I don't have any way to quantify this but compared to the car that I used to have, my garage temperature after parking the prius is much lower. Would this not translate into some savings on home A/C?
Well, given that my garage is 50 feet away, I'm guessing my answer would be "no". Detached garages--because it's always preferable to keep the gasoline and other flammables away from your living space.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Chris Robson @ Apr 7 2007, 09:03 PM) [snapback]419629[/snapback]</div> Only if: 1. The wall separating your garage and house is not insulated very well. 2. The concrete pad for the garage IS insulated. My garage has no insulated pad and two of the walls are backed by earth. Any heat gets sucked into the thermal mass pretty quickly. Fortunately, if we keep the garage door closed a majority of the time in the winter, the mass never freezes so it stays relatively 'warm' in the winter. Nice 'n cool in the summer, too.
Cool, thanks for the replies. I was just speculating that with the drastic difference in heat between the old and new, something would be better.
I wonder if it's cooler because you don't have the exhaust gases exiting the exhaust pipe when you drive into or back into the garage.
I park outside so it's irrelevant, but a DEFINITE advantage in summer is that the mosquitoes hanging around in the yard don't realize I've come home. The old car, spewing CO2 and heat even for the short time I pulled in and shut down, drew 'em like ... well, mosquitoes. Now they don't head for me until I get out and *I'm* the one emitting CO2 and heat. . _H*
Wouldn't it be a mixed bag? After all . . . today's regular non hybrid car's Heat / needing to be cooled down w/ A.C. means the winter season's cold garage won't benefit from regular ICE heat, thus more heat will have to be provided to the house by the home's heater, when the hous has an attached garage. Our hybrid 400h Lexus gets the garage spot. It is WAY cooler (even in the Summer) that it's replacement vehicle ... a Range Rover.
