Why evaporative cooling is bad for energy efficient homes

Evaporative air cooling works by doing exactly what the name says — evaporating water — this is achieved by pumping large amounts of air through a water soaked pad — heat energy to evaporate the water comes from the air as it flows through the pad — causing the air to cool.

Unfortunately there are a large number of problems arising from the way this works:
● only works when humidity is low — generally below 30% relative humidity —
● raises the humidity — not surprising since it works by evaporating water into the air flow
● elevated humidity reduces efficiency of the house occupants’ built in evaporative cooling system (perspiration)
● elevated humidity encourages mould growth
● requires lots of ventilation — i.e. doors & windows open to allow the high rate of air flow
● ventilation requirement largely eliminates the benefit of household insulation

A modern reverse-cycle air conditioner will cool your house much more effectively for around the same cost, & heat in winter too, more cheaply than gas.

More:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/1/23/smart-energy/why-evaporative-cooling-bad-energy-efficient-homes-0?utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1104433&utm_campaign=cs_daily&modapt= / buy buying evaporative cooler summer deliver terribly poor performing inefficient cooling expensive uninstalle vaporative cooling primitive outdated superseded advances modern fast efficient reverse cycle air-conditioning air conditioning conditioner variation same technology kitchen fridge refrigerator reliable reliably heavy marketing new home owners included off-the-plan large volume standardised homes built new developments Australian urban performance evaporative coolers varies daily fluctuations temperature humidity maintenance occupants feel a bit cooler muggy high humidity conditions outside the accepted comfort zone how it works why it doesn’t work adding lots of moisture outside air pumping high volume noticeable perceivable humidity in the outdoor air below 30% RH Relative Humidity amount of moisture given temperature warmer hold more moisture cooler relative humidity two mercury filled glass thermometers dry bulb wet wick wet bulb evaporative cooler effectively operate household windows doors open security risk upgrade your building envelope compromised insulation air sealing wasted consistent insulation ceiling evaporative cooler register big thermal chimney varying temperature humidity combination seasonal winter heating requirements significant heat is lost evaporative cooling ducting induced thermal chimney effect outside the effective range for using evaporative coolers fire risk Western Australia’s Fire and Emergency Services Authority FESA catastrophic bushfire were burnt fire that startedevaporative cooler unit on the roof houses burnt Victoria’s Black Saturday fires hundreds of houses were destroyed ignited under ember attack costly servicing serviced pads replaced cost of servicing parts additional cost physical home security secure your home water leaks pad failure replace the pads water damage plumbing connections mould damp fungus fungal growth exhaust fan swelling doors door frames furniture installations seal ceiling vents damper destruction of the building thermal envelope higher winter heating requirements air pressurisation test building performance company Efficiency Matrix install insulation air seal air-seal building big bulky take up valuable space on your rooftop installing solar panels badly placed evaporative cooler block potential continuous solar panel array household’s annual electricity needs modern solution that works quality Japanese reverse cycle air-conditioner cools heats too heating cheaper heating with gas US Department of Energy California Energy Commission Sustainability Victoria Daikin Ururu Sarara 6 7 star air-conditioners energy consumption cooling performance far superior /

Activity trackers can help to improve your fitness (update)

Fitbit Charge HR
Credit: Fitbit/Wearable

Activity trackers appeared on the market only recently, but have achieved substantial popularity. Most popular is the Fitbit range¹.

Obviously, by itself, an activity tracker will not improve your fitness. You do have to actually get out there & walk, run, play sports or whatever, but, a fitness tracker can:

● accurately² count all of your steps in a day without any monitoring or other intervention on your part
● for at least some users, act as an incentive^3,4

A happy user:

http://www.citeworld.com/article/2114901/mobile-byod/fitbit-pebble-smartwatch-apps.html

Comparison tests:

http://au.pcmag.com/health-fitness/159/feature/the-best-activity-trackers-for-fitness

http://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/the-best-fitness-tracker

An alternative to a dedicated device, is the Misfit app for the Pebble smartwatch. Free on the Pebble app store.

A user did a side-by-side comparison with a Fitbit Flex, which is known to be accurate:²

http://forums.connectedly.com/pebble-apps-f65/misfit-app-pebble-vs-fitbit-flex-4618/

In both instances, the Misfit app on the Pebble counted high:

6 hour test
Fitbit Flex - 7,249 steps
Misfit app for Pebble - 7,485 steps
(7,485 - 7249) / 7249 * 100 = 3.26% higher

9 hour test
Fitbit Flex - 10,222 steps
Misfit app for Pebble - 10,536 steps
(10,536 - 10,222) / 10,222 * 100 = 3.07% higher

Keeping in mind that this is based on only one sample of each device, the inaccuracy is not significant.

With the Pebble now at $US99, & the Misfit app free, this combination is a viable alternative to a dedicated device. For anyone who already has a Pebble watch, it’s a no-brainer.
__________
¹ “Among fitness products, Fitbit is well in the lead for sales & hype – accounting for over 50% of the three million plus sales of wearable fitness devices across a one-year period in 2013 & 2014, & sales increasing at a breakneck speed.” — “How fit is that Fitbit? What the science says about fitness trackers & how well they work.” http://berkeleysciencereview.com/fit-fitbit/

² “All models of Fitbits tested showed high accuracy when it came to the number of steps taken.” — “How fit is that Fitbit? What the science says about fitness trackers & how well they work.” http://berkeleysciencereview.com/fit-fitbit/

³ “The results suggest that the use of a pedometer is associated with significant
increases in physical activity & significant decreases in body mass index &
blood pressure. Whether these changes are durable over the long term is undetermined.” — “Using Pedometers to Increase Physical Activity & Improve Health” http://web.mit.edu/mobilehealth/www/House_n/Readings/BravataETAL07.pdf

⁴ “From my own experience (& the testimonials of many others on the Internet), the Fitbit can inspire you to exercise more to meet your daily goals ...” — “How fit is that Fitbit? What the science says about fitness trackers & how well they work.” http://berkeleysciencereview.com/fit-fitbit/ / Basis B1 Band wrist armband trackers Fitbit Force Flex MIO Alpha BLE Jawbone UP Motorola MotoActv Nike+ FuelBand SE BodyMedia Fit Core Larklife clip-on clip on Fitbit One Withings Pulse Zip Misfit Shine Striiv Play runners Runtastic Orbit sports Basis Peak Surge Jawbone UP Move women Swarovski Shine style Withings Activité active Pop sleep tracking Misfit Shine notifications Fitbit Surge Garmin Vivosmart Sony SmartBand Talk tight budget Misfit Flash Razer Nabu X Xiaomi Mi Band Pivotal Living losing weight Withings simplicity Acer Liquid Leap /

Even if you’re active, extended sitting shortens life & erodes health

You’ve seen it here before, & now another study has confirmed:
“Prolonged sedentary time was independently associated with deleterious health outcomes regardless of physical activity.” — Annals of Internal Medicine

So, what can you do if your work, commute, blogging, social media, correspondence, tv watching, reading etc., etc, mean that you spend hours sitting?

● stand up & move around for 2 or 3 minutes every half hour when you are sitting for a longer period — includes work, tv, reading
● regular exercise is still important & valuable
● an activity tracker can help — mine is a Pebble smartwatch with the free Misfit app loaded — Pebble now available for $US99

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-sitting-health-20150119-story.html / sit long hours meetings phone calls keyboards time new research distills findings 47 studies sit long hours raise our average risk cancer cardiovascular disease type 2 diabetes early death meet recommended daily levels of exercise sitting for long periods boosts likelihood declining health worked out intensively 90 minutes risking life and limb latest research risk of poor health lower levels of physical activity engage in regular physical activity large proportion day sedentary activity 30% less likely to die of any cause little to no exercise long day of sitting vigorous workoutestimated to be 16% more likely to die of any cause participants seated prolonged sitting watch watched television at least five hours a day more than six study more than 11 hours sitting time studies long-sitting category sit sitting compensating effects of exercise study high levels of physical activity defined meeting physical activity guidelines moderately vigorous exercise moderately vigorous exercise amount of time spent sitting drive up health risks independently of other factors poor health linked to sedentary behavior smoking age obesity sitting contribute weight gain harmful obese research time spent sitting risk developing diabetes association strongest authors extrapolated from available research spend long hours in sedentary activity develop type 2 diabetes completely sedentary people regular exercisers researchers worked regular exercise mitigated risk likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease long hours of sitting risk of cancers higher rates breast colon colorectal endometrial endothelial ovarian cancer Dr. David Alter senior scientist Toronto Rehabilitation Institute /

Portland's new pipes harvest power from drinking water

Credit: Lucid/Fast Company/Co.Exist

Water moves through pipes to get to your house. Moving water can be used to generate electricity. Put a turbine inside the pipe & use it to generate electricity.



http://www.fastcoexist.com/3041300/portlands-new-pipes-harvest-power-from-drinking-water?partner=superfeed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews#1 / Portland Oregon lights partly powered drinking water energy ingenious new system captures energy water flows through city's pipes creating hydropower negative environmental effects dam small turbines pipes spin flowing water energy generator new source of energy no environmental impact Greg Gregg Semler CEO Lucid Energy Portland based startup design designed inside a pipe fish endangered species impacted water utilities electricity cheaper provide clean drinking water sell new source of revenue project Riverside California power streetlights at night offset operating costs city's main pipelines Lucid's pipes to make power that's sent into the grid generate energy pipes power offset total energy bill generate power location sensors indicators pressure leading indicator pipe is leaking leak bursts waste water onboard information system manage infrastructure monitor water quality safe to drink more sustainable /

Librem 15: a Free/Libre software laptop that respects your essential freedoms

Credit: Purism/CrowdSupply

“The Purism Librem 15 is the first high-end laptop in the world that ships without mystery software in the kernel, operating system, or any software applications. Every other consumer-grade laptop you can purchase comes with an operating system that includes suspect, proprietary software, and there’s no way for you to know what that software does.” — Purism



CrowdSupply crowd funding page at:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-laptop
Funding ends: Jan 31, 2015 at 11:59pm PDT

http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/23/purism-aims-to-build-a-philosophically-pure-laptop/ / kernel OS operating system software applications free libre open source your computer truly working in your best interest Purism problem free/libre software kernel OS software design manufacture hardware prioritize users not discriminate persons groups fields of endeavor source manufacture highest quality hardware companies freedom privacy source code released under free licenses freedom privacy promotes privacy source code free license installing privacy supporting software default AMD includes AGESA binary BIOS Intel FSP binary BIOS binary freed source code released under free/libre licenses freedom privacy restricting features promotes privacy providing source code under a free libre license installing privacy supporting software by default Trisquel GNU/Linux based distribution laptops run Linux hardware no binary blobs Linux kernel ships Linux pre-installed devices binary blobs Linux kernel changing computer manufacturing users’ rights push upstream free the BIOS component firmware companies negotiation table negotiate first for price mean time between failure quality warranty availability revisit price again negotiate users’ rights free software quality price leverage manufacturers of component parts hardware specifications complete visibility into the kerne designed chip by chip your rights freedom privacy selected best hardware manufacturing sourcing motherboard screen printing keyboard sourcing case daughter cards memory drives battery camera screen motherboard design changes prototype prototypes testing modifying modifications user feedback replacement upgrade parts for sale upgradable HDD SSD RAM wireless chipset CD/DVD ROM accessible unscrew unscrewing botto case unscrewing battery components easily replaceable power adapter company backed, two year parts and labor warranty Trisquel GNU Linux /

Innovation in stationary electricity storage (video)

On Thursday, I attended a lecture at the ANU by Professor Donald Sadoway: “Innovation in Stationary Electricity Storage”.

Some of his insights:

● “Storage is necessary to make renewables base load.”
● “The problem is the very low price point needed to penetrate this market.”
● “If price is the problem, you have to invent to the price-point.”

● “Usually, chemists pursue the interesting chemistry & leave it to manufacturers to bring the price down by volume.”

● “Confine our chemistry to Earth-abundant elements, that’s how to make it cheap.” — e.g. aluminium (3rd most abundant element on Earth) not platinum

● “Price is everything.”
● “To make it dirt cheap, make it out of dirt — preferably local dirt.”
● “Earth-abundant elements & simple manufacturing.”

Filmed at a different event, but covering most of the same material:



More from Professor Sadoway:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/12/ambris-long-lasting-and-low-cost.html

http://www.donaldsadoway.com/

Wikepedia bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sadoway / molten metal battery viable solution for stationary grid storage energy supplied renewables three inexpensive liquid layers electroactive components liquid metal positive electrode fused salt electrolyte liquid metal negative electrode system operates at elevated temperature maintained self-heating during charging discharging Professor Donald R Sadoway Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT three liquid layers low-density metal bottom high-density metal molten salt melted liquid contiguous layers insoluble stratify according to density no need membranes separators battery produces current metal alloys recharging purified Ambri liquid metal battery factory capital investment MWh technology factories electricity storage technologies active components Ambri’s cells cell tolerances millimeters not microns systems using steel racking leverage workers experience building assembling steel parts ubiquitous skill set manufacturing strategy Ambri’s Liquid Metal Batteries serve local and regional markets cells operate elevated temperature melting three layers self-segregate float different densities levels of immiscibility initial chemistry magnesium Mg antimony Sb electrodes chemistry higher voltage lower cost charged state potential energy between top metal layer bottom metal layer creates a cell voltage discharge battery cell voltage drives electrons Mg electrode delivering power external load electrons return Sb electrode internally pass through the salt alloy with Sb forming Mg-Sb alloy recharge power external source pushes electrons opposite direction pulling Mg re-depositing top layer returning system three distinct liquid layers cell design simple uses low-cost low cost materials all liquid design avoids main failure mechanisms solid components other battery technologies battery chemistry high temperatures energy lost generating heat proper insulation round trip round-trip energy efficiency exceeding 75% compares favorably pumped hydro storage compressed air storage trade-off acceptable trials new storage installed alongside renewables Pearl Harbor naval base Hawaii late 2015 Cape Cod military base timeframe cost of electricity standpoint high electricity costs high value on energy storage helpful cost competitive best economics deploying customers successful demonstration prototypes ramp up manufacturing marketing sales future developments /

Coffee & type 2 diabetes

Coffee has recently come to be associated with a number of health benefits, including protection against:
● Alzheimer’s disease & other forms of dementia
● Parkinson’s
● cirrhosis of the liver
● depression
● liver & colorectal cancer
● stroke

And, most obviously, increased wakefulness & attention.

In addition, it is the biggest source of antioxidants in the typical western diet.

More recently, a protective effect against type 2 diabetes has been claimed:

http://www.diabetescare.net/authors/megan-day/coffee-and-the-diabetes-risk?utm_source=Outbrain / coffee potential type 2 diabetes risk caffeinated coffee cream sugar corner coffee shop grande mocha latte health benefits plain black coffee decaffeinated black coffee your risk developing type 2 diabetes drinking grande coffee shop healthier coffee consumption diabetes risk study published journal Diabetologia increased consumption coffee reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes risk reduction significant participants who increased coffee consumption average one and a half cups per day 11% reduction in risk participants decreased their consumption coffee one cup or more showed 17% higher risk developing type 2 diabetes statistically significant study evaluated thousands of people followed them for four years highest rates of consumption3 or more cups of coffee per day 37% lower risk consumed lowest amounts of coffee less than one cup per day study more complications such as cardiovascular disease high cholesterol high blood pressure or cancer consume lower amounts of coffee cases comorbidities excluded results similar drink coffee regularly clearance from your doctor may be beneficial increase your coffee consumptionne cup avoid extra sugar cream brewed drink additives coffee shops extravagant high calorie sugar fat-laden monstrosities reap health benefits coffee consumers coffee healthier coffee black fresh brewed coffee natural state aroma fresh brewed fresh-brewed cup of java sweetener bitter taste milk cream skim milk creamers reduce reducing amount one two percent milk alternative low fat milk extra fat calories lower calories /