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Climate Change > Lesson7 Buildings > Flashcards

Lesson7 Buildings Flashcards

1
Q

How much of total greenhouse gases emitted are due to heating/AC?

A

7%

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2
Q

In the typical American home, what is the biggest user of electricity?

A

Air conditioning.

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3
Q

What will make this even greater?

A

Rising temperatures

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4
Q

In 2050 how much of all electricity will be used by AC?

A

45%

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5
Q

What is the irony of all of this?

A

Global warming will cause an ↑ in AC needs which will ↑ Global warming.

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6
Q

In 2020, how many air conditioning units were there in the world?

A

1.6 billion, unevenly distributed.

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7
Q

What is the energy source for most air conditioners?

A

Electricity, usually generated with fossil fuels.

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8
Q

What can we do until electricity becomes greener?

A

Buy more energy-efficient air conditioners.

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9
Q

What is the efficiency of the average AC sold compared to the best available?

A

50% of that widely available and
1/3 of the best

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10
Q

Why?

A

Because they are cheaper to buy
(but not cheaper to operate)

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11
Q

How can we fix this?

A

Rebates for buying better models.

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12
Q

Other than electricity, what harmful thing does AC do?

A

Emit refrigerants (F-gases)

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13
Q

What is Zephyr Innovations tackling?

A

A pound of refrigerants can produce a ton of CO2.

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14
Q

What percentage of US residents have AC?
India, Malaysia, Indonesia?

A

90%
10%

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15
Q

What are traditional cooling devices?

A

Heat pumps.

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16
Q

When were they developed?

A

Around 1900 by Willis Carrier

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17
Q

Where does heat want to go to?

A

From a hot space to a cold space.

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18
Q

What does AC do?

A

Take heat out of a cold space and put it in a hot space.

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19
Q

How do they cycle?

A

A compression cycle.
Thermodynamic cycle using refrigerants.

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20
Q

What does a refrigerant do?

A

It pulls heat out of a hot space.

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21
Q

Where does the heat go?

A

To a compressor as a gas where is is put under pressure.

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22
Q

Where is the big use of energy?

A

The compression.

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23
Q

Where is the hot gas sent?

A

Outside to a condensor where it turns back to liquid and eventually goes back to the evaporator.

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24
Q

There is an ideal efficiency.
Today, how do ACs normally perform?

A

At 12-14% efficiency

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25
Q

What needs to be fixed?

A

The vapor compression cycle.

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26
Q

What is Zephyr’s technology?

A

Got rid of the compression system.
It separates cooling and dehumidifying

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27
Q

What is a symptom of cooling and dehumidifying being the same process?

A

Freezing restaurants in hot places.
Trying to get the humidity down.

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28
Q

What de-humidifying system do they use?

A

A membrane system.

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29
Q

What cooling system are they using>

A

An evaporative system

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30
Q

What is eliminated?

A

A compressor

31
Q

What replaces refrigerant in the cooling / evaporative system?

A

Water

32
Q

What does the drying / membrane system use?

A

A water-based liquid desiccant.

33
Q

What does a desiccant do?

A

Like silica gel, absorb moisture.

34
Q

What is the opposite of a desiccant?

A

Humectant

35
Q

Where did Zephyr get the $ to develop their concept?

A

The Global Cooling Prize.

36
Q

Who established the prize?

A

The Rocky Mountain Institute, the government of India and others

37
Q

What was unique about Zephyr?

A

They were one of 8 finalists.
Zephyr was 2 people competing against corps

38
Q

Who have they partnered with?

A

Greentown Labs

39
Q

What does Greentown Labs do?

A

It supports about 180 start-ups in 2 locations (MASS and TX)

40
Q

What does Greentown call itself?

A

A Climate Tech Incubator

41
Q

Does Greentown take equity in these start-ups?

A

No, they don’t profit from them.

42
Q

What accounts for 1/3 of emissions from all buildings?

A

Furnaces and water heaters.

43
Q

What energy do most furnaces depend on?

A

Natural gas, heating oil or propane.

44
Q

What is heating oil?

A

Refined crude oil that comes from deep wells.

45
Q

Worldwide how much energy for heating is provided by fossil fuels?

A

6 times more than electricity

46
Q

What is the easiest way to de-carbonize heating?

A

Electrify with green electricity.
Electric heat pumps.

47
Q

How do heat pumps work?

A

The same as ACs except they collect heat from the outside and transferring it indoors.

48
Q

How are heat pumps better than they used to be?

A

They can operate in much colder climates

49
Q

What is Aeroseal?

A

A company that helps elimate leaks of energy from buildings.

50
Q

What percentage of energy used by buildings is leaked away?

A

50%

51
Q

Why is this hard to solve?

A

It is built into the engineering ductwork of existing buildings

52
Q

How do we typically solve this?

A

You get physical access to the ducts and find the leaks and caulk or spray foam them.

53
Q

What does Aeroseal propose?

A

You don’t need access.
They block off all registers and pressurize the space. Then they inject a fog of sealant.

54
Q

How does this work?

A

At the leaks the fog forms a rubberized plug.

55
Q

How do they describe it?

A

As Fix-a-flat for buildings.

56
Q

What do some people not like heat pumps?

A

Because the air coming out of the register is cooler than if you ude natural gas.

57
Q

What does that cause us to do?

A

Run the heat pump longer. Leaks make this worse.

58
Q

Therefore?

A

Sealing the leaks is vital if you are using a heat pump.

59
Q

What is their overall point?

A

It’s not just the efficiency of the heater, but the whole system.

60
Q

How much can they reude CO2?

A

Almost 1 ton per household.

61
Q

How big is this?

A

Sealing 4 houses is like taking 1 car off the road.

62
Q

What is their goal?

A

to do 40 million homes by 2040.

63
Q

What should be the new way we think about it?

A

Every time we get a new furnace or air conditioner we should seal the system.

64
Q

What is building stock?

A

The measure of square footage of all buildings.

65
Q

What is expected to happen to Building Stock by 2060?

A

It is expected to double.

66
Q

What is this equivalent to?

A

Building another NYC every month for the next 40 years.

67
Q

What is the Living Building Challenge?

A

Looking for building practices that not only don’t contribute negatively to the environment, but contribute positively.

68
Q

What is an example?

A

The Bullitt Center in Seattle - one of the most sustainable buildings in the world.

69
Q

How does the Bullitt center produce energy?

A

Solar panels on the roof and storing the excess for winter.

70
Q

How does the Bullitt Center heat?

A

Geothermal wells.

71
Q

How do they cool the building?

A

They run the system in reverse and return the heat to the wells.

72
Q

Where does the energy come to run the pumps?

A

The solar panels.

73
Q

Where does their water come from?

A

They collect rain water.

74
Q

How does a Regenerative Elevator work?

A

They capture the heat generated when an elevator is used and store it as energy.

Climate Change (11 decks)

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