Heat in the home

[Biospace]

30.3 garden shade air temperature

26.1 sitting room temperature with Georgian a/c

22.6 annexe temperature with Georgian a/c

No clanking whirring eye wateringly expensive panels or electrical machinery needed!

If it gets hotter turn on your tower tangential fan if needed.... Uses very little current. In the meantime gentle fresh breeze wafting in via window......

Al

For working at my desk a USB powered 6" fan more than suffices, despite costing only £6 many years ago, it whirrs away silently and effectively. You'd never imagine 3w could shift so much air - although you do need to be within five or six feet of it for best effect.

[axel_knutt]

1000001855.jpg

30.3 garden shade air temperature

26.1 sitting room temperature with Georgian a/c

22.6 annexe temperature with Georgian a/c

No clanking whirring eye wateringly expensive panels or electrical machinery needed!

If it gets hotter turn on your tower tangential fan if needed.... Uses very little current. In the meantime gentle fresh breeze wafting in via window......

Al

30.4 Outside air in shade
25.8 Indoors, hallway
27.1 In the dining room with a WSW facing French window.

1947 3-bed semi, Essex, all windows shut.

[Cugel]

1000001855.jpg

30.3 garden shade air temperature

26.1 sitting room temperature with Georgian a/c

22.6 annexe temperature with Georgian a/c

No clanking whirring eye wateringly expensive panels or electrical machinery needed!

If it gets hotter turn on your tower tangential fan if needed.... Uses very little current. In the meantime gentle fresh breeze wafting in via window......

Al

That's showing an effect, although there's still no general explanation of how such effects can be achieved in the far more prevalent houses of Blighty that aren't Georgian sash windowers with high ceilings et al. Closing the curtains and sitting in artificial light all summer also seems a poor lifestyle somehow, especially at 27 degrees C.

3 degrees reduction isn't really very much, especially if you end up with the living room still at 27 degrees, then. What if the outside temperature goes to 35 degrees; or even the 40 degrees now commonplace across southern Europe and possibly showing us our future? (We've already managed prolonged periods of 38 degrees last summer). How long does it take to roast a pensioner!?

****************
I know Biopace rejects modern aircon on some sort of convoluted principle to do with not wasting free energy but you seem more concerned about the cost, which is understandable in any who don't have a wodge of capital, or the income, to afford modern heating & cooling systems. I'd like to see the next government try to fix that but most voters still seem to think that tax reductions are more important. I'd be more than happy to pay more tax, though, if that would translate into a faster adoption of heat pumps, solar et al.

With those that could afford such stuff, it seems to be more a matter of habit to reject it in favour of spending on other things, not least things that are part of the general problem such as huge gas-guzzling cars and flying about on holiday. Personally I feel that spending on modern energy generation and usage tech is a priority only exceeded by the need to eat properly and to stay healthy by other means such as exercise. Even now there are millions suffering cold & damp, interspersed with brief periods of serious risk from heat exhaustion in summer. These are only going to get worse, perhaps a lot worse; and in a short time.

And I know that one person's reduction in their personal production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants is a tiny drop in a vast ocean but .... oceans are made of drops. I confess that I feel guilty about what our generation has done in damaging the planet and the biosphere. Having children and grandchildren makes those feelings of guilt worse. So, I do find it difficult to understand why so many seem to think we can all go on as we are, with endless excuses and "reasons" for doing so, as the planet catches fire, floods and generally turns into a difficult place for any and all life to exist or survive.

But I know - It's all them foreigners, not we little island of only a few Blighters. We're "special" and should be allowed to continue to do as we like.

[al_yrpal]

Met a couple, ex (b)ankers yesterday. Both got 73 plate flash motors. Retired at 55, massive pensions, 6 flying and cruising hols a year. New build house, loads of kids and grandkids, not any inkling of eco awareness, just self centered indulgence. Thats the sort of folk our 'mate' Cudgel should be engaging with.... Instead.....?

Al

[Biospace]

I know Biopace rejects modern aircon on some sort of convoluted principle to do with not wasting free energy...

And I know that one person's reduction in their personal production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants is a tiny drop in a vast ocean but .... oceans are made of drops. I confess that I feel guilty about what our generation has done in damaging the planet and the biosphere. Having children and grandchildren makes those feelings of guilt worse. So, I do find it difficult to understand why so many seem to think we can all go on as we are, with endless excuses and "reasons" for doing so, as the planet catches fire, floods and generally turns into a difficult place for any and all life to exist or survive.

I don't think we should feel guilt since that won't help anyone, although the incredible rise in ill health is very concerning. We'd do well to concentrate on supporting smaller business with our spending, live more sustainably, be much more aware of what goes into our bodies and consume a lot less new 'stuff'.

I certainly don't 'reject' AC, that's neither what I've said nor my approach - I simply question how vital it is, for homes in the British Isles. I'm aware much glass and steel office space is a natural greenhouse, what a great shame we can't extract and store the heat for winter.

The most 'modern' thinking, whether in architecture, engineering or politics is to reconsider aspects of life which proliferated through the oil age as we realise how energy wasteful they are. It may surprise to learn this is happening with thermal comfort and air cooling techniques as much in India and Singapore as it is in the West.

Ancient civilisation worked out how to make ice without freezing temperatures, which is an indicator of how much we may have to learn.

Closing the curtains and sitting in artificial light all summer also seems a poor lifestyle somehow, especially at 27 degrees C.

...What if the outside temperature goes to 35 degrees; or even the 40 degrees now commonplace across southern Europe and possibly showing us our future? (We've already managed prolonged periods of 38 degrees last summer). How long does it take to roast a pensioner!?

Into the high 20s window awnings are highly effectively, when it's into the 30s shutters help by blocking out reflected radiation also. Did I mention with only 70% of glass covered, I saw a fall in temperature to a cool 26C when it was 37C outdoors?

Anyone who has spent much time in Southern France, Italy or similarly warm European countries will know that homes aren't in the dark all day, rather for 2 or 3 hours in the heat of the day, the time when siestas are taken. Whenever our weather turns good in summer, anyone accustomed to AC is going to find sitting in the garden or doing some work in the garage very unpleasant.

[Biospace]

...
To prevent inner house heat gain from sunshine on the windows, you'd have to have the curtains (or shutters) outside the window, wouldn't you?

Cugel

I remember you writing this, found it while searching for a video I'd posted.

You also mentioned you'd blocked many sources of draughts, which made me wonder if as much comfort is derived from your AC units for the breeze they deliver, as much the cold air. My 3w fan continually surprises me for its ability to maintain comfort even when the temperature is in the high 20s, while not removing the wonderful contrast of feeling cooler evening air.

The video below is packed with data for you

[Biospace]

Taken from the weather thread,

...my wood is sourced 90% from forestry waste.
(10% is other dead wood.
Ash dieback is bad and some minimal prunings.
I am sure you have seen the wastage in forestry where you walk.
This wood will only survive before rotting in out wet climate for two or three years so the carbon cycle is very short.
The "crop@, the main trunks, go for various uses.
And are sometimes transported silly distances. Sawmill near Hereford from here sometimes.

My supply is local, I get it and process it myself.
It's hard work with a frisson of danger; I love doing it.
I dry it properly and I get loads of heat out of it.
Cook exclusively on wood!!

My machines are small (and really old), house is small, garden is big and productive.
And I love the smell of a bit of woodsmoke.
No neighbours!
I cannot imagine a living room in winter without a fire- been there all my life.
...

I have a friend who has 'gone green' - enormous whirring HP in his garden, large new BEV, very much wants to do the 'right thing' as someone earning lots of money and who has always professed his eco-lifestyle; his wood stoves are now ornaments. He lives in a clearing in a large expanse of woodland and I do wonder whether the Grid energy for his heating, cooking and hot water isn't of a similar level of carbon intensity as the wood they once burned for these purposes.

To supply our Grid demand and increase what on paper is termed "renewable energy", Drax cuts down vast amounts of North American established woodland and forest to be processed for burning in Britain. The environmental damage is vast, much diesel is burned, the whole process stinks. I can't help but feel those of us living in the sticks are better off burning local wood for our needs rather than having a Chinese made piece of complexity fed in large part by a gas/nuclear/Drax Grid.

I'll feel a little differently once the Grid is balanced with renewables and we've sorted out inter-seasonal storage (and preferably begun using our vast supply of tidal energy), but how many decades away is this?

[al_yrpal]

80 degrees outside, deliciously cool inside . The thermal mass of thick solid brick or stone outer walls is great protection on a hot day...no lectric needed.

Al

[Biospace]

Dogs days indeed, but they're to be enjoyed. Unfortunately so many homes struggle to cope with this warm weather, in our "efficient" modern home it's not the pleasant experience of our previous pile of stones, even with Victorian furniture, rugs free from the chemical cocktail of retardants and stone floors (the old place was supposedly uninsulated and low on the Government eco-rating scale).

I remember an extremely hot week in the early 2000s, followed by uncommonly cold weather. One week you could come indoors to keep cool, make food then take it out into the garden as the sun finally dropped behind the higher ground to the North West before retiring to a beautifully cool bedroom, the next I was outside picking wild raspberries in a thick jumper and coming indoors to warm back up.

I'm not convinced the current trends for house building, if we're heading for a climate crisis of 40C summers, are altogether ideal.

[rjb]

Its going to be chilly this winter now we have lost our winter fuel allowance. Labour have lost the pensioner vote but will replace it by giving it to 16 year olds.

[simonineaston]

…and that’s before the north Atlantic gyre gives up, under the strain of all things anthropogenic.

bbbbrrrrrrrr…

[roubaixtuesday]

Its going to be chilly this winter now we have lost our winter fuel allowance. Labour have lost the pensioner vote but will replace it by giving it to 16 year olds.

That ship sailed years ago.

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/ ... l-election

Given the way the wealth of the country has been increasingly taken away from the young and concentrated in the elderly over recent decades, you should probably be grateful for the lack of mobs with petrol bombs in the streets rather than complain about fuel allowances.

[SporranMcDonald]

Given the way the wealth of the country has been increasingly taken away from the young and concentrated in the elderly over recent decades, you should probably be grateful for the lack of mobs with petrol bombs in the streets rather than complain about fuel allowances.

At last this ridiculous universal handout to the elderly has become conditional - on actually needing it ! Pension Credit and/or some other qualified benefits.

Among my OAP peers they simply use it for ANY frivolous, CO2-generating wish-fulfilment. Easy-come, Easy go.

Perhaps this will persuade them to get more insulation / other energy-saving measures.

[Cugel]

Given the way the wealth of the country has been increasingly taken away from the young and concentrated in the elderly over recent decades, you should probably be grateful for the lack of mobs with petrol bombs in the streets rather than complain about fuel allowances.

At last this ridiculous universal handout to the elderly has become conditional - on actually needing it ! Pension Credit and/or some other qualified benefits.

Among my OAP peers they simply use it for ANY frivolous, CO2-generating wish-fulfilment. Easy-come, Easy go.

Perhaps this will persuade them to get more insulation / other energy-saving measures.

Aye, Sporry man! Although I yam an ancient pensioner myself, avidly sucking at a pensionbreast, I feel that some doles from the government to we Boomers have been over-generous. Not that every Boomer has an envelope stuffed with tenners through their letterbox every month - some are in dire poverty, produced from the same policies that have impoverished folk in Blighty of all ages.

I'd also like to see various taxes increase, even mine! If these taxes repair the social fabric and enable us to be citizens rather than subjects, with no need to go to the foodbank or die of lungrot in a mouldy renter, all to the good. My own yen is for a tax increase that would mend the police and the court system. Many Blighters are becoming rather too viking-about fond. But there are plenty of candidates for improvement, in the public realm.

There are some little blighters about who have far too much money - for their own good and that of the rest of us. A Big Taxman with a Large Moneysack needs to be sent to various misers, scrooges and other hoarders of pointless wealth. Personally I would also confiscate the shares and rented-out houses from all them other stealers of wealth produced by others. But that's just a Cugel-emote, so we could give them a compensation (ten pounds and fifty pence each).

[francovendee]

As someone who doesn't qualify for the winter fuel payment and have managed easily since no longer being eligible I say good idea Ms Reeves, long overdue.
Why should all pensioners get it, irrespective of need?
I know of young families in far, far greater needs.