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'Educated' opinions on climate change 41

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csd72

csd72

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May 4, 2006
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As engineers we are educated in physics and chemistry and should have a reasonable idea on what really effects the energy consumption that causes climate change. I am looking for peoples opinions on what suggestions have been good ideas to reduce your individual impact. Alternatively what suggestions have you heard that are utter nonsense.

It would be good to hear comments from engineers on this matter.
 
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I am often amused by some of the mistaken technical statements made by otherwise well meaning people.

For example we hear a lot about switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs vice incandescent bulbs to save power.

In the heating season there is absolutely no saving of one light bulb to another. The excess power consumed by the incandescent bulb is exactly offset by a reduction in electricity consumed to heat the house. (In the cooling season the power is wasted and another portion of that power is needed to account for the additional load on the air conditioner).


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
 
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RDK,

The excess power consumed by the incandescent bulb is exactly offset by a reduction in electricity consumed to heat the house.
Click to expand...

How many people here use electricity to heat their house? I haven't since I was a kid and then it sucked.

You could compare to any heating system but only assuming your heating system heats the house with the same overall efficiency as the bulb.

Also some of the time the house needs heating the lights may be off. Unless you don't have heat loss to the environment I dont think exactly the same is correct.

Even you admit that in the cooling season (if you live somewhere that has one) CFL have an advantage.

So while the advantage may be smaller even by your analysis CFL do appear to have an advantage.

I'm sure those in favour of CFL have hyped the advantages but your arguements are also somewhat simplistic.


KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
 
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The heating aspects were already mentioned several times here, so I'm not sure who Rick was referring to.

Good points Kenat. Also there are lights on porches and garages and backyards etc where the heating effect is not relevant.

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Rick,

Living in Houston Texas we very rarely need to turn on the heat, and the A/C runs about 9 months out of the year. I have tracked electricity usage for my home for years, and my usage went down with the CF lighting.

So what was the mistaken technical statement?






"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.




 
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sms, I see RDK's point. The excess watts from an incandecent bulb heats the house. An in Houston I understand your point there. So RDK is stating at some point you do not get ahead with CF.

I have some recessed lights over the kitchen sink. In the summer I put in the CF. In the winter (CO) I use the high watt incandencent because the heat keeps my a little warming when doing the dishes, so I get heat right there when I need it. It's like bathroom heaters using lights. In the winter when the house temp is 65, my bathroom is 75 as I shower and dry off.
 
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I'm actually starting my own eviro firm, I believe that every body, in every field, in every way is affected by these changes in the world we live in. Do you have any educated advice of where to get the capital for my ideas, and they flow in my mind on a daily basis!
 
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If you are in the US, or the small business administration...



"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.
 
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Well.. human corrective actions have got us out of every other hole so far.

acid rain
smog
CFC emissions
name it

The problem has ample media attention, solutions are little by little being put in place, what are you complaining about?
 
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And if humans are not going to control the corrective actions, who are? Dolphins? Mice?







"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.




 
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In the United States, the calendar year 1998 ranked as the hottest of them all – until someone checked the math.

After a Toronto skeptic tipped NASA this month to one flaw in its climate calculations, the U.S. agency ordered a full data review.

Days later, it put out a revised list of all-time hottest years. The Dust Bowl year of 1934 now ranks as hottest ever in the U.S. – not 1998.

This is not NASA's firstmaths blunder - remember the Mars Lander program. But if we can't trust NASA to get the maths right to correct our "human initiated imbalance" who can we trust??????
 
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csd

I am glad to see that someone caught the reference!! I thought I might be the only fan... ;-)




"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.




 
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Back off topic, I didn't understand it either, but it works.

» sum *

ans =

42

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