Archive for the ‘Energy’ Category
Thou shalt save energy
I’m not sure anyone else is saying this, so I will: I think there is a clear and unambiguous scriptural mandate to reduce our current energy consumption. Now before you dismiss this post, this author and this blog as just another bible-thumping fanatic, remember that in certain countries, certain political parties profess strict adherence to [...]
Equivalent conductance due to air infiltrations
Here is how you compute the thermal coupling between a room’s indoor temperature and the outdoor temperature due to infiltrations. The equation governing the exchange of heat is as follows: Cair × dT/dt = g × Δ T where Cair is the indoor air thermal mass [J/K], T is the indoor air temperature [K], g [...]
In: Energy · Tagged with: air infiltration, thermal conductance
7 numbers why building automation can save the world
Automating buildings costs money. Lots, lots of money. The return on investment (ROI) is usually very low, and it takes a long, long time (on the order of 5 to 10 years) for such an investment to pay for itself. To make matters worse, people who rent the home or apartment they live in have [...]
In: Energy, Home automation · Tagged with: An Inconvenient Truth, Climate Change, Global warming, Greenhouse gas, Mitigation of global warming
Computing sustainability and building automation
The energy demand of computers—including PCs, peripherals, and corporate data centers—produced about 830 million tons of CO2 in 2007, according to a report by the the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI), a group of technology firms interested in the potential impact of information and communication technologies on climate change. But they can also help us save [...]
In: Energy, Home automation, Research
Bayesian optimization of visual comfort: thesis defense videos
At long last I’ve pasted together the videos taken during by PhD defense. Here they are, raw and unedited. 1/8 2/8 3/8 4/8 5/8 6/8 7/8 8/8
In: Energy, Home automation, Research
Wattwatt, a community for individuals interested in electrical energy efficiency
Wattwatt is a user-contributed website related to the efficiency of electrical energy in all its forms. It’s a place to read blog entries, share ideas, and more generally participate in a growing community of energy-conscious people. I got this link through Make magazine‘s blog.
Monitoring home electricity usage
If you can measure it you can control it, and that is also true of your energy consumption. Two energy-monitoring devices have recently been brought to my attention that are not only easy to use, but also to install. The first one is the OWL, and consists of a wireless clip you put around your [...]
In: Announcements, Energy, Home automation
Energy Usage in Cities and Buildings
Philip Greenspun has written a nice report on a MIT meeting whose theme was energy. You can find it here.
CO2 concentrations and global temperature correlation
CS Lewis called this person the “embarassing enthusiast”. A person very committed and very verbal about your common religion, yet someone who occasionally discredits your own views by advancing weak arguments to support it. What to do with such a person’s views? You cannot oppose them—for that would work against your own. Yet you cannot [...]
Energy-efficient appliances in Switzerland
Top Ten is a well-designed and user-friendly website that carries information on energy-efficient appliances and other equipment. It is mainly targeted at the swiss audience but I am sure most of these products can be found all over the european market. On this site one can also find information on alternative energy sources and pointers [...]