Dashboard > Wiki Thing > ... > Cooling & Ventilation > Make your own cooling machines
  Wiki Thing Log In | Sign Up   View a printable version of the current page.  
  Make your own cooling machines
Added by Monica Srivastava, last edited by Monica Srivastava on Jul 02, 2008  (view change)
Labels: 
(None)

Carbon saved by using natural ventilation, rather than fans or air-conditioning 

There are lots of ways of keeping yourself cool without automatically resorting to switching on fans or the air-conditioning. Opening windows and doors can help with cross-ventilation, drawing blinds can keep out the summer sun, and wearing light clothing, and keeping yourself hydrated are all essential in warmer weather.

Carbon saved by keeping those cooling machines switched off:

Power consumption of standalone electric fans vary and many have multiple speed settings. They can use anything from 10-250W, but a domestic fan will use about 100W. 

Therefore in an hour a typical fan will consume 0.1 kWh of energy which equates to carbon emissions of:

0.1 x 0.527 = 0.0527 kg CO2 per hour 1

For a duration of 6 hours through the day, CO2 saved will be:

0.0527 x 6 = 0.32 kg CO2 per day 

 
Air-conditioning units are real energy guzzlers, and can consume anything from around 1000W to 9000W. 2 Assuming a typical mid-range air-conditioning unit of 3,000W or 3 kW 3 will result in carbon emissions in an hour of:

3 kWh x 0.527 = 1.581 kg CO2 per hour

or 9.486 kg CO2 for a duration of 6 hours through the day.

Domestic air conditioners are much rarer in the UK than office installations, although sales are beginning to rise as the climate warms. However they are particularly common in some countries like the US, where at least 75% of homes have one.  For this reason we'll take a weighted average of these two figures, giving air-conditioning a 25% weighting, and electric fans 75%.

So average carbon saved by switching off is:

[0.75 x 0.32] + [0.25 x 9.486] = 0.24 + 2.372

= 2.61 kg CO2 per day by switching off fans and air con.






Footnotes

Footnotes
Reference Notes
1 Using our grid electricity conversion factor of 0.527 kg CO2 per kWh according to AMEE The World's Energy Meter http://wiki.co2.dgen.net/index.php/ActOnCO2_Methodology#Grid_Electricity
2 5000 - 30000 BTUs: http://www.air-n-water.com/Portable-AC-Size.htm
3 Based on http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

Site running on a free Atlassian Confluence Community License granted to Green Thing. Evaluate Confluence today.
Powered by Atlassian Confluence, the Enterprise Wiki. (Version: 2.5.4 Build:#809 Jun 12, 2007) - Bug/feature request - Contact Administrators