Needed . . . new building codes

While your Mother Nature would like to take humanity by the hand and gently point out each and every thing people should do to slow down the coming climate catastrophe, that is not how the system works. Human beings must work among themselves and find their own answers to this problem. However, as you’ve seen in my other messages, I can make a few suggestions here and there. Here’s another.

If human beings choose to live in fancy homes, enjoying warmth or cooling on demand, the least they can do is try to make sure that the energy required is minimal. They have not done so. They have set the price of their fuels so low that squandering these resources is the rule, not the exception. However, if humans factored in the true cost of these resources, and set prices accordingly, they would use them far more judiciously. Most homes leak the heating and cooling their owners pay money to generate. That is not only wasteful, it is silly. Would you spend money on expensive wine and then pour it into a glass with tiny holes in it? It doesn’t make sense to me, your Mother. But you do the very same thing when you build homes that leak your precious heating and cooling. You need to come up with building methods that stop this sort of thing.

You need to give some thought as to what goes into these large homes of yours. And, give some thought to whether large homes are actually needed. There are already far too many of you on this planet. The strain this puts on resources is severe. There is not enough resources to go around and, as I already said, your Mother Nature has more to look after than just the welfare of humans. Your present rate of consumption of finite resources can’t be maintained. You must find other ways of building your homes and try to live more simply. You must discover and use sustainable building materials and use them in such a way as to avoid wasting resources to light your homes, heat them, or cool them.

Saving our Planet – a step beyond easy

In previous posts we’ve covered conserving fresh water, promoted the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, extolled the many benefits of ride sharing and of growing food in your yards instead of lawns. All these are ways of helping reduce global warming while also providing a cash payback. But there is so much more that needs to be done!

Today we’ll move from doing the easy stuff first to doing something that requires a little effort.

Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to compare the energy demands of similar electric devices? It is because manufacturers do not wish to give you any reason not to buy their product. The exception to this is lighting. The output of a given bulb has always been determined by the wattage of the bulb. This is not so you can compare brands. This is simply because, before fluorescent came along, it was the easiest way to select the brightness of the bulb. However, now that we have such a product as Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFLs), brightness is no longer simply determined by wattage. A 9 watt CFL will provide just as much light as a 40 watt incandescent. A 13 or 14 watt CFL provides the same light as a 60 watt incandescent. Since less watts means less energy used, wouldn’t it make sense to require manufacturers of all electrical appliances, be they refrigerators or television sets, to list the amount of watts the device will draw? To stamp the amount of watts boldly on the box?

Let me answer that for you. Yes it does!

Knowing the energy demands of products and the differences between brand names allows potential purchasers to easily make comparisons based on efficiency! When products are selected based on their efficiency, this begins a healthy competition among manufacturers to produce the most efficient product. Now manufacturers will say that they already do this. That located in some obscure place on their device is a statement such as 12 amps @ 120 vac or some such. This is meaningful to an electrician but probably not to the average buyer. Watts are simple and straight forward.

There are some exceptions. When some motors start, their watt consumption surge higher and then level off. The running watts are the ones to post. Some devices such as washing machines, have various cycles that have different levels of energy use. In those cases, post the total watt hours consumed (in the case of washing machines) for an entire typical load. Have them stamp it on the box and on the device itself – 180 watts – 1200 watts – 30 watts – whatever it is.

It may be that less is not better. In many cases more watts might do a job better and actually be more efficient. But let a buyer choose.

Let your congressman or congresswoman know that you want to see WATTS listed on the packaging of all electrical devices. Getting this accomplished will not be easy. Write a letter. Send an email. Phone.