Energy Star comes out with thermostat advice that is moronic

Don’t need air conditioning in southern Colorado. Just turn on the attic fan in the evening and draw in the 60-degree nighttime air. If we keep the windows closed during the day, it might approach the high 70s in the house by late afternoon.

Humidity? We have a roiling thunderstorm brewing right now, and it has gone up to an unbearable 40% humidity!

But forget about trying to keep a lush green lawn on an economical budget. Gotta water that every day (unless we get rain.)

A college buddy once was here for several years on an Air Force assignment. He had an expensive piano, and he had to have a special humidifier installed in the piano to keep the soundboard from cracking.

It might have been an Energy Star humidifier, but I’m not sure.

Why are you making it about me? Did I attack you personally?

You have the advantage of considerable altitude. :smile:

Something that, to a lesser extent, figured into my building location. Mount Airy, on the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, runs from about 1,000 to not quite 1,200. The nearby mountain ridges just to the north and west run to about 3,000 feet. My home site is at slightly over 2,800 feet. It makes a bigger difference than you might think. Less oppressive, both heat and humidity.

Absolutely. 6000-7000 feet around here. High altitude desert. Gives us very dry conditions, and moderate temps. Interestingly, in the winter the low humidity allows extremely cold air to feel tolerable. It doesn’t bite through you like 20-degree damp air does on the east coast. (I grew up in NJ.) It’s what makes the snow so powdery for skiing.

The difference in altitude between here at 6000 feet and Pueblo at 4500 feet often makes for a 10-degree temperature difference. And they’re only 40 miles south of here.

But everything comes at a cost. Around here, water is a commodity, and water rights are precious to farms, to municipalities, and even to whole states.

One thing I do have in abundance at this location (North Carolina) is water. I have tapped two mountain springs not far above the house which run uninterrupted year round. Pure mountain spring water. A nice benefit of being just below the ridge, but not on top of the ridge. Enough mountain above me to trap and purify water.

I think the best example of the altitude effect is the drive from Phoenix, Arizona to Flagstaff. In about 150 miles you go from searing desert at about 1,000 feet to Ponderosa Pine forest at 7,200 feet.

Why did you try to make this issue about libs? This recommendation came from Energy Star AND Trump’s Department of Energy and EPA.

This I agree with.

If we would go back to smart architecture…even making sure homes are oriented properly…we would save far more energy than telling people to live in discomfort.

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Yeah right…like they had Trump blessing.

Energy Star is joint program between EPA and DOE…both are goverment bureaucracy.

Which is made up by mostly little authoritarian thugs. Little authoritarians that’s out of touch with American people and reality.

I don’t believe you gave the same excuse for Obama a single time when he was president. If it happened under his watch, it was his fault, and if one his his departments did something, his fault.

And are headed by people Trump put there. His departments, his policy.

Then it sounds like we need a president who can get rid of thugs like that and REALLY drain the swamp. Know anyone?

Goverment bureaucracy is made up of nothing more then little dictator wannabes using their position to impose their morality on the people.

It doesn’t matter who is running it…it’s the nature of the beast. And why we need to cut the funding out from under em. You think those that purposed this stupid idea follow what they’re suggesting?

Well do you?

Well, neither will anyone else so it doesn’t really matter now does it?

Little dictator wannabes put in place by Trump.

Yeah, it does matter who is running it. Under Obama, Obama was accountable for all the things his departments did or said. Under Trump?

Trump is excused.

Of course not, and I called it a stupid idea. And it’s just a suggestion, from Trump’s energy agencies headed by Trump officials. Just like when Obama SUGGESTED we tighten our belt during the recession. Obama didn’t command we not take Vegas vacations-it was a suggestion, and I’m every bit as offended by Obama’s suggestion then as I am about the suggestion I should turn down my air a bit (which sits at a nice 76 degrees most of the time)…not offended at all.

Some idiot will try to force heating and air condition manufactures into setting their thermostats to certain temperature range. Like in heating you can’t raisn the temp about 72 or 74…while setting cooling system no lower then 82.

Much like they forced water flow thru faucet and toilets etc.

No they won’t.

You mean like seat belts was suggested? Light bulbs were suggested? flush rate of toilets were suggested?

They were all suggestions until they forced it through laws and regulations.

No, I mean the way it was suggested we maybe not vacation to Vegas in the middle of a recession. That was a suggestion, just like turning up the thermostat was a suggestion.

Try your hardest to stay on topic. I know you can do it!

Not relevant to the comparison I drew, but hey, anything to deflect away from Trump’s energy officials making “suggestions.”

Yes…I’ve seen libs suggestion one too many times over the years.

Yes…I’ve seen cons suggestion one too many times over the years.

They constructed their homes so that heat would rise and escape, like a chimney.

Lots of cross ventilation.

They are building new homes here in Florida to be airtight. Which is rather asinine considering if you instal an exhaust fan (kitchen hood) you have to introduce make up air into the house.

Older homes used to breathe and be constructed to keep out the cold in the winter and expel heat in the summer.

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I just let my Nest do all the work. It knows my schedule and I just set the extremes to no lower than 55 and no higher than 85. It handles the rest from there.