SBUnified
By Santa Barbara Unified
The Santa Barbara Unified Board of Trustees approved a new project to provide efficient heating and air conditioning at Santa Barbara High School.
The need for a new heating system started in Spring 2022 when it failed in the 60s, 70s, and 80s wings. The units were over 50 years old and cannot be repaired as parts are no longer available.
Portable electric heaters have been provided for each classroom in these wings while a long-term fix was worked on.
On July 25, 2022, the Board approved a proposal from Kruger Bensen Ziemer Architects, Inc. for a design to install a new heating system in the wings. The estimated cost of this project was $1,500,000 with Routine Restricted Maintenance funding.
During the discovery phase of the project, it was determined that individual heating units for each classroom would be the most cost-effective way to restore heat to the classrooms. This would require the construction of a closet in each room to house the units.
However, the District looked into the options and recommended installing heat pumps on the roof, which would also provide efficient air conditioning for the classrooms.
“Every year, we see the need for air conditioning growing in our schools as we see more hot summer days. This option will provide Santa Barbara High School with efficient heating and air conditioning that will be better for the environment while saving the District money,” said Dr. Hilda Maldonado, Superintendent.
The $3,158,680 project will be paid for with Measure I 2016 funds. It will include heating, air conditioning, and roofing repairs for 60s, 70s, and 80s wings.
Work on the project will begin in the Summer of 2024.
Ah, the $35,000,000 in COVID relief SBUSD was to be used to upgrade the Hvac systems to allow for safe opening of schools. You mean SBUSD did not do anything substantive to open the schools with that $35,000,000. Wonder where the money went if it was not downtown on COVID safe opening.
Because our schools did not open
They spent it on the stadium at SB High.
I thought it was $26.5M, which is about $1969 per student. I’m fairly certain a lot of it was spent on summer school, hand washing stations, masks and face shields, extra cleaning, COVID tests, regular testing for the staff, improved air flow in some classrooms. At one point I saved the power point file they showed during a school board meeting, noting the costs of each thing.
$35,000,000 for hand washing stations?
And I don’t see any except for a few bottles of hand sanitizer bottles here & there.
They did nothing significant to improve health conditions at the schools. The biggest would have been to increase air circulation & air purifiers.
But nope. They took the money & kept the doors closed
At $1,800/hour for things like “Coffee w a Black Guy” for a guy with zero qualifications & no training as a psychologist they put the money in their & their friends pockets. Honestly, why is it that SBUSD & the teachers Union don’t care about the kids health, safety or academics.
Why is only 1 school upgrading its HVAC? The other schools have similarly aged equipment.
It’s interesting the decision to add air conditioning, more than doubling the cost of this project to over $3 million is attributed to seeing more hot summer days every year. The data from the Santa Barbara temperature station which is available on the NOAA.gov website shows that daily high temperatures have been in decline since the 1930s. The thermometer says Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more.
Anybody who has lived in the area for more than ten years will know you’re full of it.
Previous to 1942, Santa Barbara “official” temperatures were taken in Santa Barbara near the El Estero treatment plant. After that, they were taken at the Santa Barbara airport.
A string of anomalously high temperature days were measured in the 1930s, which also skews this comparison.
The record high was 109 in 1985 and 1990.
108 in 1913.
106 in 1992
105 in 1972 and 1978
104 in 1925, 1939, and 1979
103 in 1913, 1939, 1963, 1987, and 1990
102 in 1912, 1939, 1985, 1988, and 2018
Most of those record highs are from the 70s on.
We’ve also seen an increase in humidity levels, which makes temperatures more oppressive.
CHIP – ” daily high temperatures have been in decline since the 1930s. The thermometer says Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more.” – That’s just not true. The last few summers especially have had more hot days that in previous summers. Further, this is easily verified as 6:34 did below. Source: https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/santa-barbara/highest-temperatures
Why do you keep making false claims? First you claim not once, but twice that wind and solar energy is dirtier than oil and coal and now you claim this. Why make such incredibly false statements?
What anomalous high temperatures from the 30s are you referring to? Do you think it is appropriate to disregard the data from prior to 1942? That would certainly remove a LOT of hot days from the record. One simple way to approach the data is to average the daily high temperatures for every year. If you do that, the year with the highest average high is 1931 coming in at 75.0 degrees. No year before going back to about 1895 or since has exceeded that record. For comparison, the average daily high for 2018 was 72.2 degrees.
Globally, the average temperature is rising, especially in the far north, but here, too.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature
CHIP – it might help if you can provide the link to the NOAA data you used to conclude that “The thermometer says Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more.”
Good Q.
The moon and its distance from earth as we rotate causes a bulge in the oceans, so yes.
“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”.
Can we do anything about it?
No.
Alex, below is a great explanation of what a tide gage is and what they measure. You can also download tide gage data from noaa. If you look at the data recorded around the country, which goes back to before the civil war in some locations, you will see there is no change to the constant linear trend line.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/tide-gauge.html
Chip, thanks, but I didn’t ask what a tide gauge is or how tides work. I asked if you thought there was a link between sea level rise and the tides. The answer there is fantastically complex as the increase in tidal ranges is geographic in nature specific to both natural topography and human activity of hardening, dredging, etc., etc.. You see to be claiming that there is in fact sea level rise, but that it is not reflected in the tides, which is not accurate.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17056-z
CHIP – that is a helpful tool. However, I still don’t see how you conclude that “The thermometer says Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more.”
August average temps from the last 10 years:
Aug 2012: 78°
Aug 2013: 75°
Aug 2014: 79°
Aug 2015: 81°
Aug 2016: 78°
Aug 2017: 78°
Aug 2018: 81°
Aug 2019: 77°
Aug 2020: 74°
Aug 2021: 78°
Aug 2022: 80°
This shows that the last 2 years especially, we’ve had more hot days than in 2019, 2020. Looking at the these numbers, there is no way to conclude it’s getting colder in the summer. In fact, look back at these years since 1975:
Aug 1975: 75°
Aug 1980: 77°
Aug 1985: 77°
Aug 1990: 77°
Aug 1995: 74°
Aug 2000: 76°
Again, nothing indicates the temps are dropping in the summers.
CHIP – got stuff to do, but I think it’s pretty clear that the last couple summers have been MORE hot than the previous few, therefore the assertion that “Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more” is not accurate.
Just looking at a couple more – 1950 was 74, 1955 was 81. So…..
Stunning, from the person who is constantly demanding “links” and for others to “cite sources” (only particular sources though) you just claim ” “last few summers especially have had more hot days than in previous summers” based on….. your personal experience… Jeeze!
Nice work there sac. Now run the same august numbers for the decade of the 1930s to give some historical perspective.
Sac, here is a link to the data. I would encourage anyone and everyone to download it, open it up, and evaluate it. The measurements speak for themselves. I found that taking the average daily high temperature for every year made it a lot easier to work with the data and compare changes over time.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/GHCND/stations/GHCND:USC00047902/detail
I’ll help, here are the average high temps for august through the 30s. 1931 comes in a full 3 degrees higher than any of the last 10 years.
August, 1930: 81
August, 1931: 84
August, 1932: 76
August, 1933: 75
August, 1934: 77
August, 1935, 79
August, 1936: 79
August, 1937: 76
August, 1938: 80
August, 1939: 79
August, 1940: 77
Prior to 1942, the temperatures were measured in a different location. If you want to compare data that are commensurate, use the values from 1942 onward. Also look at humidity trends.
The real telltale is a rise in the low temperatures over time.
There is no way to show that temperatures are not rising globally unless you ignore facts.
@ 5:18
If you want to at least pretend that you’re paying attention, you’ll have to admit that the official temperature monitoring station for Santa Barbara has moved exactly once, in 1942, from the El Estero plant area to the Airport in the Goleta Valley.
Repeating climate myth #7 doesn’t make it true.
https://skepticalscience.com/surface-temperature-measurements.htm
Which myth next?
The Santa Barbara temperature station has been moved multiple times. In fact, it is common for temperature stations to be moved over the years, and for their surroundings to be altered. For example, when a city is built up around a temperature station it blocks wind flow and absorbs more solar radiation resulting in a heat island effect that provides a higher temperature reading that is not an apples to apples comparison with historical data from the same station. This can give a false appearance of rising temperatures. In any case, temperature stations are the only source of historical measurements and without them our ability to compare temperatures we see today with the past would be severely limited.
VOICE – I’m not allowed to make personal observations? Stunning to hear someone like you have the stones to complain to any degree about comments without sources. I never claimed my comment to be a “fact.” You do, almost every time.
In fact, still waiting on you to show us how 167 deaths is somehow greater than at least 1,595. But, I digress……
CHIP – One high temp year almost 100 years ago doesn’t mean the temperature is going down. To the contrary, it’s pretty clear it’s going up if you look at the other temps you provided. Again, the facts just don’t seem to support your claim that we are having fewer hot days in the summer.
I guess it’s like sea level rise. The ocean is definitely rising at an increasing rate, it’s just that no tide gages show any deviation from their long term trends dating back as far as the 19th century. Temperatures are definitely higher than they’ve ever been, it’s just that most temperature stations that have been around since the early 20th century show it’s a bit cooler than it was in the 30s when the heat and drought led to the dust bowl among other things. However, if you make adjustments to historical temperature data and fabricate data to represent areas that don’t have historical temperature measurements then you can make it look like it’s warmer than it’s ever been.
8:45
Sea level rise is undeniable to those who live in a fact-based world:
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.33D789N
Click on “Sea Level” here:
https://climate.nasa.gov
CHIP – “Temperatures are definitely higher than they’ve ever been” – wait…. what? I thought you were just saying temperatures have been decreasing since 1930s. Which is it?
Sac, I looked up your link (https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/santa-barbara/highest-temperatures) how do you base your comment “last few summers especially have had more hot days than in previous summers” from that data, which only shows the record highs, and there is only one entry on that list past 1992?
When you click on the “lowest temperatures” link from the link you provided, what is your takeaway from that? There looks like a lot more entries from the 1990’s on.
Do tides have anything to do with sea level rise? Would sea level rise be reflected in tides in any fashion?
Here’s a great interactive graph: https://weatherspark.com/h/s/1443/2013/1/Historical-Weather-Summer-2013-in-Santa-Barbara-California-United-States#Figures-Temperature
Scroll through the years and see for yourself. There are not less hot days in the last few summers. There’s at least as many, if not more. Then look at the numbers from my other link and 6:34’s comment. Again, nothing shows that we are having fewer hot days in the summer. You can try to argue until you’re blue in the face, but these records just don’t show what CHIP is claiming.
“how do you base your comment “last few summers especially have had more hot days than in previous summers” from that data” – that was based on personal experience. The data I linked to was to support 6:34’s comment. Maybe I wasn’t clear. Either way, to say “Santa Barbara is seeing fewer hot summer days, not more” doesn’t fit the facts.
Chip has just espoused climate myth #7 – Temperature Records are Unreliable!
https://skepticalscience.com/surface-temperature-measurements.htm
Any bets on which myth he’ll try next?
I remember a few years ago when Cary Matsuoka laughed at the notion of A/C for SBHS students, while he and the other ever-growing bunch of administrators attended their constant meetings in the comfort of their air-conditioned offices downtown. It’s beyond time to think of the students’ comfort, but as usual with the current “leadership,” too little, too late and with virtually no institutional knowledge and these days, an equal lack of connection to this community.
I realize you’re trying to throw your usual FUD on anthropogenic warming, so you’ll cherry-pick like crazy.
If you average, as you mention, and look at more than just 1931, you’ll see the hotter years mostly cluster toward the last 40 years, with an anomalous spike in the 30s. What does that tell you?
Since AGW tends to magnify extremes in weather, both hot and cold, a more meaningful exercise would be to throw out the hottest and coldest events in each year, and average the rest. A trend of generally higher average temperatures, especially if the average low is increasing, tells you what’s more likely going on.
Heat pumps are efficient as both heating and cooling devices, and they also are powered by electricity instead of gas. There’s nothing not to like about this project, as it will save lots of money in the long run, and be better for climate to boot. Win win win.
Some more clues for the deniers regarding anomalous temperature events in the 1930s:
https://skepticalscience.com/1934-hottest-year-on-record.htm
Sorry but, refrigeration for heating is completely nuts cost wise compared to NG.
Please don’t BS the crowd with that crap.
If you don’t get it , get some real science education and get back to me.
I’m a retired engineer specializing in energy management since 1980.
If everyone wants an EV, well there just isn’t enough grid for it and your solar on roof can’t keep up with an EV charging rate unless you have a huge array so, the grid fails and it doesn’t matter what you heat/cool your house with.
I guess NG would solve that problem but we have idiots at the wheel that react to sound bites or media hysterics.
It was 130+ degrees in 1859.
Did petroleum cause that?
Don’t be a fool.
Maybe it was the Chumash using it to seal their canoes.
Dang Chumash.
Accurate Chico. Nat gas and nuclear power would achieve all our carbon goals if people weren’t so swayed by sensational propaganda. Did you know 60% of our carbon reduction to date has been the result of switching from coal to natural gas power plants?
Just more fantasy stories from shills and dupes for carbon fuels. All their falsehoods have been refuted numerous times.
Hell, blaming a largely mythical one-day high temperature occurrence has nothing to do with climate unless you have no idea what the word climate means. And if you had any knowledge of basic atmospheric physics, you’d know what radiative forcing is.
Just more fantasy by the sky is falling shills aka Greta’s followers.
I am no “shill” for anything.
I deal in facts, unlike yourself.
There are undeniable constants that when you are mature enough, wise enough, you will see.
Until then stay indoctrinated by actual shills.
Example. I learned to surf at COLLEGE point in 1967.
It literally has not changed except by the winter/summer flows of sand.
Want to talk about that?
All the creeks that feed the beaches have been tapped for the water, making sediment unable to push downhill to the beach where it is needed.
Who is drinking and wasting that water?
Same overload of people like the new UCSB project, allowing 35% more people to get on the water nipple, etc.
Getting tired of educating non-locals on the unique water situation in SB county.
Heat pump efficiency, for those who want facts instead of internet rando opinions:
https://www.eec.org.au/for-energy-users/technologies-2/heat-pumps
You most obviously don’t deal in facts, and if you were an engineer specializing in energy management, it’s probably a good thing for everyone concerned that you are now retired.
Sea levels globally are undeniably rising .
Clue: Click on “Sea Level”
I’m sure you were measuring sea level down to millimeters as you surfed, and have an explanation for the eroding cliffs and disappearing Goleta Beach and increased flooding that doesn’t involve what everyone else observes.
“60% of our carbon reduction to date has been the result of switching from coal to natural gas power plants?” – Source?
A primer on radiative forcing:
https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/climate-data-primer/predicting-climate/climate-forcing
Read the response below if you are that obtuse.
Did/Do you go to UCSB?
As a energy management contractor ,our company saved UCSB alone millions of dollars in energy being used for pretty much everything that runs that institution, more than ANYTHING you have ever done in your life.
If you would like a # I’ll give you one.
I personally oversaw over 400 projects from prisons to Universities, to hospitals. I grew up at College Point and yes, I am acutely aware of where the water and erosion have taken all beaches in the area.
As an adult Jalama is a good example of no loss that is decernable.
Again read the other post and you will see that the beaches are less sandy because of OVERPOPULATION.