Post by george conklinPost by WilliamGeorge didn't even really state an opinion and you start raging on
him. He just said "It has been argued that density saves money because
NYC uses less energy
than average" Your sorta starting to sound like a straight up hater
man.
You left out the quote from the New York Times about NYC saving energy
because of small apartments. Simple FAct. Small apartments mean you love
man? By the way, I love women, not men.
George, what we find in the multifamily industry isn't that size saves
money, it is proximity. An 800 s.f. apartment will be cheaper to heat
than a 800 s.f. house. With a garden-style apartment, you typically
have 3 or 4 shared surfaces -- with 3 being quite common. With a
larger building, you typically have 5 shared surfaces (or, 1 outside
wall). That's a huge savings because your heat loss is your
neighbor's heat gain, so to speak. If everyone heats to 70F, then the
only heat loss is to the outside wall. That why many apartment
complex don't even bother to put heat in the hallways (unless they are
trying to create positive pressure, but that's another story).
A building only loses heat at it's exposed surfaces, so as the number
of square feet of exterior walls fall, per unit, you save energy.
There is a drawback, though. Urban areas tend to be hotter in the
summer and therefore require air conditioning. In many suburban or
rural areas, it is still possible to live without AC. But almost all
cities need it. I've only run my AC about 5 days so far this year.
It is interesting that the largest electrical loads -- which used to
be in the winter due to heating -- are now in the summer due to AC.
There is also a large savings from hot water system in large
buildings. Most of the energy you use for hot water is consumed
keeping the heat up while you're off at work. You use a little hot
water at dinner time and the rest for bathing, but for 22+ hours per
day, you don't use it. That's why tankless heaters are so efficient.
With an apartment buildings, someone is always coming and going, using
water, etc. so the amount of hold-time is much less. Plus the tanks
are more efficient. There's a pretty big savings on hot water.
In apartments, you also have to keep in mind that there there is
hallway lighting and parking lot lighting (okay, not much parking lot
lighting in NYC) that is not included in your electric bill.
Apartment dwellers also don't tend to use domestic hot water for
washing cars, etc. and their hot water for laundry isn't necessarily
on their utility bill, even if they are individually metered.
Heating savings is one of those places where you do save money by
being densely inhabited. AC, on the other hand, is where you lose
money. All in all, I'd guess that you are ahead of the game with
density.