Tool Box
25.1 ELECTRICITY USAGE MONITOR WITH A “POWER FACTOR” READOUT.
Plug this device into a 115-volt electrical outlet. Then you plug any appliance into the monitor to track the electricity used over time. The Power Factor reading indicates the percentage of power available. A PF of 90 percent means 10 percent of the electricity is wasted before it even gets to the wall outlet. Some electricity meters store data over days or weeks and export it to a smartphone app for a graphical display.
25.2 DIGITAL INDOOR/OUTDOOR THERMOMETER WITH HUMIDITY READOUT.
Indoor humidity is a significant load on the air conditioning. Yet it’s a relative unknown for most individuals. At what point do you, personally, feel discomfort? Can you tolerate more humidity in the summer or winter? Does high humidity make it feel warmer or cooler? Hand-held multi-function devices are available with temperature, humidity, air quality, CO2, and/or carbon dioxide readings.
25.3 CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM
Carbon monoxide, the “silent killer,” is the odorless gas that people in the movies use for suicide, locking themself in the garage with the motor running. Any gas Save Energy — Save $$$
appliance that’s not tuned correctly or that has insufficient combustion air can emit carbon monoxide as a byproduct. Also available as a hand-held Carbon Monoxide Tester for two to three times the price of the alarm. CO alarms look just like a smoke alarm.
25.4 CARBON DIOXIDE TESTER FOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY.
Carbon dioxide—the gas we breathe out—can build up in a house built by tightconstruction standards. This is even more of a problem in high-occupancy buildings like schools. CO2 sensors are the industry-standard way to monitor air quality inside any closed space, signaling the need to introduce fresh outside air.
25.5 WEATHERSPARK.COM has comprehensive weather information.
Aside from colorful graphics of the annual temperature range, humidity level, daylight hours, and annual growing days, this excellent website has two key graphs for solar and wind. The “ percent cloud cover” is vital for solar applications. Most of the United States has over 65 percent “clear skies” over during the long summer days, which is more than adequate. However, if a location is below 35 percent sunlight from November through February (typically the northern states), solar in the winter is a stretch. There’s also a “wind speed” plot: you need at least 8 MPH winds for a wind generator. Very few locations in the continental United States have that much wind all year.
25.6 WEATHERUNDERGROUND.COM HAS DAILY WEATHER STATS.
The “ten-day forecast” page gives a rigorous twenty-four-hour-a-day plot of temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, rain chances, and dew point. I live in the mountains in a very complicated weather area, and their forecasts are always spot on. Pay particular attention to the dew point graph: that’s your key to understanding humidity comfort levels (not the actual relative humidity). A plot at WeatherSpark.com explains dew point comfort levels.
25.7 THE BUILD IT SOLAR WEBSITE HAS THOROUGH INFORMATION ON GROUND TEMPERATURES.
Visit https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/EarthTemperatures.htm for a U.S. map showing contours of the average annual ground temperature. There are 1001 Energy Tips
also charts showing how the ground temperature varies through the year and with respect to the depth. This data is essential to understanding why ground source heat pumps are so efficient for space heating and cooling.
25.8 THE WIKIPEDIA HEATING DEGREE DAYS PAGE HAS A TOPO MAP FOR HEATING AND COOLING.
How “cold” is a cold climate, and how “warm” is a warm climate? Degree days give you a hard figure to quantify climates. A “Heating Degree Day” equals one day at a 1 F difference from the inside temperature of 65 F (i.e., the thermostat setting inside your house). Locations along the Gulf Coast have roughly 1,000 HDDs, whereas cities along the US-Canada border see 8,000-10,000 HDDs. It’s one thing to see at WeatherSpark that your temperature doesn’t get above 32 F for three months in the winter. HDDs give you the raw data!
25.9 A HAND–HELD THERMAL IMAGER.
A hand-held infrared imager or infrared scanner (shaped like a forehead thermometer) detects thermal leaks around power outlets, along the baseboard or ceiling molding, and around doors and windows. Don’t leave your caulking and weatherstripping to chance. Get an infrared scanner to find the thermal leaks and repair them.