Happy Friday — we’re back with more Hot Bones at the end of a week where 7pm feels like midnight and 7am also feels like midnight. Daylight Savings kicks in next Sunday.
In the meantime, I’m using this week as a reminder to start planning my Dark Winter Happiness Kit, including:
A unique light source that isn’t blue (ex: candle, fireplace, salt lamp)
A cozy spot that isn’t just bed (ex: upstairs at Ethos, downstairs at C&O, my parents’ couch)
At least one small, nonperishable vice of choice (ex: wine, chocolate, wine)
If you’ve got other ideas for your kit this year, hit reply and lmk ❄️
Sunrise | 7:32 AM |
|---|---|
Sunset | 6:24 PM |
Moon stuff | Waxing crescent (about 9% illuminated) |
Air quality | Good |
UVA football | This Saturday at noon vs UNC |
Do one long thumb scroll for more Cville-specific updates like local events, cool houses, and pets to adopt.
🐶 Speaking of: Midnight! (Or Middie to those who know her best.) She’s an expert cuddler with perfect floppy ears. Black lab, 1 year, 53 pounds.
Like many of you, I’ve been a contributing member of society for some years now. I’m in my 30s, I’m married, I have received W2s for over a decade.
And yet.
Walking through a group of college freshmen is still really scary.
Much fear had to be unpacked after a recent trip to the Rotunda. And these aren’t even big groups!
Somehow, every time I walk past The Cool Youths, the ghost of my middle school past emerges. Are they talking about me? Are they saying I can’t pull off this outfit? Are they saying I’m old and I shouldn’t even try to wear wide-leg jeans? I should probably go home and watch The Diplomat.
Living in a college town, this can get tough. And tough this October in particular because I had signed up for two behind-the-scenes tours of the University of Virginia’s heating and cooling infrastructure. This means walking past many, many youths. I almost died.
But it was worth it! The world of HVAC never ceases to amaze me, and I write that with full sincerity.
I mean, where else are you going to see something like this?
very Pompidou, very Pantone
Before I dive into how cool these tours were, here’s why learning about things like heating and cooling infrastructure matters:
On a local level: For better or worse, UVA is the ring leader in town. It employs 14% of all workers in Charlottesville. So when the university decides to move from HVAC infrastructure that runs on planet-warming fossil fuels toward cleaner, renewable energy sources, other institutions and businesses follow.
National level: Utility prices are rising across the country thanks to factors like extreme weather events, grid infrastructure updates, and data centers sucking up all the good stuff first. At the same time, more than half of energy use in homes is just spent for heating and air conditioning. So understanding how that technology works, and how to use it more efficiently, could mean lower bills every month.
Random level: Did you know that the first AC unit was actually invented to prevent magazine pages from wrinkling at a lithograph company in Brooklyn? Take that, Manhattan.
Part 1: The crown jewel of the university 🔥
UVA’s main heating plant provides heat for over 75% of the school’s buildings through steam and hot water. And it’s hidden in plain sight just 50 feet from the hospital, Mellow Mushroom, Roots Natural Kitchen, and everything else on offer at the Corner.
If you think walking through campus is scary, don’t try parking on W Main for the tour like I did. All-seeing human entities, plus also bars and traffic, mean much fear.
Thankfully, the tour itself was small and the few students in attendance were kind and didn’t whisper stick with skinny jeans, girlie as we walked under the train tracks and into a completely nondescript brick building.
left: road side, right: hidden side
Inside, we put on safety glasses and looked at a bunch of massive pipes, boilers, and whirring computers. The dream.
Important things I learned:
The heating plant is still powered by coal (~25%), natural gas (~75%), and then oil as a backup fuel.
It literally has silos that are stacked full of coal bricks, and that coal arrives by train in a special depot at the bottom of the building.
Heating accounts for 45% of UVA’s total greenhouse gas emissions as of 2024 (transportation, by comparison, accounts for 2%), so switching to renewable sources like geothermal (in the works at Fontaine) is crucial for reaching the university’s goal of being fossil fuel-free by 2050.
To that end, the heating plant is phasing out coal and going to nearly all natural gas (which is a misnomer, natural gas is still a fossil fuel just with better branding). At that point, they’ll actually demo the coal silos — unless my pitch to turn them into climbing gyms gets picked up.
middle pic is the inspiration for Toy Story 3
One big takeaway: Once the boilers heat up that water and steam, it gets sent out through pipes and secret tunnels throughout campus to heat the dorms, classrooms, hospital operations, etc.
In case you didn’t catch that: 6 miles of tunnels lie under Charlottesville, from the Lawn, to the A-School, to O-Hill, and beyond. Lots of asbestos and really really hot pipes down there, though, so it’s better as a spy novel plot point than a Saturday 2am activity.
Part 2: The university’s $8 million electricity bill 🥶
Ironically, both of these infrastructure tours took place during the few weeks of perfect fall weather, when neither AC nor heat were actually needed. So a lot of the machinery wasn’t running full blast. This ended up being a good thing as we could actually hear what our tour guide was saying while in the big important machinery rooms.
The “chiller” plants around campus send cool water to each building, where it cools things off mainly via air conditioning, and then that now-warmer water gets sent back to the chiller plant to start the process again.
The chiller plant we visited was right next to Newcomb Hall, so I got some great Scary Student Exposure from the get go. And again, this plant is hidden in plain sight. It looks like just another brick building you walk by on your way to Survey of French Lit.
left: chiller plant exterior, middle pic: the actual “chiller,” far right: rooftop cooling tower
Important things I learned:
The central chiller plant team uses about 25% of the university’s water, and it uses about 25% of the university’s electricity demand.
That translates to around an $8 million electricity bill for “chilling” purposes every year. Never do math in public, but that also must mean UVA spends roughly $32 million on electricity overall, so unplug your lava lamps when you leave for class, freshmen!
The pretty pink pipes are where the warmer, evaporating water goes. The cooler water stays in the tank and then gets pumped out to keep everyone from not sweating through final exams.
The chiller team is starting to use more nonpotable water for cooling purposes, to preserve resources (and money, as water rates are going up). For example, the Newcomb chiller plant now uses collected rainwater from the nearby Contemplative Commons and Shannon Library as part of its arsenal.
One big takeaway: Both the heating plant and the chiller plant had, hands down, the best parking spots in town. Centrally located, no parallel parking needed, no circling the block for half an hour. We just need to get the right facilities management key card to make this work.
Many thanks to Teri Strother on UVA’s sustainability team for putting together these insightful “hidden infrastructure” events for students — and random community members with newsletters about bone warming?
Last week’s poll brought up more questions than answers, which I realized when over 35% of you wanted to know what to do with empty laundry detergent jugs.
I hadn’t provided an answer in the edition, so here goes:
Makeshift watering can if you don’t mind being sponsored by Tide
Paint storage (so you have an easy, pourable top instead of dealing with the world’s least thought-through invention: metal paint can lids that dry shut)
Fill ’em with sand and use as free weights
This weekend the Virginia Film Fest is happening (as well as 1 million vineyard bachelorette trips). But next weekend is Fall Art Tour. And I’m telling you this a week early because next week is also Halloween, Daylight Savings, and 1 million more bachelorette trips.
Here’s what you need to know: Fall Art Tour is the center of the Venn diagram for art lovers and nature lovers. G and I try to go every year, even if I usually crap out after about 4 galleries.
It’s centered in Rappahannock County (~45 min north of Cville) right below the Blue Ridge mountains. Pastoral, serene.
And it features over 80 artists around the area — painters, photographers, potters, woodworkers, bookbinders, etc.
How to make the most of it: The Tour takes place on Saturday, Nov 1 and Sunday, Nov 2 from 10am-5pm.
Highly recommend starting at the main gallery hub in Little Washington, because they have highlights from all the artists.
Then grab a map, some homemade chili, and head out for a self-guided tour around the county.
If you love house snooping, this will be big news for you.
Where to eat, drink, and pick pumpkins: Once you’re done with the art stuff, head over to …
Pen Druid for beers (also great for kids who are ready to run around in the grass)
RPK for pizza (you can bring the pizza to Pen Druid ^ via a riverside walking trail)
F.T. Valley Farm for apple picking, pumpkin picking, and the best peach salsa you never knew you needed.
G would also like to remind you that cell service is rotten, so download your Google Maps beforehand and revel in the brief moments of being unreachable.
⏰ Happening TONIGHT: A big ole watch party at Firefly so we can grasp each other’s sweaty palms while seeing badass Emily Harrington speed climb El Capitan.
🎬 Great news for Twizzlers fans: Drama about the fate of the Violet Crown theater is a tale as old as time, but thankfully that’s changing because three residents just purchased the building and are not going to tear it down.
🎣 Fishing cottage of the week: A shingled log cabin along the South Fork of the Rockfish River (2 bed, 1 bath, 37 acres, price reduced to $525k).
🏡 Great rental of the week: This 1 bed 1 bath is pre-leasing for the 2026-27 UVA school year and seems overpriced — but it’s also super cute and has built-in bookshelves tucked under the stairs ($2,795/month).
💼 Job of the week: Associate Director of Content at UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy ($100k - $110k, contact is Nicki Deuel, [email protected]).
💾 Remote job: Senior Events Manager at Re:wild (founded by conservation scientists + Leonardo DiCaprio). Closing date is Sunday, Oct 26 and salary range is $80k - $120k.
Have an event or rec you’d like to share? Hiring? Interested in advertising?
Share any and all info here.
