It was supposed to get to 114 or so degrees today, which would tie a record set around 100 years ago. Whether or not we reached it, it's freakin' hot right now. In fact, it's only supposed to get to 74 tonight.
My local power company keeps threatening rotating hour-long blackouts to cut down on electricity usage. I guess all those wind turbines and solar cells aren't enough; let's not forget that California can only implement its unicornian energy policies by importing more electricity from out-of-state than any other state in the Union.
Being the eternal optimist (snicker snicker), though, I've found a benefit in this excessive heat.
I'm sure I've mentioned it in the last couple months, but while I was in Baja this summer, and probably shortly before, I got a hot water leak under my slab. That means that my gas water heater was running non-stop, because water was running through it non-stop. Eventually I was draining 900+ gallons of hot water per day according to the water company. And I pay by the gallon. Ugh.
Not being interested in having to run a camera through my water lines and eventually have to do something like jackhammer through my dining room floor to get to the leak, I made the expensive decision to have the entire house replumbed. Several years ago when I had a gas leak under the slab, the gas was rerouted through my attic. Now, with a water leak under the slab, I've had the water lines rerouted through the attic.
My 60+ year old house has plenty of insulation in the attic; when it was put in several years ago I was told it exceeded new-house standards. This means that my air conditioned house is insulated while the attic just cooks in the heat. The water that sits in the lines in the attic also cooks. It gets hot. And that's the benefit I described earlier.
Because now, when I want to wash off some dishes, I don't need to turn the hot water on. I just turn on the cold water, and 120-degree-plus water comes out! This would suck if I wanted a glass of cold water, but that's why I keep a Brita pitcher in the frig. I get about a minute of very hot water before the cold water from the underground pipes makes it to the faucet--by which time I've rinsed off my dishes.
Silver lining.
Update, 9/7/22: I read today that we broke the record, 116 degrees! Dayum it's hot, even at night.
Whew....that's hot! Great silver lining regarding your new solar powered hot water pipes!
ReplyDeleteAnd no rare earths from China needed!
ReplyDeleteWe put in roof-top solar this year with a back up battery (a long arduous process!) Most of the year, it will be sufficient to power our house and send a ton of energy to the grid. During the summer, it helps allay the power drawn from the by our air conditioners, but on the really hot days we had, we needed much more power than our solar could generate.
ReplyDeleteThen, the worst day in L.A. came around on Sunday--temps around 105 around us--it was also mostly cloudy, so of course our solar production dropped in half. And we, and everyone else with rooftop solar, had to draw more from the grid.
Then came the fear-text they sent out to most of CA saying to cut power use. Our battery lets us select from various settings. Most settings keep 20% of the battery as an emergency backup power source. But, when that text came out, I chose making sure the lights and air con stayed on, instead of choosing to reduce grid usage. I upped our battery reserves to 50%, meaning we would draw MORE from the grid. I doubt I was the only one with battery back up who did that.
Ann in L.A.
Each decade becomes the new hottest decade on record. Image how bad things would be if climate change were real.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: what if, what IF, the last 150 years wasn't "normal", but was just what we get as the climate moves out of a mini-Ice-Age? I'm just tossing that out there for you to think about....
ReplyDeleteOkay. So you’ve moved from “It’s not happening” to “It’s happening, but it’s not us (anthropogenic)”. That’s progress. Next up: “It’s happening and it’s us, but nothing can be done about it”. Give it time; you’ll get there. Just please don’t delete your climate denial posts. Future scholars will find the posts invaluable.
ReplyDeleteThey're all there, please point me to the ones you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteFor several years now in my classroom I've had a graph showing warming and cooling periods as best as science can tell today. Perhaps you missed it.
It's been several days, anonymous, and you have yet to produce even one article. Thus, I call you on your BS. if you're going to suggest what my opinions are, I'd prefer you use MY opinions rather than what you WISH my opinions are.
ReplyDeleteBack under your rock.