Many of our papercrete enthusiasts are fans of papercrete because of
its high insulation properties. We are concerned about energy
consumption. The idea of creating our own insulation out of waste
paper is a big motivating factor for joining Papercreters.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/
I would like to share the following REAL LIFE story.
My white haired mother (feel free to call her slurryMom) is getting
up in years, but is still happily living in her house alone. I try
to be a good son and check on her from time to time.
She recently expressed interest in saving money on her Electric Bill.
I looked around her house for the common obvious easy things.
Efficient light bulbs? She had them.
Insulated Storm windows? Check. (Mom did manage to do that arm
twisting thing she does and draft me into washing a few of them. I
tried to explain that we were washing insulating dirt off the glass,
but she wasn't buying that story. Moms always seem to have a "to do"
lists when you visit them, don't they?)
Attic Insulation. Well above building code.
Weather Stripping. In good shape. I glued down one piece little of
rubber gasket that had come loose.
Caulking. Very good. She recently had her house painted and they
did an excellent job of re-caulking.
I was starting to feel a little glum and gloomy. My Mom wanted to
lower her electric bill, and DANG IT. ... I wasn't finding anything
to make even tiny differences. It was TICKING ME OFF!
Finally I looked at her thermostat. It's a nice digital programmable
thermostat.
I looked at her settings. Her air conditioner was set at 80degF
24/7. BINGO!! This was something I could help her with that would
make a sizable difference!
I'll save everyone the long list of various temperature settings that
were tried and evaluated. I'll skip to the ones I discovered that
worked the best.
Keep in mind that SlurryMom lives in the Midwest. Typical summer
heat is 90+ with plenty of 100+ torture days. Typical outdoor summer
relative humidity ranges from 60% to 85%.
Typical night time temps range from 70degF to 85degF with some rare
dips into the high 60's and once in a while those horrendous 90degF
high humidity nights that can sap the life out of someone trying to
sleep with no AC.
I tested many different thermostat strategies and settings. I
monitored the kwh used on the electric meter and the total hours that
the AC ran each day. (The thermostat tracked the hours it ran.)
Following are the settings I found that are the best for my Mom.
They will seem very strange, they'll seem the opposite of logical to
some people.
4am 73degF
8am 82degF
That's it.
That's all.
Nothing more complicated than that.
AMAZINGLY SIMPLE ISN'T IT?
These settings reduced Mom's electric bill by 25% last month
(compared to the previous year's bill). They will save her close to
$200 over the summer cooling season this year.
Mom claims that her house is actually far more comfortable this year
than last year. The humidity inside is DRASTICALLY lower. Even
though the indoor temperature is a couple of degrees higher at the
hottest part of the day, the lower indoor humidity makes that
temperature much more bearable. Turning on a small fan is a great
way for her to adjust her personal comfort level.
Here is the logic behind using those settings:
1. Air conditioners take heat out of the house, pump it outside, and
transfer that heat to the outside air. The warmer the outside air
is, the harder the air conditioner has to work. It makes sense to
pump as much heat out of the house as possible when the air
conditioner will have the easiest time doing it. Programming the
thermostat to spike the temperature down during the coolest part of
the day accomplishes this.
2. Fluctuating the temperature also allows the AC to really drive
the humidity down. It's very noticeable. That early morning burst
of work driving the temp down really wrings the water out of the air.
3. Allowing the temperature to coast for the rest of the day is
easy. The AC almost NEVER turns on. It just sits there all day long
during the heat of the day sleeping. All the neighbor's AC units are
humming away and fighting with everything they've got to keep the
neighbors cool. Mom's house is already cool and comfy. A simple fan
can keep the air moving and pleasant.
4. I suggest that this same strategy for summertime programming of a
thermostat will be equally effective even if someone is out of their
house for work every day. Many people think that they are saving
money by allowing the temperature of their house to heat up to
uncomfortable temperatures during the day while they are gone. Then
they drop the temperature of their house right before they are
scheduled to get home from work. That is exactly the WORST
strategy. You are forcing your Air Conditioner to work it's hardest
at the worst part of the day for it to succeed.
5. This strategy should be even MORE effective for people that have
peak demand metering or might have rolling blackouts. Shifting your
electricity demand from the worst demand period to the best demand
period could radically change your electric bill.
6. Feel free to tweak the settings for your personal comfort level
if you try this technique.
Total Cost of Energy Upgrades = ZERO
Total Summer Saving = about $200
Scoring major points with your mother = priceless.
(She hasn't tried to tell me how to live my life for at least a week
now. A NEW RECORD!)
------------------------------
Sharing this post:
I know that I've ventured off topic a little. My apologies. I hope
some of our members appreciate this post anyway. I also anticipate
that many people will want to share this post with others. I
wholeheartedly endorse and encourage it. Please feel free to copy
and past the above post to friends, family, and other message groups
where it will be appreciated. All I ask is that the link for
Papercreters remain intact. Some people may want to learn more about
papercrete and how they can use waste paper to make their own
insulation and even build structures with it. Use of my above post
without keeping the link to Papercretes intact shall be considered
copyright infringement.
I hope this information can save some of you some money!
slurrguy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/
(joining Papercreters is free)
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