Google can be a great aid to serendipity. Doing some Googling the other day I was surprised to find a couple of my images from How not to measure temperature, Part 42 being used by a company that sells thermal imaging equipment. The company, Thermographix, wrote quite a long essay claiming that the IPCC missed a component of global warming in their reports by not addressing the heat from buildings and land use change on surface temperatures.
While I don’t agree with some of the claims in the article, I thought it was worth reproducing here because I’ve been saying for some time that the MMTS electronic thermometer phased in by NOAA since the mid 1980’s has been picking up heat from buildings due to cable trenching issues placing them closer to buildings. For example this visible and IR photo set I snapped at the USHCN station in Perry, Oklahoma:
Perry OK, USHCN station of record. Downtown at the fire station. Visible and IR
In the photo above, taken looking SE, the wall of the fire station appears to have been warmed by the afternoon sun, because as you can see the shaded area on the left side of the IR photo, it is cooler. The issue is: how much will this heat the air in the vicinity of the thermometer?
Thermographix has lots of similar IR photos to illustrate how buildings and building materials display their heat. The report below is from their website at:
http://www.thermoguy.com/globalwarming-heatgain.html
UN, CANADA, U.S., STATES, CITIES, ECONOMY, ETC. MISSING CRITICAL DATA ON GLOBAL WARMING CAUSE
Buildings on the surface of the entire planet and in every country are designed with temperature considerations. We want to use as little energy as possible, not waste non-renewable resources, create as few GHG emissions as possible and not generate any heat atmospherically.
The emissions from burning fossil fuels are toxic, contain mercury and end up in our water, food and bodies. Emissions can promote acid rain and affect the ability to sustain life. We don’t want to waste fossil fuels because they can’t be renewed. We don’t want to create heat on the surface of the planet because that changes the weather formula. Weather is the interaction of cold air, warm air and water vapor. Creating heat on the surface of the planet will affect weather, climate, agriculture, pollinators(food source) employment, economy, health, etc.
All the laws are in place to achieve the above but the bottom line is the entire global process is signed off as compliant because every university, tech school and academia in the world teaches temperature considerations in a calculator. Hard to imagine all the sciences are blind to temperature except it is a reality. Our visible spectrum can’t see temperature until it is glowing red hot. The United Nations and their membership are discussing climate change but in fact are blind and missing critical data.
PICTURES OF A WEATHER STATION
The next 2 pictures are going to show you the tools used to collect weather information. Take a look at the advanced technologies used in weather stations.
Here is a close up of the weather station
This page is important information for you on buildings that is not available to you. Your home or commercial property is signed off as compliant and insured. Your realtor, inspector, builder, developer and government do not verify your building compliance. This is free information you need to consider if you are buying, building or renovating. If you are building “green” this will open your eyes as to what that really means. It will shock you to see how California & other areas are knocked off the electrical grid treating heat symptoms. Hard to believe all of the electricity generated is wasted on a symptom and being blamed on economy.
Buildings use energy differently in the winter than it does in the summer. This page is related to heat gain associated with building design and energy use. Heat loss and images showing energy waste related to heat loss can be seen at HEAT LOSS FROM BUILDINGS
The information on this page isn’t controversial, it is simply the evolution of temperature measurement out of the calculator so objectives can be seen instead of assumed. This information is the result of thousands of hours of the most advanced temperature research in the world and is being lectured internationally in educational programs for medical professionals.
Buildings are designed to fluctuate with atmospheric temperature so there isn’t a heat gain atmospherically and so there isn’t more heat generated than the building is designed, insulated or insured for. You can see the weather station above isn’t providing us with UV and solar radiation impact. This page is to see the impact of solar interaction with development.
This first image was taken at 5:20 AM and the temperature outside was 59 degrees F. The thermal image should show the building fluctuating with the atmospheric temperatures.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image for comparison to the 59 degree F outdoor temperature.
BEFORE SUNRISE
The house is fairly consistent with atmospheric temperatures before sunrise. You can see the concrete steps holding heat from the day before.
AFTER SUNRISE
The next image was taken 2 hours after sunrise. It is 7:30 AM and the temperature is 63 degrees F. In theory the building should be fluctuating with atmospheric temperature. Put your mouse over the picture to see the thermal image. Is the building heating the atmosphere?
Solar exposure on absorbent finishes has caused the building to generate extreme heat as high as 149 degrees F when it is 63 degrees F. Surface materials are all hotter than atmospheric temperature very early in the morning. That generated heat is heating the atmosphere as well as exceeding the design temperature of the building.
BRAND NEW CONSTRUCTION
When the first set of images were shown to building professionals they assumed that it was isolated to a few buildings. The previous images verified solar impact so we wanted to highlight the solar impact on new construction. The next picture shows roofs with and without shingles on buildings designed for a maximum of 92 degrees F or 33 degrees C.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The shingles are generating extreme heat the building isn’t designed, insulated or insured for very early in the morning.
FIRE RECONSTRUCTION
The building below is new fire reconstruction after a forest fire interfaced with this city. The building is designed for a maximum of 92 degrees F and it is a 59 degree F day. Is the building fluctuating with atmospheric temperature or exceeding design temperature?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The same UV that burns our skin has caused excitation of solar exposed finishes causing the building to generate heat. This is at 11:00 AM and you can see the shaded areas performance versus solar exposure. The building isn’t designed for the temperatures it is generating and it is heating the atmosphere.
FIRESTORM 2003 KELOWNA FIRE RECONSTRUCTION
Kelowna lost over 240 homes in the Firestorm 2003 where a forest fire interfaced with Kelowna. The reconstruction was the newest construction standards. The next image will show if the building exterior is absorbing the sun’s rays or generating heat that was then absorbed.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The reconstruction above shows the solar performance of different materials including shaded areas. All of the construction materials are exceeding the atmospheric temperature of 70 degrees F and the roof is close to 100 degrees F over atmospheric temperatures. This is warming the atmosphere and contributing to weather changes.
HOUSE PAINTED DARK COLORS
The next image was taken on a July day in 2002, 4 PM PST. The temperature is 95° F and the building is designed for 92° F. This 3 degree margin would be acceptable to accommodate those times of the year when it is marginally warmer. Observe the dark color of the siding, the lighter shingles, the tree and the fact there is foil over the windows. Covering the windows on the inside or outside is an attempt to stop the sun from coming through the windows and causing heat indoors.
Hold your mouse over the picture and the thermal image will appear. Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The wall is designed, insulated and insured for a maximum of 92 degrees F and in some areas it is 100 degrees over design temperature. The foil over the windows isn’t addressing the problem, the heat is coming through the walls that aren’t designed for the extreme temperatures. In 2005, this home added a window air conditioner and in 2007 they added 2 more window air conditioners to treat the indoor heat. The air conditioners requires the electrical generation of 1000s of watts per hour to treat the indoor heat symptom and the heat generated outside isn’t discussed. In areas where coal is used to generate the electricity there are mercury emissions as well as acid rain contributions.
NEW COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION
The next building is new development where they have used dark absorbent finishes on the solar exposed sides of the building. It is 91 degrees F outside, is the building generating heat that exceeds the maximum temperature of 92 degrees F?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The new construction is generating heat 100 degrees F over design temperature. The building isn’t insulated for these temperatures and the generated heat is heating the atmosphere.
PLACE OF PRAYER
The next image is of a church on an 86 degree F Day. There are several types of finishes on the solar exposed side of the building. Observe the tree, grass, brick, shingles and the brown ducting on the roof. Put your mouse over the image and see if the building is functioning close to the atmospheric temperature of 86 degrees F or if the building is exceeding its maximum design temperature of 92 degrees F.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The building is generating extreme heat. Note the tree or grass is functioning within atmospheric temperatures and not imposing on the atmosphere. The building is designed for a maximum of 92 degrees F and the heat generated grossly exceeds 92 F so the heat transfers inside. The duct on the roof is the air conditioning treating the indoor heat symptoms. The air conditioning requires 1000s of watts per hour of wasted electrical generation.
ROW HOUSING
The next image is row housing, put your mouse over the picture and see the impact of solar radiation.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The trees and green space is much cooler than the absorbent building finishes. Landscaping and responsible paint finishes could deal with this heat problem, taller trees would provide shade cover with zero emissions. Eliminating the heat would eliminate atmospheric heat.
GOLF COURSE DEVELOPMENT
We have observed several different types of construction and the rule has been solar radiation is causing heat generation on buildings. The next image will show you a new development surrounded by trees. To make room for development, trees were cut down and the ground was scraped of everything living.
This image is significant in that it was taken to see a temperature image of development against the natural green space. Bigger cities would be performing the same except on a bigger scale. This upscale neighborhood employs the latest in environmentally friendly technologies. The homes use geo thermal ground source energy for the heating and cooling except energy consumption depends on the building design temperatures. This development is designed, insulated and insured for a maximum temperature of 92 degrees F. The temperature outside is 71 degrees F, is the development fluctuating with atmospheric temperature?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The development is twice atmospheric temperature and exceeding design temperatures in the morning. Due the indoor heat gain, portable air conditioning and other energy use is employed trying to cool the indoor temperature. Geo thermal isn’t being represented well.
DEVELOPMENT BESIDE ORCHARD
The next images were taken in May on a 70 degree F day. The picture shows an orchard beside a development. The orchard is considered a green space and would be our temperature objective for development. Put your mouse over the picture to see the temperatures associated with the area. Is the development generating heat atmospherically as well as heat the buildings aren’t designed, insulated or insured for?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The heat generated by the development is twice the temperature of the orchard. The orchard has since been removed and there is a new development with an environmental name being built right now. The new construction finishes will generate more heat.
NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
This new development is designed for a maximum of 92 degrees C and codes acknowledge there may be a few days where the temperature is slightly warmer. The temperature today is 94 degrees F and the development should be fluctuating with atmospheric temperatures. Look at the trees, grass, shade and green space compared to pavement and absorbent building finishes.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
Solar radiation with absorbent exterior finishes is generating extreme heat that exceeds the buildings design temperature. The building isn’t designed, insulated or insured for those extreme temperatures. We use air conditioning to react to a symptom. The heat generation atmospherically contributes to lower air pressure and changes the weather formula.
CUT BLOCK HEAT GENERATION
The cut block is an example of tree harvesting. You can see they have removed all of the trees and ground cover. Put your mouse over the next picture and see if there is solar impact by exposing the ground cover?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
Removing complete ground cover is generating heat in the cutblock. The heat is over twice atmospheric temperature and a heat gain atmospherically. Pine Beetles have devastated 50,000 sq. miles of BC Forests and the response has been clear cutting. Look at the heat of the cut block and imagine the heat generation of 50,000 sq. miles of dead forested area. The extreme heat generation will contribute to lower air pressure and changes the weather formula for the globe.
SOLAR IMPACT ON BUILDINGS IN COLD WEATHER
Solar exposure is year round and we wanted to see the effect of solar impact in the colder seasons. The next image was taken in October on a 44 degree day at 10:30 A.M. You can see different building finishes and the shade of the tree on the building in the front. Put your mouse over the picture and see the effect of shade as well as the thermal performance of different building finishes.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
You can clearly see the effect and importance of shade if you are going to finish your building in absorbent paints or material. The part of the building that is shaded is still cooler than atmospheric temperature. Exposed absorbent finishes are generating heat that is warming the atmosphere.
SOLAR RADIATION IMPACT ON BUILDINGS IN WINTER
To complete the seasonal impact of solar exposure required imaging building exteriors in the winter. Building exteriors should be fluctuating with atmospheric temperatures so there isn’t a heat gain atmospherically. Radiated heat would contribute to low air pressure and change weather.
Pine Beetles have devastated 50,000 acres of BC forests costing billions of dollars in BC alone. Scientists say it is the loss of freeze thaw cycles that is leading to more beetle infestation. Our imaging in the winter was to see the impact of solar expose. Canada is further away from the sun and the angle is lower so the UV index is lower.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The UV index is lower and this generated heat won’t require an air conditioning response. You can see the heat generated over the solar exposed side of the building versus the shaded side of the building. The building is generating over 140 degree F heat on a 48 degree day and contributes to low pressure changing weather.
MULTI FAMILY DWELLING
The next image is to show the thermal performance of brand new multi-family dwellings. Observe the solar exposed and shaded side temperatures.
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The siding and shingles are generating heat over 100 degrees F on a 48 degree day while the shaded side of the building shows the temperature without solar exposure. This is a heat gain atmospherically in the winter.
SOLAR EXPOSURE ON BUILDING FINISHES IN JUNE
The next images show 2 buildings on June 27, 2006. The one in the front is older and the one behind isn’t finished and has plywood on the exterior that will be covered with brown stucco. Observe the shade temperature and the piece of insulation that has been placed on the roof to see solar performance. The temperature at 10 AM is 84 degrees F; is the building fluctuating with atmospheric temperatures?
Spot temperatures have been placed on the thermal image.
The insulation and shade are cooler than atmospheric temperature while the solar exposed building material is generating 70 degrees F hotter than atmospheric temperature.
…
SUMMARY
Solar exposure is causing absorbent building exteriors to generate extreme heat the building isn’t designed, insulated or insured for. We are treating the symptoms with air conditioning, gigawatts of electricity waste, excessive GHG emissions including mercury, wasting non renewable resources and generating atmospheric heat close to boiling temperature.
Air conditioning is in fact refrigeration which is reported to deplete the ozone allowing more UV. We are using it in 100% of building applications in response to solar exposure.
California as well as other states and provinces are creating massive GHG emissions reacting to the symptoms while we blame the emissions on economy. During our information gathering, it was ironic to hear of the Governor of California meeting Branson, Tony Blair, environment groups, etc to discuss reducing emissions without losing economy. At the same time, California and other areas are producing massive GHG emissions as well as ozone depletion generating electricity to treat the symptoms of heat waves.
Canada and the world are calling for emission reduction immediately and the reality is we are installing air conditioning in every new building. It is impossible to develop effective policy when the science is lacking.
Environment Canada code for the reduction of refrigerants Environmental Code of Practice for Elimination of Fluorocarbon Emissions from Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems
Canadian Environment Minister Press Release in September, 2007. Canada Contributes to Major International Agreement to Protect the Ozone Layer and Tackle Climate Change
Heat impacts weather and we are generating extreme heat that in some cases reaches close to boiling temperature. That massive heat dump by every building in every city, state, province and country is unnaturally contributing to lowering air pressure which will change weather. Why are we worried about heat trapping gases in the atmosphere when we are generating heat close to boiling temperature on the surface of the planet?
EPA, METEOROLOGISTS AND ECONOMISTS MISSING TEMPERATURE DATA
It is assumed that buildings and development do not generate heat. Here is a link to information on urban heat islands from the EPA EPA on Urban Heat Islands!
Here is a link to a video clip from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Heat Island Effect EPA Video on Heat Island Effect.
We are reporting solar exposure as an unprecedented environmental emergency to authorities because we are treating the symptoms with ozone depletion, massive GHG emissions, electrical waste, acid rain, mercury emissions, etc. We are not discussing the extreme heat generated by buildings
Every state and city is looking for this information, they just couldn’t see it in a calculator. Here is a letter sent to the Western States & Provinces WESTERN CLIMATE INITIATIVE PARTNERS which include California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona, British Columbia and Manitoba telling them their buildings are exceeding their design temperature while they react to the symptoms with ozone depletion and massive GHG emissions. There has been no response to date while taxpayers are funding policy missing the required science.
The UN Meeting in Bali in 2007 missed critical data on climate change and building performance. Here is our press release.Press Release – UN MEETING IN BALI MISSING CRITICAL DATA ON CLIMATE CHANGE
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I’m not sure what the point of all this is (other than making a case for better insulation of buildings). Regardless of whether the target area is covered with buildings or forests, it all receives the same amount of solar energy as insolation. That energy is either absorbed and re-radiated at a later time, rate and frequency, or its reflected to be absorbed and re-radiated elsewhere at a later time, rate and frequency.
I find it difficult to believe that the net gain or loss to the planet is impacted at all by the character of the surfaces. What does change is the nature of re-radiation and its consequence to local weather. But that’s not climate change, only weather change, and its a boundary effect, more than anything. The so-called “climate changes” are really just spatial re-distributions of the same heat energy.
As a biologist, I find most of the “climate-change” rhetoric amusing, most especially from physical scientists, since most the life on this planet evolved in an environment of change greater than anything we are currently seeing, and the resultant product of that evolution is an extremely high degree of adaptiveness to environmental diversity. The threat to the biosphere has much more to do with interspecific competition than it does with environmental adaptibility. I’m reminded of that every spring when my daffodils poke their heads up in Feb in deep sub-freezing temps, yet still manage to bloom gracefully a month or two later.
I substantially cut the summer heat impact on my house with two inexpensive measures:
1. A thermostat-controlled attic fan that vents out a small attic window covered by a set of weighted louvers. The cost of all three components from Home Depot was under $100 a dozen years ago.
2. A wide (16-foot), deep (12-foot) “Sunsetter” brand (inexpensive) retractable awning on the south side of the house.
A third item was expensive–a rooftop deck–but it had the unintended side-effect of lowering the temperature in the dormer bedroom beneath it to the bearable level.
PS: If the gov’t wants to cut the use of energy, provide jobs, and stimulate the economy, why not offer homeowners zero-interest loans and free installation of attic fans and south-facing awnings?
=================
Here’s a high-school science-fair project for the child of a reader here. Set up two identical temperature monitoring stations alongside each other and near to a building and/or roadways. (Similar to many of the official weather stations used by the gov’the, as documented on WUWT.)
Mount a topless and bottomless cardboard carton about 18 inches square on four spikes about four feet high and stick it in the ground so it insulates one of the monitors from radiant heat. Also install four spikes around the other monitor. Every day, switch the box from one stand to the other.
Plot the temperature records of the two sites for a month or two. Compute how much lower the monitors’ temperature is when insulated. Extrapolate to GIStemp. Collect gold medal from the NAS for Best Science-Fair Project of the Year. [/sarc]
I took the images on the website and completed the studies related to solar radiation. Those images are a very basic reflection of the years of seasonal imaging we did of buildings to see both functions of buildings. If buildings didn’t use fossil fuels for heating and cooling, we wouldn’t care about their function. The buildings functions of fossil fuel use, natural resources, GHG emissions, energy consumption, electrical generation, mold, health, investment, ozone depletion, acid rain, autism, fire integrity, all countries and all policy depends on the function of the building envelope(insulated design specs)
As a building professional we just couldn’t see it before. The images you see on the website are there for information, the reporting process the images were taken from included temperature scales, calibration certification and an incredible amount of information not seen on the website. The equipment used for the applications is very high end technology and temperature software.
Employing infrared technology without the application to complete objectives is what has kept thermography from mainstream education. Flir and other equipment manufacturers didn’t produce one image related to SARS in a year. They failed miserably because you can work for Boeing, it doesn’t mean you can fly a plane. They took high end equipment into an application they knew nothing about and the end result was the Canadian Government issued a press release calling “Thermal Imaging Next to Useless”
The principal of this company is the only person in the world that actually did 2 educations to compliment their background in thermography from 1979. Having a background in engineering, electron flow and spending 20,000 hours to interpret it has produced a massive library that makes your jaw drop. If any of the readers are associated with objective education, email us and we will show you more in a pdf file.
For those of you with a science background, you know how significant seeing temperature is and academia is blind to it. It is important for education and to hold every process accountable to the taxpayer. If we don’t we are in serious trouble as a species. The toxicity ramifications of all we do is nuking our babies before they take their first breath.
I am a degreed electrical engineer and I run a failure analysis laboratory for a major U.S. Federal Government aerospace organization. Our work is strictly in the failure analysis of electronic and mechanical things that go bad during design, test or in the field. We are NOT involved with climate research in any form or fashion, basic engineering only.
I have personal experience with thermal cameras of the type discussed in this article and the employees in my lab make use of thermal cameras on a daily basis. One of the things you have to do before using of these devices to measure temperature in a meaningful manner is to have a basic understanding of how the materials you point the camera at handle long wave Infrared Radiation (IR).
Many materials will simply reflect any IR that is incident upon them, very much like taking a picture of a mirror you will actually get a temperature reading that represents something that is emitting IR and being reflected by the surface in the camera’s field of view, the sun for example. These cameras have varying temperature ranges and they are typically within a few hundred degree C range so it is possible that some readings of very hot surfaces are actually readings that have saturated the range of the IR camera (an IR reflector reflecting solar radiation for example will show a temperature that is much lower than the temperature of the sun). I’m not saying it is so in these pictures but it is a distinct possibility.
Another perhaps more insidious nature of the IR camera is that it will usually read the temperature of the very first layer of material in its field of view no matter how thin. If for example there is a very thin piece of black paper exposed to sunlight in front of an ice cube you will get a very high temperature reading which is representative of the temperature of the paper only, the ice cube is covered by the paper and unless it is in direct contact with the paper it will not influence the temperature by a noticeable amount. In summary this type of image will accurately measure the temperature of the paper but does not accurately measure the amount of heat in the system.
Effective insulation will become very hot on its outer surface while being cool on the other side (this would apply to an air conditioned home or an ice cooler). The creates the apparent paradox that a cooler full of ice in a well insulated container can display a very high temperature depending on the type and quality of its insulation and on the surrounding air temperature and the surrounding long wave IR radiation environment.
These thermal cameras are excellent tools but these and other fundamental properties have to be taken into consideration prior to data interpretation.
I rather doubt that. Has there been enough crude oil pumped to cover 1% to a depth of several inches? (I don’t know how much crude is needed to produce several inches of asphalt) There’s a lot of unpaved area between cities. And with most of the surface covered with water, several percent of land area would have to be covered with asphalt and buildings.
Spin the dial back to 1492. Much of what is now forest was burned regularly, so the typical woodland was like modern park land – scattered trees with grasses and small bushes. In the last 200 years we’ve gained a lot of forest. And as far as tree population is concerned, urban forest is also counted. How many trees are around your house, and was your home built on former prairie or farmland?
To add to JeffK’s (05:14:49) comment, clearcutting beetle kill is a very efficient method of renewing a renewable resource. Timber is a crop and thrives with proper management. Erosion control, replanting, the protection of watersheds — these things and more are standard knowledge for the modern logger. They are farmers on a magnificent scale.
If there’s a different species of tree still alive and standing, the loggers leave it. When they’ve cleared the dead trees and debris, the planting team comes through and plants new trees. They’re small, young, viable, and planted on center in a close grid. The new trees grow quickly and within five years it’s an impenetrable thicket of glorious green saplings. In remote areas the strongest trees take over, and on managed acreage a logger will walk through and thin lightly to give the best of the batch an advantage.
Logging is something man can do well. Leaving huge expanses of beetle killed timber out there to rot is a waste. The wood can be used, the land restored (you do not want to see the erosion that occurs in dying forests), and the resource renewed. Where do we go bird-watching? Up by the re-planted clearcuts!
Anthony, very interesting to see the images. Thank you.
To the other professionals looking at my information on the website, please don’t qualify it as a biologist and I won’t attempt to be qualify biology. With all due respect use your education before you respond like that. Weather and climate change are associated with a source of atmospheric heat. We couldn’t see the source so the argument exists as to whether it is manmade.
Last week it was 32 degrees F and solar exposed building exteriors were as high as 175 degrees F. While the building is using fossil fuels and producing toxins to heat the inside of the building, the exterior of the building is GENERATING heat 140 degrees F atmospherically. Based on heat rising, is that heating the atmosphere? Once you generate that heat, can we get rid of it? I want professionals to see millions of buildings superheating the atmosphere while we use cheaper energy systems to reduce emissions. If a building is 175 degrees on a 32 degree day why are we taxing them for their emissions for global warming while we warm the globe with their building?
How much does temperature have to do with biology? We flew several river systems and the biologists, hydrologists, forestry, etc were ultimately concerned about temperature of stream temperatures, riparian areas and location of groundwater upwellings. http://www.thermoguy.com/groundwater.html
Seeing temperature contradicted and added to my education but the science is the science.
thefordprefect (06:26:20) :
> Evaporative cooling has been around for generations!
I know that! My interest in radiational cooling comes from my weather records, like last night – see http://home.comcast.net/~ewerme/wx/current.htm and from not stumbling across others’ radiational cooling experiments. Evaporative cooling at night is limited by the dewpoint. Radiational cooling runs into trouble at the dewpoint but if if there’s no air flow you can still get cooler temps.
Why waste chilled water on an evaporator, at least not until waste heat gets it above the wet bulb temp? Typical hot and muggy summer afternoons in New Hampshire have dew point 70F and air temp 90F, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/epz/wxcalc/dewpoint.shtml says that the wet bulb temperature is 76F, and 76F at 70F dew point is a sticky 82% RH.
Our mountainside has some ground loop and low volume, high head hydro possibilities too. Given the state of my 401k and IRAs, I may never get a chance to play with all that. (Need to build a house, too!)
Lindsay H (01:13:10) :
“The heat island effect from this is not going to have a measurable effect on climate.”
I think the point is that most of us live in a heat island and are using fossil fuels to cool our local environments (houses). This supposedly exacerbates the problem.
While I am not convinced of the AGW theory, I’m all for improving my comfort and reducing my cost of ownership.
Like I always say to my greeny friends: Give me a cost effective and convenient alternative and I’ll go for it. However, I have to point out that it’s not really cost effective if you make the alternative cheaper by artificially raising the price of everything else (think cap and trade, taxation, etc…)
Somebody with a business using infrared imaging to help home owners and businesses save money by eliminating heat loss has recognized a way to jump on board the AGW money train. It’s hard to tell sometimes if these people really believe what they are peddling or just a few bricks short.
What a circus. This global warming fiasco will only get more bizarre. This idea and all that will follow will bring in countless new laws and regulations to be added to the carbon tax.
It strikes me now that there is a reason plants are green – self protection. Green stuff reflects the “meat” of the solar spectrum. You’d think plants would be better off absorbing more of the spectrum, as they’d get more energy, but clearly, they’d overheat if they absorbed as much of the spectrum as your average roof shingle.
I remember (many years ago) seeing a diagram of a house in Israel which had a second “false roof.”
During the summer, the air space between the first & second roof warmed and rose; a vent was in the open position at the top, allowing the air to exit to the atmosphere, and a vent at the bottom was open, allowing cooler air to be sucked in from outside.
During the winter, the exhaust vent at the top was set to allow the warmed air to enter the attic (fans forced that hot air down into the living space). The vent at the bottom was set so that air from the living space could be drawn into the twin roof heating space.
While this set-up won’t prevent the exposed roof surface from getting hot from the sun’s radiation, at least it can focus the heat – outside in summer & inside in winter – to somewhat reduce the need for power driven HVAC use.
>>Regardless of whether the target area is covered with buildings or forests, it all receives the same amount of solar energy as insolation. That energy is either absorbed and re-radiated at a later time, rate and frequency, or its reflected to be absorbed and re-radiated elsewhere at a later time, rate and frequency.
Yes It does not change the amount of energy received. As you say it changes the way the energy is radiated…later, at a different rate, using different wavelength.
And if energy is re-emitted to space at a slower rate there should be a temperature change.
For example the part of sun energy which used to be directly reflected by soil/forest/grass is absorbed and IR radiated by buildings/asphalt and it will take significantly longer before it is re-emitted to space.
Another part of energy used to be absorbed in water evaporation, and this happens far less in built areas. Because of that the cycle of water is affected. We have replaced evaporation by IR radiation. No idea what it can do, but this is a change.
Interesting how it seems that everyone’s incorporating the green gospel as a part of their spiel, lending further credence to the silliness.
Thermoguy,
You said:
“The toxicity ramifications of all we do is nuking our babies before they take their first breath.”
The science is the science, but that comment isn’t particularly scientific or helpful. My grandchildren are doing just fine, thanks.
This, ladies and gentlemen is what passes for scientific discourse in our brave new world. It’s not about truth anymore… Do it for the children…
Mike Bryant
Bob Shapiro (08:40:50) :
I remember (many years ago) seeing a diagram of a house in Israel which had a second “false roof.”
Don’t know if it originated in Israel, but that is similar to the ‘envelope’ design. Very good thermal efficiency. And illegal in most places due to the increased fire hazard, the space between the roofs.
My house is passive solar, with 2×8 walls. Lots of thermal mass. Stays a bit warmer in winter, cooler in summer.
Using an infrared thermometer shows similar results to the photos, exterior wall temperature on the order of 80F in the dead of winter. (on the sunlit side) I’m a bit better off, no where near super efficient. Still, my heating bill is half my neighbor’s, and far less in summer. Using 2×8’s instead of 2×4 or 2×6 cost a bit more, paid for itself in a few years. We can do a lot of simple things to save energy (and money!)
I think Anthony’s point is just that all that heat from buildings can produce an upward bias on nearby temperature sensors.
Beyond that though maybe there are some lessons for designing homes for energy efficiency. Maybe planting large deciduous trees on the south, east and west sides of a building would help to keep it cool in the summer but allow sunlight through in the winter to help keep it warm. Is this the reason why people used to grow ivy on building walls?
By God now you are hitting close to my area of expertise where I can speak with some authority. I worked as a real-estate inspector and thermal image consultant in construction for several years… until the housing market crash of 2007…(bummer) These IR photos are very consistent with my observation of construction down in Abilene Texas. I would often see asphalt shingle temps hit the 180F to 195F range in the summer sun even when ambient air temps was in the 80s at mid morning. So, when you have those roof mounted temp stations, you are getting a massive heat overdose under those temp stations.
Often I would do night roof scans when I needed to “see” water leaks under roofing material. Water and asphalt shingles have different thermal mass, and heat and cool at slightly different rates. I would look at IR of a suspected leaking roof under various heating and cooling conditions and when contrasted against each other, the water or area of saturation will stand out. Also, keep in mind that water exposed to air will evaporate and show as a cold spot on an IR image during the latent heat of vaporization energy transfer process.
Incidentally the best roofing you can place on your home is white or silver metal roofing. This type of roofing is good for four main reasons. #1, the reflective color will allow it to run close to ambient temps (less energy uptake into your home that you have to remove with the AC units). #2 it’s hail proof, which is an important consideration in much of the US. #3, it is wind resistant. #4, it offers lower surface coefficient, which allows snow to slide off, so as not to over load the roofing structure in northern climates. As a bonus side note, termites don’t eat metal.
The best roof decking plywood is radiant barrier (foil backed) plywood available at Home Depot and Lowe’s.
The best insulation in an attic is approximately 4” to 6” of professionally applied closed cell polyurethane foam installed in a close attic system, which is now gaining popularity in green building concepts camp. This insulation is applied to the back side of the roof decking in the attic. If all the above are designed into a new building, it can reduce thermal uptake of the building by many, many, many hundreds of thousands of BTUs over the home’s lifecycle.
The most efficient heating and cooling system? A geothermal heat pump!
PS new construction material is not really designed to mitigate heat buildup from the sun. It was my observation that less than 2% of new homes had properly designed attic ventilation and heat mitigation systems installed. In fact, it was my observation that many new homes had higher roofing temps than older homes. Summary, Building generate a whole lot of heat, kind of like an air-cooled lawnmower engine… but larger.
Keep up the great efforts at WUWT…
The writer seems rather uninformed about building construction. Can anyone pull out their homeowners policy and find the temperature that their house is insured for?
Buildings are designed with a specific amount of insulation (R rating) based on the climate of the building site. The recommendations are based on cost effectiveness, and projected energy costs. It doesn’t make sense to insulate to the nth-degree if it takes 20 years of energy savings to pay for the insulation. A standard 4″ wall can only be insulated with conventional materials to a certain (R-factor), if you want more insulation you need to build thicker walls. Over time, the recommendations have crept upward, this is not due to any climate change. It is simply due to the fact that energy has gotten more expensive, which makes more insulation a good investment.
Much of this misses the point, because most energy loss isn’t though the walls, it’s due to air leakage from a surprising number of locations. It is much more effective to find the leaks than add insulation to the walls.
When we built our house 6 years ago, I ignored the recommendations because I felt that energy prices were going to go up for reasons all out of kilter with normal market forces (just a strange feeling I had). The walls are 6″ thick, with 2″ of urethane foam sprayed on first, then normal 4″ fiberglass bats. The foam not only insulates, it seals air leakage. The roof has twice the amount of blown cellulose as the recommmendation, but it wasn’t that much more expensive at the time of construction, the workers and equipment were already there. Then comes the energy star treatment, they seal all the doors and windows and blow air into the house to reach a specific pressure diff between inside and out. The volume of air required to maintain pressure tells you how much leakage there is. The leaks can be located with a “smoke pencil”, fix the leaks and you’re ready to go. It’s actually easy to get carried away and seal the house too much, you need to have some air exchange to maintain air quality and prevent mold, etc.
Theorically, I spent too much insulating our house, I would have been smarter to invest the extra money elsewhere, but given what’s happened to investments lately….and I still have that funny feeling about energy prices.
John Silver (06:05:11) :
The wall is radiating the MMTS on the other side from the photos view point.
Anthony should have photographed the MMTS from the radiating wall. Better luck next time?
REPLY: Yes the idea of the shield is in fact to shield it from the IR coming from the wall. But the problem is not the IR itself, but the air heated by the IR emission from the wall, which I cannot photograph. The shield is designed to block IR and direct sunlight but allow free air passage. – Anthony.
The radiation from ther sun is much more intense than that from the wall. The MMTS shows no sign of solar heating (although this could be due to its emissivity). Note that the pole is cool and may possibly be shiny – if it is reflective it will be reflecting heat from the envirnment not it own temperature.
Anthony If you try taking IR photograph in environmental chamber at elevated temperature the whole picture gets fogged by the air temperature. Hot air should show up on a thermograph.
Hot air rises (of course!) There seems to be about 3metres of space between the wall and the MMTS. The rising heat from the wall will not extend far towards the MMTS. There could even be a convection current set up which drags in other air from away from the wall
Mike
REPLY: Ah but Mike you forget the wind and mixing. – Anthony
Side bar academic thought for the day… What would be the effect of taking seven identical earth sized objects located the same distance form the sun as our earth, and painting them the following colors,
Red
Orange
Yellow
White
Green
Blue Indigo
Vilot
Black
What earth would be hottest and what one would be coldest? Would they all be the same temp because they all obsessively received the same level of solar radiation from the sun?
The mesaage it is easy to understand: Why all those houses, which by the way created all that financial and credit crisis, return to old indians “tipis”( is this its name?) those were more energy efficient. 🙂
IR isn’t mentioned in the article at all, even though that is what is probably intended, and what is being measured.
Whomever wrote this is selling services. Due to the errors I won’t be buying from them.
Anthony, has anyone asked for permission to use the photos from the surface stations project???
To add to JeffK and Sylvia: Net deforestation ended in the US in 1930 +/-. Since then the total forested area has increased. Wildfire prevention, natural reclamation of unused farm lands, and various government and commercially sponsored programs and management prescriptions are major causes of our reforestation.