Earth Day, turn those amps OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@lewm 

NOW I’m glad I started this, you two ought to get together.

Did I see that she died at 51 years old? I wasn’t sure that was the correct Pam.

@waytoomuchstuff 

I sometimes wonder what leaving nearly everything on standby adds up to, individually. Collectively, it’s gotta be considerable, not major, but still ....

I walk around my small house, glowing lights hither and thither. Not my stereo, On goes the Chase, on goes the Furman, on goes the Preamp/Amp/TT. Wait 20 mins, listen. The CD and R2R have physical on/off switches, no standby, so off unless I use them. All off when done listening.

Video: TV, AVR, Blu-Ray, TV box all on standby. Routers (2) always on when sleeping, my Office, below the desk looks like the glowing tree in Avatar, but the amp, TT, R2R are fully off.

Garage/Shop system fully off.

Toothbrush unplugged till it asks for a charge, no kitchen stuff on standby.

Sump Pumps (4) (2 AC and 2 Battery Backup) on trickle chargers/inverters.

Any electronics that run hot are wasting energy.  I had a plasma TV that would heat up a large living room on cold days. Class A power amps sound wonderful but run hot also waste energy.  Regular light bulbs, old refrigerators etc.   Do what you can.

@hilde45 

"Lighting (5–10%)"

I have mentioned, I designed Corporate Office Space for 40 years, When I came out of college, started working full time 1970, I was taught to calculate between 3-4 watts per sq. ft. to figure out how many light fixtures to plan for, in each office, room, large space. Of course you needed more AC for that. 2x4 fluorescent those days was 200 w per fixture.

Many rooms were 4 2x4s, I started using 3, stronger light at the desk area, let it be a bit less in the front by the entry.

Next, along came computers, which not only added heat, they used a good part of the panel for that floor. A period existed when you added new risers from Con Ed, new transformers, new panels, to handle the computer load, the ’extra’ AC and separate AC for computer rooms, that was a lot. Let;’s not forget big damn UPS (uninterruptable power supplies) for Computer/Network/Telephone rooms. 

At the same time, HVAC engineers were getting ac from base building ducts from rooftop chillers, and providing many separate water cooled chillers, and then using re-heat coils to let the executives in offices adjust it.

NYC said ’no more water’; 'no more reheat coils'; then they had to refine their skills. I learned enough engineering to direct my engineers, because, it had to work well, but within a budget, I wanted more money below than above the ceiling.

I had lighting consultants, but after a while I did my own, including modified and custom fixtures, and generally providing light where needed, much less elsewhere, a pair of lights for artwork in generally dim corridors.

Next, I championed indirect light, both in rooms and open areas, big 400 watt metal halide, less energy, better lighting ...

I got pretty good at minimizing the lighting load so less add’l power was needed.

While planning Fortune Magazine, the Time Life Facilities director casually ended a meeting with, oh, btw, you only get 2 watts per sq. ft for lighting. My boss left shaking his head, sucking on his pipe, I liked the challenge, I ended up with 1.48 w/sf.

This is a long way of saying, when energy efficient lighting started, the fixtures, transformers for LED, kelvin colors of watt saver lamps SUCKED. I studied, decided it was better to provide good lighting, smartly planned than compromised crap.

Eventually better efficient lamps and fixtures came along.

Oh, btw, those 400 watt metal halide, in indirect boxes, had tempered glass covers. I found a bulletin from GE, they sometimes had ’non-passive’ end of life. What? Oh, explode, spewing 2700 degree molten glass. Combine that with the fact client’s facilities people were sometimes breaking and not replacing the glass, or replacing with window glass, so I stopped using them and sent out warning bulletins to all my clients.

Those bulletins were the beginning of my BOLD, underlined, italicized habit you see I can’t stop doing today. 

I knew Pam for many years before she died, and yes, I know she died very close to her 50th or 51st birthday. She made some great CDs, including “Utopia”, named after a restaurant in DC where she used to sing weekly. To anyone who loves good singing mostly jazz, I recommend look up Pam Bricker.

Crazily, Suzanna McCorkle, by any standard a very successful jazz singer, also committed suicide, in her case by jumping out a window on W 86th St in NYC, from an apartment directly across the street from my sister’s.

In the vein of this thread, those plastic water bottles and the idea of buying water in bottles when local tap water is perfectly ok, and considering what happens with those containers once drained of contents, infuriates me. Even more because many of those who buy bottled water can ill afford it. 

I’ve only bought water in a bottle once in my life. In an airport Heading for Grand Cayman Island, I was dog sick and needed water to take medicine.

At security they said get rid of it. I poured it out, went thru, found a drinking fountain and re-filled it.

We went thru a period when restaurants had little signs on the tables, saying water served upon request. Now they fill glasses automatically, with ice. And how many places give you a plastic straw automatically.

I think we should get back to ’ask for water’, and ’ask for straws’ (paper).

If you have ever worked in a commercial kitchen, worked the dishwasher, you know how much energy it takes to: make ice, use water, heat water to wash a lot of glasses, and need additional space to store all those glasses, thus the place has to be a bit bigger, more materials to build it, more lighting and ac for the larger storeroom, it ALL adds up.

buying that water felt like buying Exxon, I still resent it.