Venting??

Mary K

What are cold air returns used for? Don't cold air returns cause cold drafts? Should you block cold air returns in a closed off foyer?

Rich Kontny_3

Venting ???

This is not the flue gas type venting question. This is venting as in what's up?

We are lead to believe that things are so great when in so many ways we have gone backwards. Tonite I had some errands to run and put them off until about 8pm. It happens to be -10 tonite and the enrgy thing really hits home as you go to different buildings.

I may be dating myself here but remember the vestibule concept that was used when fuel costs were cheap. A vestibule acts as an air buffer zone between the inside air from the outside air.

Here is my gripe, we stop at a Starbuck's (who claim to be on top of green issues etc)and what do we see? The strip mall this Starbuck's is in all have north facing entry doors, no vestibiles, hot air heat pumping away to the outdoors everytime the door is open and no where to sit where the draft from the wind driven outside air does not hit you!

Have we given up on energy codes in favor of business growth that gets by with poor design, energy inefficient designs and just plain dumb use off dwindling fuel supplies.

About one mile down the road they installed two very large natural gas fired electric generation stations while they tore down two coal fired units some 30 miles away, The coal fired units were part of the same energy company.
Most people probaly don't connect the dots and realize that that generation station is gobbling up the very same natural gas that they heat their homes with.

The same utility sells both electricity and natural gas to about 1/4 of the entire state of Wisconsin. (WE Energies)

The morale of this venting is that we simply have no comprehensive nor uniform energy conservation policy in this country! Instead there are poorly designed buildings, monopolies who care far more about their bottom line then conservation,federal energy mandates that cater to special interests and a whole bunch of Americans who seem to just accept all this without question!

Then we read threads on this site about how we can cheat.As in licensing ,testing,inspections, fly by nite internet packaged heating systems (without any installation expertise) etc.

As a group of wet heating, HVAC and other mechanical
professionals we cannot sit back and watch this wasteful behavior continue.

WE all have to become proactive in regards to the energy usage in this nation or we will be put in the back seat compared to more energy consciece countries.

Rich K.

Couderay

VENTING!!!

Isn't it all about the bottom line, horray for me (blank) everyone else. Here too in Illinois they built 12+ Natural Gas turbin generating stations and not a one of them run.Now they sell their contracts for natural gas, make money hand over fist, and the public gets screwed. Now with Communist Edison getting their 20% rate increase we will feel the pinch some more. Well now I need some tissues.

Rich Kontny_3

Joe

The lack of response tells me exactly what I suspected, we have a tendency to join em' not fight em'.

This I find disturbing as I read the energy predictions of federal agencies and the projected dates of fuel source(s) depletion coming ever so close.

Why when we can learn so much from our European and Asia counterparts are we so extremely wasteful??

Your answer of profit concerns before real concerns seems to be a very accurate yet troubling answer!

Thanks Joe!