping it in the ocean. Now other countries do the same. It doesn't show in american metrics, because the other countries help us to be blissfully ignorant.

Re: Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

#200

Post by caf »

nonfamous wrote: post #194

In my region (PG&E), the cheapest power rates start at 12am. So that’s when I schedule my EV to start charging (at about triple the draw of my AC system). I wonder if others do this as well, causing a massive spike in demand at midnight.

A similar concern is why I set mine to start at about 45 minutes after the off-peak start time, when I was using the timed-start option (I'm using the timed-finish option now instead, so it starts at whatever time is necessary to have it charged by the time off-peak rates end in the morning - this seems to have a fair bit of built-in slop so if everyone used it, there wouldn't be the opposite problem of all the load disappearing right on the stroke of 6am).
Post reply on HN