Is it comfortable in here...or is it just me
I've been in Stauffer library a lot these last few months because I can't seem to hack out a decent draft of my thesis (which is another post altogether).
But there've been times earlier in the summer when the A/C was on and I was actually cold. But today, amidst Kingston's heat alert and request to ease the load on our electricity grid, I'm finding Stauffer's temperatures to be quite comfortable. Why is this happening? I can see only two explanations for this:
1) Queen's actually took the request to heart and have upped the thermostat in the library.
2) They're renovating part of the 1st floor to make way for a new cafe and in doing so, they were tossing out a lot of construction material out the window and as I was walking by, the blast of A/C escaping out the window could literally knock you to the ground. Therefore, the second possibility is that all the cold is escaping through that one outlet.
I hope it's the former and I doubt the latter (mainly because I can't see that much cold air escaping from that one area especially when the main entrance is thoroughly opened all the time). But then my question is this: No one's complained that it's too warm in the library. So why isn't THIS temperature the norm so that less energy is used? Is the cooler temperatures to preserve the old materials? But if that's the case, shouldn't that kind of material be in a special climate controlled room anyhow?
2 comments:
An email I received at work today:
"As a result of a request from Kingston Utilities and in an attempt to avoid rolling blackouts that would cause the University severe problems, we have had to institute our emergency plan to reduce energy consumption on campus. We have therefore turned off the cooling in McArthur Hall, Watson/Jeffrey Hall, Stauffer/Goodes, Ban Righ Hall, Stirling Hall, Dunning Hall and MacDonald Hall. The air handling system will still run so fresh air will still be delivered to the building but the spaces will gradually warm up. The cooling units will be turned back on tomorrow morning or later this evening if there are events scheduled for spaces in the building.
We would also like to ask your cooperation in reducing consumption by turning off any equipment or lighting that is not required.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Brian Scovill
Operations Manager
Physical Plant Services"
I also happened to have dinner with a young mechanical engineer who works for PPS and who has been charged with improving energy usage in Stauffer... increasing the temparature somewhat without having any zones excessively warm... apparently quite a tricky task, but Queen's is serious about getting the Library to a less wasteful temperature on average...
Thanks for the heads up. I'm actually glad to hear that Queen's might actually be serious about reducing energy consumption.
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