Global Warming

[Pirate88179]

ATT:

In a number of ways.  First and foremost, I live in a small apartment...about 900 sq. ft.  And I live alone...well except for my cat. That makes it somewhat easier.  when I moved in, the electric company gave me a 1 year history on the billings for this apartment and they averaged about $100/month.

First thing I did was to lower my water heater thermostats from 165 (yes, they were set that high) to 110F.  I test the water at the spigot and do not rely on the numbers on the 2 thermostats.

Second, I have used no Edison based bulbs in here since I moved in 8 years ago.

Third, I lowered (or raised?) my refrigerator thermostat to 2.  It has settings from 1-9, 9 being the coldest.

It is now 23 degrees F outside and I only have two large windows and both of them have heavy blankets draped over them, and sealed to the edges.  I use an oil lamp burning kerosene to supplement my heat pump.  I have 5 of them if I need them but usually only use 1.  This increases the inside temp about 5 degrees f on average. My cost for kerosene in the dead of winter is about $5/month, but will lower my electric bill by over $10.00 and I get a lot of light as well.

I also use many JT circuit lights I have built and I run those on free "dead" batteries I acquire at no cost to me. Many of these are bright enough to read by, and I do.  I can also run these on rechargeable batteries which I recharge for free from my earth battery set-up outside, also free.

My outside Christmas lights, some 400 leds and counting, will all be powered again, like last year, from my earth battery (Actually an EER) a JT circuit and a 650F boost capacitor.  Again, all free.

Last month, my bill was $28 and this includes a $5 recycling fee (mandatory) and my next door neighbor's bill was $70.00.

Anyway, that's about it.  I am still trying to make small improvements here and there but I think I have most of the major stuff covered.

Bill              PS when I moved here from my 1,600 sq.ft. house, my bills were running about $60/month in the house.  That was about as low as I could get them there.  Your numbers sound good, especially in a house and living with 4 people in it.

[ATT]

You've done an incredible job of maximizing electrical (whole-envelope) efficiency. What amazes me even more is that you're using a heat-pump and getting that kind of efficiency.

When I built this house (years ago), I roughed-in for a heat pump but never installed it because I felt the utility bills would be too high. I've been burning wood, exclusively, since 1986 and it's proved to be a good move since in rural areas like mine, there are more power-outages than in more urban areas.

In any case, you're doing a tremendous job, your knowledge is definitely paying dividends.

Tony

[Pirate88179]

Thanks Tony, I appreciate that.  I wish they would allow wood stoves here in the apartments, I had one in every other house I have owned, I love them.

Bill

[ATT]

@loner

You know, the advice I got when I was framing-up was to load up on overhead insulation, that turned out to be a good call, I stuck two bats of R-19 up there, one on top of the other (at joist-level).

Here's what I notice: with the R-38, the attic loads up with solar heat during the day (if there's sunlight, which out here in the desert, there's a lot of). It takes about 8-10 hours before the heat contained in the attic makes it's way through the insulation and heats the overhead drywall, after which it radiates down into the living areas.

So you end up with some heat-gain when you most need it, in the evening (I'm at about 3000 ft, so it gets nippy).

Have you considered furring-out the walls that need insulation (interior furring)? DF 2x4s are only about 1.60 ea, drywall is cheap, shoot-down the sill just inside your existing walls after you frame the wall and stand it up, then throw some R-11 in there, cover it with 5/8 board, tape, mud, paint, you're stylin'. Together with the existing walls, the combined R-factor will run about R-19 or better when you're all done. You'll amortize the cost well before your next winter season is over from fuel savings (bring any wall-plugs out to the new finish-wall, not a big deal).

Tony

[ATT]

@Paul

OK, before I derailed, I was going to comment on the last graph you put up. What it looks like to me is that TSI was a significant factor in the warming ramp-up between 1870 and 1980, after which it seems to have leveled off while global temps continued to rise.

So taking it all together (warming, population, carbon, TSI) it almost looks like a sort of 'perfect storm' sort of situation, at least for the 110 years mentioned above.

This was a good call on RR2's part, in reading further, some say that TSI was left out of the original models. Although that sounds unlikely, I have to admit -I- did exactly the same thing, but then, I'm not a climatologist.

So that would leave, roughly, the last 30 years to reconcile, if we were so inclined.

Tony