This article goes on at length about how bad a cold home is, but never even defines what "cold" is. Japanese homes are kept very cool in the winter, by western standards. I once went to visit a friend during the winter whose wife was Japanese. Their house was like 50 degrees and they were sitting around in jackets. Not knowing about that point of Japanese culture at the time, I thought it was pretty unusual.
It seems plausible that there are health related issues from being cold, but I am skeptical that a cooler interior temperature is really the problem. To use another example from Japan, they have heated table blankets so that you're nice and toasty sitting around the table. For more examples, you can look to nomadic people that live in temporary/portable dwellings that are often unheated.
South of France here (5°C - 35°C outside, 15°C - 30°C inside my flat), I don't use any heating nor hot water, nor air conditioning all year long, very few devices and really low electricity bill (10€/mo)
I have to pay about double that per month (in £) for electricity, even if I don't use any electricity at all! And the electricity I do use costs nearly that much per day, and that's without having to use any of it for heating or hot water, which is all on gas and costs about as much again.
Note: while this is indeed the Japanese standard, it’s not universal: houses of Honshu (the main island) tend to be badly insulated, drafty, and spot-heated. Houses of Hokkaido (and possibly northern Honshu) are much closer to western standards, with insulation and central heating.
The cold is not an issue in and of itself, but it can be a problem depending on other ailments, as well as habits and habituation.
Winter temperatures in the UK have reached 10 degrees Fahrenheit or lower in recent years, and British people aren't usually adapted to living in yurts.
Presumably their ancestors who've lived there since before modern HVAC survived and perhaps even thrived somehow. That may be snarky, but I honestly don't know how people really lived back then; I just know the UK has been inhabited since pre-history.
I wonder how much of the articles written about the cost of energy is causing people to not turn heating on at all or suffer needlessly - as the article says she's not turning the heating on because she can't afford to find out how much it will cost her.
there's a need for clearer ways to display exactly how much energy your using (or will use) but that's not simple as everyone's standards and homes are completely different!
As others have said cold is up for interpretation. Our house is between 17 - 20 degrees c. We have very poor insulation so there's no point in trying to heat it excessively. Both sides of the family complain about how cold it is when they visit (without jumpers or even socks on!) though they walk around their own homes with t-shirts and shorts on!
Even though I can afford my heating I, like the couple featured in the article, don’t want to turn the heating on because I have no idea how much it will cost. Someone I know recently received a prepayment request of 1,000 euros per month from their energy provider.
I realized it might even be cheaper to relocate for the winter. In the meantime, I bought an electric blanket that is surprisingly efficient.
We're in the US and don't have it anywhere near as bad for energy costs, but we've turned our thermostat down more than usual this year. It's currently set at 63F(17C) but we've had it a couple of degrees colder. I can't imagine letting it get much lower than that. I'm already wearing sweaters and blankets in the house, and my nose often feels cold.
Hopefully that's not so cold we're putting ourselves at risk of some of the health dangers in the article.
Here's a business idea: an extension that extrapolates the answer to the question/title of an article from the full-length text.
In this case, I would have loved a bullet list of ways living in a cold home affects my health, not a 5000 word text (regardless of how great or bad the writing is).
Like how they approach cooking recipes online - an overly long, disconnected narrative up top with a "scroll to data" button which is presented at the bottom of the page?
Yes, also! The advantage of the extension is it could process the contents automatically by detecting the title and the prose and require no user input. Kinda like how Keepa works on Amazon.
Well one problem is the viscous cycle. Because heating less people will open the window less which means it gets more humid and mold starts growing. People should install hygrometer and keep it in the save level. Then low room temperature should be fine.
There are other plausible places to direct the blame (for the energy issue, not the invasion). I, for one, think this is poor planning and naivete. The cold War wasn't that long ago and tensions have been high for years (since the invasion of Crimea at least). Nuclear energy has been ignored.
The world would be better off without Putin, but his successor might be even worse. Ultimately Russia can never be considered a reliable energy supplier for the rest of Europe. Their interests are not aligned. Europeans will have to find other more sustainable and reliable energy sources, as well as cutting heating demand though improved efficiency and insulation.
Readit News
It seems plausible that there are health related issues from being cold, but I am skeptical that a cooler interior temperature is really the problem. To use another example from Japan, they have heated table blankets so that you're nice and toasty sitting around the table. For more examples, you can look to nomadic people that live in temporary/portable dwellings that are often unheated.
I have to pay about double that per month (in £) for electricity, even if I don't use any electricity at all! And the electricity I do use costs nearly that much per day, and that's without having to use any of it for heating or hot water, which is all on gas and costs about as much again.
The cold is not an issue in and of itself, but it can be a problem depending on other ailments, as well as habits and habituation.
there's a need for clearer ways to display exactly how much energy your using (or will use) but that's not simple as everyone's standards and homes are completely different!
As others have said cold is up for interpretation. Our house is between 17 - 20 degrees c. We have very poor insulation so there's no point in trying to heat it excessively. Both sides of the family complain about how cold it is when they visit (without jumpers or even socks on!) though they walk around their own homes with t-shirts and shorts on!
I realized it might even be cheaper to relocate for the winter. In the meantime, I bought an electric blanket that is surprisingly efficient.
Hopefully that's not so cold we're putting ourselves at risk of some of the health dangers in the article.
I know it because I lived 13 years of gas grid.
Have you tried Damart (thermolactyl underwears) ?
In this case, I would have loved a bullet list of ways living in a cold home affects my health, not a 5000 word text (regardless of how great or bad the writing is).
That's the SEO optimizer and textual add spot.
Followed by regular adds. Perhaps followed by a recipe.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/2022/11/04/oil-and-ga...
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