adam2 wrote:Yes, at least approximately. Surprisingly small temperature difference make a big difference to heating demand.
Was the wind much of a factor?
if you go to that site I linked and go to the bottom of the page and change countries. If you go to New England and then Vermont you can see what I'm up against. Average winter lows of -14C
You live in a continental climate while we live in a maritime climate modified even further by the Gulf Stream. No one in England lives more than 60 miles from the sea so we have very different weather to you. So even though we are at least 500 miles further north than you we have a much milder average climate than you do.
Biff, as VT pointed out it's the number of degree days over the heating season that make the difference not the difference in average temperature.
Well Burlington Vt has an average of 3575 Celsius heating degree days a year and they are by a lake 100 feet above sea level. I'm in the central hills at 1750 feet elevation. I might be over 4000 in any given year.
I found a data set for my town. Converting to Celsius the town averages 4898 c heating degree days a year. That takes me ten cord of wood to counter.
It would be if the houses were insulated enough but our government puts the profits of the oilcos over the comfort of its citizens and the national balance of payments.
kenneal - lagger wrote:From memory London is about 1200.
Blimey the heat from a couple of 100 watt old style light bulbs and the heat coming off your hard drive should be enough.
Even a minimal amount of insulation makes a considerable difference. Optimal insulation would almost/sometimes do what you say, vt. My insulated office is kept warm by my computer and my body, with an occasional short boost on very cold days from a fan heater. A quite large room at home that's super-insulated is kept warm by a small oil-filled radiator on its lowest possible setting, which has to be turned off when the sun shines through the windows.
Why is insulation such a problem for so many people? Is it that heating is too cheap?
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
kenneal - lagger wrote:From memory London is about 1200.
Blimey the heat from a couple of 100 watt old style light bulbs and the heat coming off your hard drive should be enough.
Even a minimal amount of insulation makes a considerable difference. Optimal insulation would almost/sometimes do what you say, vt. My insulated office is kept warm by my computer and my body, with an occasional short boost on very cold days from a fan heater. A quite large room at home that's super-insulated is kept warm by a small oil-filled radiator on its lowest possible setting, which has to be turned off when the sun shines through the windows.
Why is insulation such a problem for so many people? Is it that heating is too cheap?
Very good points. I insulated my loft about 3 years ago and the results were quite surprising. I have the thermostat set at about 18 and during the boiler hardly came on.
Before that, it would come on almost constantly.
I did have someone advise that if you insulate too much (!), you might increase the chances of damp. Haven't seen any evidence of this so far
AutomaticEarth wrote:I did have someone advise that if you insulate too much (!), you might increase the chances of damp. Haven't seen any evidence of this so far
Yes, it could happen. In our case, it's not specific ventilation that helps. Having a wood stove in the centre of the house tends to prevent damp in winter, as air is drawn through the house.
We have more trouble with damp during summer as the stove is not used - we're in Ireland, after all...so I leave the stove door and damper (!) open throughout summer, for a kind of stack effect.
Edit: blimey, 'migrant watch'!
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
AutomaticEarth wrote:I did have someone advise that if you insulate too much (!), you might increase the chances of damp. Haven't seen any evidence of this so far
Yes, it could happen. In our case, it's not specific ventilation that helps. Having a wood stove in the centre of the house tends to prevent damp in winter, as air is drawn through the house.
We have more trouble with damp during summer as the stove is not used - we're in Ireland, after all...so I leave the stove door and damper (!) open throughout summer, for a kind of stack effect.
Edit: blimey, 'migrant watch'!
When we built our house in the late 80's I put six inches of fiber glass in the exterior walls and 12 inches in the attic. I'm planning now on finally adding two inches of foam insulation on the inside of the eight inch concrete basement walls, two of which have a lot of air exposure and adding another six inches to the attic. Together that should cut my wood use by a third or better. Another thing I should do is restrict in-flowing air to just what is needed to feed the furnace and kitchen wood stoves.
Some of the more modern houses being built in the area have ten inches of insulation in the walls and heat exchangers to reclaim heat from stale air as it exits the building.
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now wrote:Far right groups are coming to Dover to fan the flames of hatred and xenophobia, often generating a lot of media coverage in the process. But across the UK thousands of groups and communities are acting in many different ways to offer practical and personal support to refugees who have fled desperate circumstances to get here.
[This] projection, alongside these efforts across the country, presents an alternative vision of the UK, one built on compassion, solidarity and recognition of common humanity.
A REFUGEE is someone who is recognized as being forced to leave their country because of war or fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political
opinion. – 1951 Refugee Convention
That covers most folk who have managed to get out of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Western Sahara, Libya and big chunks of other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
