5 ms·

The US generates $65k per capita vs. Russia's $11k. That we spend more on heating probably has more to do with having more money to spend on heating. I doubt ve

The US generates $65k per capita vs. Russia's $11k. That we spend more on heating probably has more to do with having more money to spend on heating. I doubt very much that Russia's buildings' insulation is much better.

kazen44 6y ago
you would be quite suprised actually. especially in cities. Also, appartment buildings are far easier to heat, not to mention a lot of soviet era appartments only have communical heating available. Which basically means the heating gets turned on in oktober for entire city/appartment blocks, Some of those don't even have the option to change the temperate/flow.
zeroonetwothree 6y ago
Some US apartments have shared heating. It’s pretty annoying because you have no control. I’ve had to keep my windows open in the winter because the heating was set too high.
- Lammy 6y ago
  I keep my windows cracked in the winter despite having control (and payment responsibility, mind) of our heating. It's worth being able to think clearly all winter: https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/07/indoor-co2-dumb-and-dumber/ https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/07/indoor-co2-du...
  - baybal2 6y ago
    Another thing that strikes most Russians when they go abroad is how well ventilated the buildings are, and how high is the indoor air quality. In Russia, it's most likely an inverse of venue class. Malls, public venues, indoor markets, govt buildings all like to save on ventilation.
  - harpastum 6y ago
    Depending on your climate and what you mean by "windows cracked", you would be much better off with a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system. They have the explicit purpose of pulling in outside air while only losing about 20% of the heat difference between indoor and out. With slightly open windows, you're losing a bunch of heat for very little ventilation.
    - Lammy 6y ago
      Unfortunately I don't own the building but thanks for the info about HRVs
- fsckboy 6y ago
  a hundred years ago they thought fresh air was an important part of staying healthy, so building heating systems (those big cast iron radiators) were designed to heat effectively in winter with the windows open.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  'Shared heating' needn't mean no control over the heating. Many buildings in Denmark are supplied with heat (for room heating and hot water) by a municipal system, but each house or apartment can adjust the temperature of the room heating, with radiator valves or electronic thermostats. We're charged based on how much heat we extract from the system.
bcatanzaro 6y ago
Russians take cold seriously. I lived there for two years. Everyone lives in huge apartment buildings which have much less surface area to volume ratio than US single family homes. And heating is done by big centralized plants. It keeps things warm despite the weather. Where I lived it would stay below freezing from September to April.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Zenbit_UX 6y ago
Also something interesting to note about Russia is hot water is provided by the municipality and not through a hot water tank in your own apartment like in North America. This would certainly reduce heating costs per person by offsetting them to the state.
- Matticus_Rex 6y ago
  > This would certainly reduce heating costs per person by offsetting them to the state. Unless municipal hot water is somehow much more efficient than hot water heaters (and I'm skeptical, given the heat lost in transit), then it doesn't offset the costs per person, because those costs still have to be paid.
  - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
    The main reason it can be more efficient is that they use waste heat from power plants. In principle you can do the same thing at a smaller scale. Instead of burning natural gas or diesel/home heating oil in a furnace, burn it in a generator and heat your house with the engine coolant.
    - xyzzyz 6y ago
      Correct. Here for example you can see a pipeline running superheated water at ~120 C (250 F) 8 miles from the fourth-largest coal power plant in the world (5 GW) to a medium size city: https://goo.gl/maps/VmaFQrrX5VvRKFdu6 https://goo.gl/maps/VmaFQrrX5VvRKFdu6 The plant generates so much waste heat (around 10 GW) while generating electricity that the heat loss in transport is pretty much irrelevant, as the heat is free anyway from the power plant's point of view.
    - Thlom 6y ago
      You can use heat from burning garbage as well. My town has an incinerator which burns garbage at high temperatures, the heat is used to warm water which is used to heat buildings (as far as I know not as hot water directly).

kazen44 6y ago

you would be quite suprised actually. especially in cities. Also, appartment buildings are far easier to heat, not to mention a lot of soviet era appartments only have communical heating available. Which basically means the heating gets turned on in oktober for entire city/appartment blocks, Some of those don't even have the option to change the temperate/flow.

zeroonetwothree 6y ago

Some US apartments have shared heating. It’s pretty annoying because you have no control. I’ve had to keep my windows open in the winter because the heating was set too high.

Lammy 6y ago
I keep my windows cracked in the winter despite having control (and payment responsibility, mind) of our heating. It's worth being able to think clearly all winter: https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/07/indoor-co2-dumb-and-dumber/ https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/07/indoor-co2-du...
- baybal2 6y ago
  Another thing that strikes most Russians when they go abroad is how well ventilated the buildings are, and how high is the indoor air quality. In Russia, it's most likely an inverse of venue class. Malls, public venues, indoor markets, govt buildings all like to save on ventilation.
- harpastum 6y ago
  Depending on your climate and what you mean by "windows cracked", you would be much better off with a heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system. They have the explicit purpose of pulling in outside air while only losing about 20% of the heat difference between indoor and out. With slightly open windows, you're losing a bunch of heat for very little ventilation.
  - Lammy 6y ago
    Unfortunately I don't own the building but thanks for the info about HRVs
fsckboy 6y ago
a hundred years ago they thought fresh air was an important part of staying healthy, so building heating systems (those big cast iron radiators) were designed to heat effectively in winter with the windows open.
Symbiote 6y ago
'Shared heating' needn't mean no control over the heating. Many buildings in Denmark are supplied with heat (for room heating and hot water) by a municipal system, but each house or apartment can adjust the temperature of the room heating, with radiator valves or electronic thermostats. We're charged based on how much heat we extract from the system.

bcatanzaro 6y ago

Russians take cold seriously. I lived there for two years. Everyone lives in huge apartment buildings which have much less surface area to volume ratio than US single family homes. And heating is done by big centralized plants. It keeps things warm despite the weather. Where I lived it would stay below freezing from September to April.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Zenbit_UX 6y ago

Also something interesting to note about Russia is hot water is provided by the municipality and not through a hot water tank in your own apartment like in North America. This would certainly reduce heating costs per person by offsetting them to the state.

Matticus_Rex 6y ago
> This would certainly reduce heating costs per person by offsetting them to the state. Unless municipal hot water is somehow much more efficient than hot water heaters (and I'm skeptical, given the heat lost in transit), then it doesn't offset the costs per person, because those costs still have to be paid.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  The main reason it can be more efficient is that they use waste heat from power plants. In principle you can do the same thing at a smaller scale. Instead of burning natural gas or diesel/home heating oil in a furnace, burn it in a generator and heat your house with the engine coolant.
  - xyzzyz 6y ago
    Correct. Here for example you can see a pipeline running superheated water at ~120 C (250 F) 8 miles from the fourth-largest coal power plant in the world (5 GW) to a medium size city: https://goo.gl/maps/VmaFQrrX5VvRKFdu6 https://goo.gl/maps/VmaFQrrX5VvRKFdu6 The plant generates so much waste heat (around 10 GW) while generating electricity that the heat loss in transport is pretty much irrelevant, as the heat is free anyway from the power plant's point of view.
  - Thlom 6y ago
    You can use heat from burning garbage as well. My town has an incinerator which burns garbage at high temperatures, the heat is used to warm water which is used to heat buildings (as far as I know not as hot water directly).