Well-intentioned governmental stupidity.
By jimrob | November 16, 2008
I’m currently working on job building a new library. It’s a state of the art, modern-day “green” masterpiece. The lighting in this place runs off of 277V to reduce I2R losses. I personally don’t think there’d be that much of a current loss between 120 and 277 to merit the difference, but what do I know.
Also, there’s a $250k solar array system on the roof, complete with three charge inverters that convert the generated electricty to 277VAC to power the lights. Supposedly, this thing will pay for itself in ten years. Now, I don’t know what kind of library has a $25k/yr lighting bill. This one certainly won’t/wouldn’t.
Also, the lights automatically dim themselves based upon the amount of light flowing into different areas of the building. For example, the lights on the East side will dim when sensors detect sunlight flowing into that part of the building. The lights on the South dim when sunlight is coming in that side, and so on. Ironically, this resulted in a massive amount of wire being pulled at a much higher cost. All the lights are on the same circuit, but some have an emergency backup and all are on different dimming zones. Essentially different circuits, but not really. Factor in the cost of light sensors, computerized lighting control, etc… you get the idea.
Almost all rooms have occupancy sensors which turn off the lights after ten minutes of no movement in the room. The rest have sensor-containing light switches that perform the same task. I hope nobody decides to sit down and read a book for too long.
The cost of all this stuff is baffling. The cost of this relatively small building is over $9M (but is assessed at $6M…). A rediculously large amount given the size of the place. But, this being a government project, cost isn’t of the utmost importance. Besides that, it’s butt ugly. To minimize “environmental impact” by the usage of “excessive building materials,” most of the building has an exposed underside of the roofing deck and support beams. Think Wal-Mart. Yep. That’s how the inside of this place looks. Heating ducts, conduit, water pipe; all out there in the open.
Then there’s the paint scheme. We couldn’t have a traditional look - oh no. All the walls, except for two, are painted in varrying shades of green. Dark green, light green, puke green, diarrhea green. Green to make Mamma Earth so happy she could cry acid-free rain drops.
The six closet spaces to the front entry, three to either side, are reserved for the handi-capable folks who want to check out the latest Dan Brown menopausal mastrabatory aide (to quote Stewie Griffin.) The two spots to the North and South, respectiviely, are reserved for “fuel efficent vehicles.” A little green sign with a tree informs the fact.
How exactly does one define “fuel efficient?” My 2000 Chevy Cavalier gets about 35 m.p.g. Does that allow me to park closer to the door? Can I park a rascal in that spot? It gets infinity m.p.g. Besides all that, wouldn’t you want to reserve spots for non-fuel efficient vehicles so they don’t have to drive all over the parking lot trying to find a place (like crowded parking in a modern-day American library would be a problem anyway.)
The best part of this modern-day, energy-efficient, environmental wet dream is the massive amount of accent lighting we installed. Why go to the trouble of installing a non-standard, solar-powered lighting system when you’re just going to crap electricity right down the toilet by putting lights up just to illuminate a blank green wall?
Then there’s the tower, good grief the tower. There’s a two-story tower over the entryway with nothing inside of it It’s hollow; I presume it’s there to make the entryway look bigger or something. Anyway, this whole thing is made of glass and is illuminated 24 hours a day. I bet that’s a great way to save on the heat bill.
Of course there’s all kinds of brain-dead city council persons constantly wandering about the place getting in our way, admiring their well-intentioned stupidity.
Topics: Solar Power |
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