One way to cut down on some spending is to look at ways to save energy. Last I heard ( PLEASE CHECK THIS) with the lights on all the time its about 3000 by the end of the month. May be we can add in motion light senors in the classrooms and common areas?
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Not sure on energy breakdown, but we should expect our electric bill to be a couple thousand more during the summer months when AC is running constantly
Before we worry about leaving the lights on, especially since it is rare there aren’t at least a few people in the space, lets focus on leaving the garage door open while having the air conditioner on. That is almost certainly our greatest waste of electricity.
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This is starting to look like a long thread/discussion that occurred less than a year ago.
For those who missed out on round 1, here’s the link:
It’s a long somewhat entertaining read complete with creative money grabbing suggestions and faulty business models.
Enjoy
I agree 100%
12345566
There are actually incentives by Oncor to get consumption down. I know of a large local hospital that’s getting a real good deal because of it. It may be worth looking into.
Could be worth installing a few smart thermostats, theyre only like $100 each now. That way the building doesn’t run the AC at night.
Especially during the summer, but really on any warm evening I don’t think our Midnight Makers would appreciate that.
For all intents and purposes, the space is a 24 x 7 operation. In a year, the only time I have ever been to the space and found it empty was early Sunday mornings and the odd holiday.
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Well, unless the garage door is open, hopefully the insides cool air doesn’t leak straight out. Maybe we could find a way to program a smart thermostat to shut off the AC if the garage/bay door is open? That or we could go all the way and get solar panels to cut energy costs…Not sure how the cost/benefit analysis would look on that.
It’s a good thought, but as Walter points out, there are a surprising number of folks there all night or most of it - I frequently leave at 05:00 to avoid rush hour traffic going back home to Arlington on weekdays. I’m amazed at the amount of auto work that goes on after midnight or people out in the shop.
When I left “early” last night at 01:30 there were about a dozen folks just in the Common Room. In the really early hours the outside temp is down so I don;t think the A/C is running that much.
You really don’t save money by not running the equipment (scheduled off that is). That heat has to be removed regardless to have a comfort level. The equipment then has to run longer & harder to catch up. If there is an issue with the equipment it may not catch up at all. It’s like driving down the freeway, you don’t jam on the gas & go 120 to get to where you want. I don’t anyways.
TBH, I find the space on the cold side much of the time. I remember last summer on a hot night, late, I went and sat outside in 95+ heat, because I was so cold. I plan on keeping a light wrap in my storage box this summer. Right now, I just wear a long sleeve out most of the time.
Any idea which of our tools are big power hogs? I know that kilns tend to be.
I think that we can take the vents and fan as well as engineering with us. Only the roof and wall penetrations need to stay. But, I agree that we should stay in our current location as long as possible.
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We rent the space and would have to clear such an improvement with the landlord … who would most likely end up owning said “permanent improvement”. Without a solid net metering law on the books, the ROI on panels is very long in TX - typically well past the first inverter replacement at ~10 years.
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One problem is that, for whatever reason, the temperature tends to vary considerably from one room to another. There seems to be some kind of circulation problem. This can also result in some of the rooms becoming very “close” or “stuffy”.
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CA is one of the cold spots, to me.
One note on the motion sensitive lights. They have those in the pottery lab at Ceder Valley and they would go off with folks sitting at the wheel or working at a table. You need to move around or wave your arms some.
I have noticed this too. When some rooms are uncomfortably hot, others are nearly freezing cold. Maybe someone could do a flow study and strategically, partially block a few outlets to get the airflow where it needs to be… although this can depend on the sun load too : /
The electronics room tends to be one of the outliers for whatever reason.
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Huh. Today I learned. That’s sad to hear.
My dad has this problem in his office!
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To contribute to the offtopic, info on AC:
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Operations#HVAC
Can always create a ticket so infrastructure committee can change thermostats, actual data and testing is always useful.
Anyone looking to help could start with making sure all the ceiling tiles are in place. (Logistics will reimburse you if you pick some up from home depot)
Important to note that AC serving breakroom, woodshop, metal shop has been consistently off due to repeat freezing of filters.