wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

After hearing the program this morning, I headed out to Soho/Broadway to do some shopping. I came back with the same thought as stated by Mike [6] and Paul [21]. Why are so many businesses allowed by the city to leave their doors wide open and the a/c cranked?

Worse, the trend is spreading to open-air restaurants. On Sunday I walked by several- some of them were brand new establishments- in the Nolita/Bowery/Soho area. They seemed to be built with this in mind- wide open garage doors and cool a/c blowing out onto the street.

Brian, please address this.

I have observed for years the wasted use of electricity during summer months by stores that open their doors wide letting air conditioning pour out onto the streets. On Saturday just in a short one block walk on Broadway from Prince to Spring streets I passed 5 stores with doors opened wide and cool air pouring out!

The stores and other businesses do this to "invite" customers into the store. This has to be a tremendous waste of electricity. When the City and ConEd ask ordinary citizens to conserve at home why is it legal for businesses to do this?

This is a "sin" in the era of global warming and high energy costs of imported carbon based fuels. Our government should not allow this behavior!

What do you think?

Robert,

Cold war has been over for almost 2 decades… Fear of communism is long gone. Fear of government bureaucracy is alive and well for good reasons…. Government programs are owned by the privet sector through lobbyists in Washington. Can you name one national major government program that is not corrupt or broken or criminalized in one way or another? You have to clean up the store before you can add new products….

I just saw on “Ask this old House” a remote meter that reads your outside meter and tells you how much money your burning at real time on a remote display screen you can carry and read anywhere in your house. If I remember correctly it costs a couple of hundred bucks. It could probably pay for itself in short time if you realize how much energy you use even while you think your not using any….

"Ask Umbra," the eco-advice column in *Grist* magazine, dealt w/this issue last year (http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2007/11/05/index.html). Umbra recommends plugging devices you don't need to have on all day into power strips, so you can turn off the strip's switch instead of unplugging the individual appliances. There are even "smart strips" that turn off the peripherals when the main device is turned off. Read the comments for more good info.

Thanks, this is one of those old "mechanical" timers we used to use for holiday lights ... i will check out newer technology at the hardware store. Also, I leave a fluorescent tube on - the built-in light in the gas stove - to prevent night time bruises and skinned knees during those drink of water trips, now i wonder if it isn't better to have all lights OFF and switch one on when needed. Thanks again for advice.

In Westchester where smart meters are already in use the electric companies need to publish ("open") the specs for the technology already in use in order for people to take advantage of what is already in their homes. Unfortunately from what I can see these are proprietary .

(The timer circuitry has to use _some_ power; the question is really "how much does it use?")

In response to Di, the answer is "possibly." It does sound rather counterintuitive, but many photocell (for example) based night lights (for example) end up using the same amount of power whether or not the light is actually on. It's the light detection circuitry that's eating up the power (it should be noted that it does not have to be that way). I'm not sure on the numbers, but I do know that more modern "occupancy detection" light switch replacements (many schools and offices have replaced all traditional light switches with these) DO NOT have that same issue of only providing an illusory power reduction as in the cheap night light case.

I used to leave a lamp on near front door 24/7. Now i have it on a timer to go on at 10 PM off at dawn ... but doesn't that use as much juice as the lamp?

Just a trivia point: Many tenement buildings in NYC in early- to mid-century had coin-operated power systems - a coin in a slot located inside the apartment would buy electricity for the apartment for some alloted amount of time.

The remark regarding "phanton power" or "vampires" as just mentioned -- it really should be noted that modern switching battery chargers (the light, smaller ones) really draw a negligible amount of power when not in use (as opposed to the older ones). There is documentation regarding this from the technical community -- it would be so much more efficacious to reduce energy by having incentives for energy star appliance replacements.

WAY back when, in the late teens and 1920s, the power companies charged one amount for lighting, and in cahoots with the electric stove manufacturers, charged a lower amount for a stove.

That's why stoves had a plug on them, so you could use your electric iron at the lower rate, rather than having to connect it to a lighting socket.

every new yorker who made it thru 4th grade knows how to read the current meter

The constant building that goes on in Manhattan is creating more demand on the electric grid then any amount of fans and air conditioners. The city should
consider the demands that a new building will make on water, sewers and electric before giving a permit.

I think that plugging a ConEd meter into my PC is TOO intrusive.
Does it have to plug into my machine?

please ask him about the cost of leaving doors open while the AC is cranked during hot days

If I post this will the transfer of 1's and 0's use up more power and consequently cause a brown out?

If I post this will BL's first amendment loving staff edit/remove my comment in the name of (moderated) 'free speech'?

I worked on inventing a personal meter a few years ago. Problems to solve include wiring or wireless, cost to produce, who pays for it. How is it retrofitted into existing older buildings where all the meters are in the basement?

Also, it must show cost in a real time way that is easy to understand - not just Kwh - but cost.

Turn on the microwave and watch the meter light up or spin or make a sound. The user needs to see the cost shoot up.

Does turning off your computer while at work make a difference in the bill, my Mac goes into a sleep mode all day that is supposed to be energy saving?

One technology currently deployed by other utilities (related to those Ambient Orbs):

http://www.ambientdevices.com/products/energyjoule.html

every year