Wiktionary
n. 1 A measure of heating or cooling, computed as the integral of a function of time that generally varies with temperature. 2 A unit used in estimating the fuel consumption for a building; equal to the number of degrees that the mean temperature, for a 24-hour day, is below the base temperature, often 65F.
WordNet
n. the day on which university degrees are conferred [syn: commencement day]
a unit used in estimating fuel requirements for heating a building
Wikipedia
A degree day is a measure of heating or cooling. Total degree days from an appropriate starting date are used to plan the planting of crops and management of pests and pest control timing. Weekly or monthly degree-day figures may also be used within an energy monitoring and targeting scheme to monitor the heating and cooling costs of climate controlled buildings, while annual figures can be used for estimating future costs.
A degree day is computed as the integral of a function of time that generally varies with temperature. The function is truncated to upper and lower limits that vary by organism, or to limits that are appropriate for climate control. The function can be estimated or measured by one of the following methods, in each case by reference to a chosen base temperature:
- Frequent measurements and continuously integrating the temperature deficit or excess;
- Treating each day's temperature profile as a sine wave with amplitude equal to the day's temperature variation, measured from max and min, and totalling the daily results;
- As above, but calculating the daily difference between mean temperature and base temperature;
- As previous, but with modified formulae on days when the max and min straddle the base temperature.
A zero degree-day in energy monitoring and targeting is when either heating or cooling consumption is at a minimum, which is useful with power utility companies in predicting seasonal low points in energy demand.
Heating degree days are typical indicators of household energy consumption for space heating. The air temperature in a building is on average 2 °C to 3 °C higher than that of the air outside. A temperature of 18 °C indoors corresponds to an outside temperature of about 15.5 °C. If the air temperature outside is 1 °C below 15.5 °C, then heating is required to maintain a temperature of about 18 °C. If the outside temperature is 1 °C below the average temperature it is accounted as 1 degree-day. The sum of the degree days over periods such as a month or an entire heating season is used in calculating the amount of heating required for a building. Degree Days are also used to estimate air conditioning usage during the warm season.
Usage examples of "degree day".
On a ninety-degree day, he was wearing a thick plaid shirt, ancient corduroy trousers held up by suspenders, and an incongruous pair of cowboy boots.
Once upon a time Phoenix may have possessed the kind of dry desert air that was supposed to make a 100-degree day feel more comfortable than a muggy 85-degree day in the Midwest, but that was before three-quarters of a million air-conditioners started pushing the humidity up around the 30 percent mark.
On a calm 60-degree day at sea level it was about 760 miles an hour, while at 40,000 feet, where the temperature would be at least sixty below, it was about 660 miles an hour.