Green white noise
April 20, 2012 2:02 PM Subscribe
I run an oscillating fan in my room for large parts of the day for the white noise and the breeze. How much is this adding to my carbon footprint, and can I be more efficient about it?
I have an old oscillating fan that a friend gave to me that I prefer to my ceiling fan. I run it for hours at a time, a fact that I'm becoming increasingly self-conscious about, but it's become sort of a habit that I can't get over. Are there any alternatives anybody could recommend that could ease my mind?
I have an old oscillating fan that a friend gave to me that I prefer to my ceiling fan. I run it for hours at a time, a fact that I'm becoming increasingly self-conscious about, but it's become sort of a habit that I can't get over. Are there any alternatives anybody could recommend that could ease my mind?
If at any time you only want white noise and don't need air circulation, there are plenty of iPhone apps for that. I prefer Ambience.
posted by tel3path at 2:07 PM on April 20, 2012
posted by tel3path at 2:07 PM on April 20, 2012
You can get the exact amount of power it's drawing with a Kill a Watt, which will run you $20 or so. The Kill a Watt will give you an idea of how much other appliances are running. I suspect a fan is pretty minimal, especially given this comparison list and this calculator
Do you ever use a dryer, and if so, could you switch one load of laundry per week to drying on a line or rack? Do you have any incandescent bulbs you could replace with CFLs? Do you dust your refrigerator's coils? Can you add an insulating blanket to your hot water heater? I am guessing that some minor actions like that would more than offset the additional carbon generated by your fan.
posted by pie ninja at 2:12 PM on April 20, 2012
Do you ever use a dryer, and if so, could you switch one load of laundry per week to drying on a line or rack? Do you have any incandescent bulbs you could replace with CFLs? Do you dust your refrigerator's coils? Can you add an insulating blanket to your hot water heater? I am guessing that some minor actions like that would more than offset the additional carbon generated by your fan.
posted by pie ninja at 2:12 PM on April 20, 2012
Also keep in mind that how much your usage affects your carbon footprint (whether positively or negatively) depends on how much of your electric utility's power is generated by fossil fuels vs. other sources.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:20 PM on April 20, 2012
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:20 PM on April 20, 2012
I also run a fan for white noise and ventilation. Typically a standard oscillating fan is about 35-55 watts (mine is 45 watts), so it'll use very little power compared with, say, an air-conditioner.
According to this calculator, running a window or room fan for 24 hours would cost $0.53, using the national U.S. average cost per KWH $0.1099 as of January 2011. You can find out from your electricity bill how much your electricity company charges per KWH.
posted by essexjan at 2:50 PM on April 20, 2012
According to this calculator, running a window or room fan for 24 hours would cost $0.53, using the national U.S. average cost per KWH $0.1099 as of January 2011. You can find out from your electricity bill how much your electricity company charges per KWH.
posted by essexjan at 2:50 PM on April 20, 2012
It also depends on where your power is coming from. It is hydroelectric? it is nuclear? (the answer is pretty damn close to zero) it is coal (the worst), it is natural gas? or something else? it is most likely some mix of these. Not all power causes the same CO2 emissions to generate it. If it is really bothering you a 55 watt solar panel is pretty cheap these days and that will run a fan...
posted by bartonlong at 3:23 PM on April 20, 2012
posted by bartonlong at 3:23 PM on April 20, 2012
The answer is that it is trivial compared to your total footprint. It's like worrying about a splinter when you've got a sucking chest wound.
posted by Justinian at 4:13 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 4:13 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
the key word for me in your post is "old". like, 70s old? cause those are likely to be sucking a lot more juice than one you buy today (at least mine from 1986 was, which i loved, which sadly died a few years ago. but it was probably for the best.). so perhaps get a kill a watt and see how much it's pulling, and if it's more than today's average, you could get a new fan.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 4:37 PM on April 20, 2012
posted by misanthropicsarah at 4:37 PM on April 20, 2012
Look at it this way:
For generating white noise it would be vastly more efficient for you to use a device that's made to do that. A white noise generator with a speaker and amplifier probably uses 1/5th as much power as your fan.
However if you bought one you would add the carbon footprint of the manufacturing of the white noise generator to your tab. And you have to add a prorated carbon footprint of the fan's manufacturing cost if it means that you're no longer going to use it for it's full useful life.
You can beanplate this out to as many decimal places as you want, but unless you're already reducing, reusing, and recycling 95% of everything you can, you're wasting your time. Put your thought and energy elsewhere.
posted by Ookseer at 7:34 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
For generating white noise it would be vastly more efficient for you to use a device that's made to do that. A white noise generator with a speaker and amplifier probably uses 1/5th as much power as your fan.
However if you bought one you would add the carbon footprint of the manufacturing of the white noise generator to your tab. And you have to add a prorated carbon footprint of the fan's manufacturing cost if it means that you're no longer going to use it for it's full useful life.
You can beanplate this out to as many decimal places as you want, but unless you're already reducing, reusing, and recycling 95% of everything you can, you're wasting your time. Put your thought and energy elsewhere.
posted by Ookseer at 7:34 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Keep the fan clean. Run it on the lowest setting that works. I run a fan at night for both white noise and ventilation. I need to have moving air to be able to sleep.
posted by fifilaru at 10:31 PM on April 20, 2012
posted by fifilaru at 10:31 PM on April 20, 2012
It's increasing the efficiency and decreasing the need for your air conditioning. It's decreasing your carbon footprint.
This isn't necessarily true. If the OP doesn't have air conditioning then the fan is an extra electrical appliance which otherwise wouldn't be running, increasing the carbon footprint.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:11 AM on April 21, 2012
This isn't necessarily true. If the OP doesn't have air conditioning then the fan is an extra electrical appliance which otherwise wouldn't be running, increasing the carbon footprint.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:11 AM on April 21, 2012
Turn it off when you're not in the room. (Maybe you are already, you didn't say.) Basically the only benefit a ceiling or oscillating fan gives is by blowing on your skin: wind chill plus helping you evaporate some sweat and cool yourself that way. No human, no benefit.
Here's what a friend who works in building energy told me once, setting me straight. (I was thinking the circulation of a ceiling fan was somehow good, energy wise.)
Turn off the damn ceiling fan when you leave the room. It makes me outright angry when people leave ceiling fans (or oscillating fans) whirring away when they leave the room--all they are doing are stirring the air around, and dumping the heat of the electric motor into the room.
If you want another source, Home Energy magazine is one of the go-to publications in our field:
Getting the Most from Your Fan
http://www.homeenergy.org/consumerinfo/fans/index.php
Fans are for people, not rooms. Room air temperatures are normally 20œF—30œF cooler than body temperature. Ceiling fans can improve occupant comfort at a given room temperature by creating a windchill effect when they blow relatively cool air across the skin. Because the furniture and the thermostat are already at roughly the same temperature as the room air, they can’t "feel" the windchill. So when you leave the room, switch the fan and its light off–you’ll save energy and money.
Back to the non-professional to note that a fan in an open window is a bit of a different beast.
posted by spbmp at 9:03 PM on April 21, 2012
Here's what a friend who works in building energy told me once, setting me straight. (I was thinking the circulation of a ceiling fan was somehow good, energy wise.)
Turn off the damn ceiling fan when you leave the room. It makes me outright angry when people leave ceiling fans (or oscillating fans) whirring away when they leave the room--all they are doing are stirring the air around, and dumping the heat of the electric motor into the room.
If you want another source, Home Energy magazine is one of the go-to publications in our field:
Getting the Most from Your Fan
http://www.homeenergy.org/consumerinfo/fans/index.php
Fans are for people, not rooms. Room air temperatures are normally 20œF—30œF cooler than body temperature. Ceiling fans can improve occupant comfort at a given room temperature by creating a windchill effect when they blow relatively cool air across the skin. Because the furniture and the thermostat are already at roughly the same temperature as the room air, they can’t "feel" the windchill. So when you leave the room, switch the fan and its light off–you’ll save energy and money.
Back to the non-professional to note that a fan in an open window is a bit of a different beast.
posted by spbmp at 9:03 PM on April 21, 2012
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posted by cmoj at 2:05 PM on April 20, 2012