Turn Down the Thermostat, Mr. President!

According to Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times, the capital "flew into a bit of a tizzy" when your first photographs in the Oval Office showed you jacket-free and not so buttoned-up as the last President. I was tweeting too but not from your casual style but for cranking up the thermostat.

Ee-gad, Mr. President, Please don't do that. I know you're from Hawaii, but put on a sweater, as Jimmy Carter did, or consider installing a furnace humidifier. You see, it's really not the heat that matters, it's the humidity.

A humidifier can help reduce the heat you need to feel comfortable in a room because moist air feels warmer and as such you can feel the same warmth at a lower temperature as long as the humidity is high enough. A 20°C or 69°F temperature at 35% relative humidity feels just as warm as a 22°C or 72°F setting at 19% relative humidity. So install a furnace humidifier, set it for the proper humidity and your thermostat three degrees lower than you would normally. You'll be comfortable while saving; this small adjustment in temperature will lower your annual heating bills by as much as 5 percent.

For more energy saving tips, check out the Green Guide.

Comments

[IntrepidReader]

I think the very last thing in the world Barack Obama would do is pull on a Mr Rogers style cardigan sweater and remind everyone of Jimmy Carter. Nope, nuh uh, ain't gonna happen, so there's no point in coming back with chatter about how he could wear stylish cool J Crew sweaters or whatever. The image of Carter in a sweater lecturing us about malaise is impossible to erase.

Kathleen McKinley, you must have missed all the news reports that Obama likes to run the thermostat so high staffers say you could grow--speaking of delicate flowers-- orchids. The theory is that he's from Hawaii and likes it warm, not that he's from Chicago and impervious to the cold.

I could be wrong, but I suspect the White House has a state of the art HVAC system with built-in humidification, not a 20 year old Carrier that you have to go out and kick every once in a while to make it crank up.

[murderBYzeN]

with all that cash Obama is trying to get from china and other capitalist nations I really doubt he will have to worry about his heating bill. Just think, if he gets really hot in there we might get to see another pic of Obama topless!!!!! Oh god, isnt he hot!!!!!

[Prole-NY]

There's actually more heat in air at 20°C and 35% RH (34 kJ/kg enthalpy) than there is in air at 22°C and 19% RH (30 kJ/kg), so supplying air at the lower temperature and higher humidity may not be saving any energy - in fact it may be using more energy. A lot depends on how well the building is insulated - ie how much of the heat loss is from conduction in comparison to how much is lost through air exchange.

[Kathleen McKinley]

What's with the "put on a sweater" nonsense? Why assume that he had the heat cranked up just because he was in his shirt-sleeves? The guy was walking around OUTSIDE in the freezing cold last week WITHOUT A COAT. He's from CHICAGO, not San Diego or Tampa, so maybe he just doesn't feel the cold as much as some of the delicate flowers who are griping at him. Please find something else to be self-righteous about, folks.

[ArmyCentrist]

A humidifier huh? Thanks!

[QueenOfViolets]

Does anyone really believe there's a shortage of hot air in the White House?

[oustfan]

Don't give the neocons more fuel. I don't care how high he has the temperature. The extra energy won't matter in the great scheme of global warming. His policies for the rest of us is what truly does matter.

This is just a further example that the climate crisis will not be solved unless the government mandates whats right for everyone. Our selfishness won't allow us to do it ourselves. Jimmy Carter and his sweater failed. Obama will not.

[pdxsean]

I'm a big proponent of putting on a sweater as well. I was really surprised that the man who understands the energy-saving value of properly inflated tires doesn't seem to apply that same knowlege to the energy-savings one achieves by lowering the thermostat. Isn't "It's more comfortable, so I'll do it," a pretty plainly outdated excuse?