Pumpkin Spice: It’s Not Just for Lattes Anymore

Pumpkin Spice - Not Just For Lattes Anymore

Tis the season for pumpkin spice.  It began with pumpkin pie and then later spread to fancy coffee drinks.  Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte in 2003 and turned it into a trend.  Now everyone knows it even by its initials, PSL.  Since then it has spread to beer, whiskey, and other food and beverage products.  But, as you can see from the lead photo, there’s no reason to limit this aromatic trend to things you eat or drink.  Here are some ideas for the high-performance home and electrification crowd.

Pumpkin spice ventilation systems.  Attach a bottle of concentrated pumpkin spice aroma to the system and have your house smelling like pumpkin pie all day long.  I hear that Zehnder, the maker of the ComfoAir energy recovery ventilator, is about to introduce their new model, the PumpkoAir.

Pumpkin spice blower door testing.  For those times when you do a positive pressure blower door test, attach the bottle of pumpkin spice concentrate to the inlet side of the fan, and the homeowners will love you forever!

Smoke puffer leak detection with a Wizard Stick
Smoke puffer leak detection with a Wizard Stick. Add a little pumpkin spice to the mix and leave the house smelling like Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin spice smoke stick.  When you’re doing leak testing (photo above), just add some of that pumpkin spice concentrate to the smoke puffer (or a joss stick) and make the house smell like Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin spice theatrical fogging for leak detection.  Now, if you really want to take it to the next level, put some pumpkin spice in the mix when you flood the house or ducts with theatrical fog.

Pumpkin spice AeroBarrier treatment.  AeroBarrier is an innovative air-sealing method that fills the air in a house with an air-sealing material that fills the holes and seals the cracks.  By adding pumpkin spice, the materials in the house get infused with a pumpkin spice aroma that can last for years.  The same is true for their AeroSeal duct sealant.

Pumpkin spice filters.  Add a little spice to the air moving through your heating and cooling system with pumpkin spice filters.

Pumpkin spice masks.  Studies show that pumpkin spice kills bacteria and deactivates 99.9999% of all viruses.*

Pumpkin spice refrigerants for HVAC systems.  These new refrigerants have zero ozone-depleting substances and a global warming potential of zero.

And for those of you worried that pumpkin spice is only for vehicles with internal combustion engines, here are some ways you can use it in your electric vehicle:  pumpkin spice air for your tires, pumpkin spice cabin filters, and pumpkin spice floor mats.

What have I missed?  Do you know of other innovative ways to use pumpkin spice in homes or electric vehicles?

 

Note:  This article is satire.  It’s all in jest.  I would never suggest pumpkin spice ventilation, pumpkin spice filters, or any of the other items above.  Now vanilla…that’s another story!

 

Allison A. Bailes III, PhD is a speaker, writer, building science consultant, and the founder of Energy Vanguard in Decatur, Georgia. He has a doctorate in physics and writes the Energy Vanguard Blog. He also has a book on building science coming out in the fall of 2022. You can follow him on Twitter at @EnergyVanguard.

 

* These studies exist only in my head at the moment, but I’m sure we can devise an experiment to prove it’s true.

 

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. I was appalled by your suggestions of scenting everything with pumpkin spice, my husband has chemical sensitivities and it is a never ending battle to find clean air without chemicals. My husband is not alone in this, it is an ever increasing number of the population. Please don’t support this toxic industry.

    1. Katherine: I’m sorry to have to have upset you with these suggestions. I understand the difficulty of chemical sensitivity and the importance of good indoor air quality. I wrote this article in jest, but I’ve added a note at the bottom to alert future readers to that fact.

  2. At this point, I’m not even sure what’s parody and what’s real 🤣🤣🤣

    I wonder if Blackstone labs can detect pumpkin spice in an oil sample?

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