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> Almost all home power usage comes down to heating and cooling. What is it about a house which makes these things more of a requirement than on a boat? People

> Almost all home power usage comes down to heating and cooling. What is it about a house which makes these things more of a requirement than on a boat? People have lived and do live without these things in their home as well.

Gigachad 5y ago
Because a boat doesn't have an enclosed space to heat. Well not usually anyway. And yes of course many people can live without heating and cooling in their homes, but that comes at a significant comfort cost. If you come to me with the suggestion of "Don't use any air conditioning to reduce power usage" its a non starter because air conditioning significantly improves my enjoyment of life. If you came to me with the suggestion of "Lets allocate more government funding to renewable and nuclear investments" I am much more interested in the proposal. It might sound selfish but this is how everyone feels. No one wants to give up their most important comforts if they don't have to. And they don't have to.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  And yes of course many people can live without heating and cooling in their homes, but that comes at a significant comfort cost. It doesn't have to be that way. You might try looking up passive solar design..
  - DarylZero 5y ago
    That usually only applies to the tiny fraction of people who can build new.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      It used to be kind of the norm. We just called it vernacular architecture back then and chalked it up to "local style" rather than fully grasping that it such regional styles were the product of using locally sourced materials and then designing to the best of our ability for human comfort given the local weather and climate.
      - DarylZero 5y ago
        It used to be people just didn't live where it was too hot to live without AC. Now they do.
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        I grew up in the Deep South. Rest assured, people lived there before AC was a thing. Houses were designed for cross ventilation with open windows. Some houses had wrap around porches on three sides so windows could be left open even when it was raining. Historically, they made a second outdoor kitchen so you could cook in summer without heating the whole house. To this day, grilling out in summer weather is a common practice. Etc.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        The population of the south basically doubled after air conditioning came in. So yes people lived there, about half as many.
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        The world currently has nearly 8 billion people. I imagine an awful lot of places have much higher populations than they used to have, regardless of climate, available tech or quality of life. So unless you can cite sources that can show this was due entirely to AC per se and not at least partly due to population growth generally, that little factoid may well fall under the heading how to lie with statistics.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        Well, I don't think I cited any statistics, but here's some crap I just found on google: http://www.scienceofthesouth.com/some-like-it-cool-the-impact-of-ac-on-the-south/ http://www.scienceofthesouth.com/some-like-it-cool-the-impac... https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208474 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208474 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-29/cities-that-wouldn-t-exist-without-air-conditioning https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-29/cities-th...
- mike_d 5y ago
  > Because a boat doesn't have an enclosed space to heat. All ocean capable boats do. Nobody lives in canoes or row boats.
prometheus76 5y ago
And refrigeration. That's a big power draw in my home.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  I tied that in to heating/cooling. Basically all energy in the home is spent making things hot or cold. Lighting, TVs, laptops, etc may as well be free for the power they consume.
DarylZero 5y ago
They're more or less of a requirement depending on where you live (or where your boat is). People have frozen to death both in houses and on boats.
drewzero1 5y ago
I can't plot a course for my house that keeps me from freezing. Boats can, if course planning and timing allows, be kept within a habitable climate range more easily than a house (unless your house happens to already be built within a region that doesn't freeze solid five months a year - mine is not).

Gigachad 5y ago

Because a boat doesn't have an enclosed space to heat. Well not usually anyway. And yes of course many people can live without heating and cooling in their homes, but that comes at a significant comfort cost. If you come to me with the suggestion of "Don't use any air conditioning to reduce power usage" its a non starter because air conditioning significantly improves my enjoyment of life. If you came to me with the suggestion of "Lets allocate more government funding to renewable and nuclear investments" I am much more interested in the proposal. It might sound selfish but this is how everyone feels. No one wants to give up their most important comforts if they don't have to. And they don't have to.

DoreenMichele 5y ago
And yes of course many people can live without heating and cooling in their homes, but that comes at a significant comfort cost. It doesn't have to be that way. You might try looking up passive solar design..
- DarylZero 5y ago
  That usually only applies to the tiny fraction of people who can build new.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    It used to be kind of the norm. We just called it vernacular architecture back then and chalked it up to "local style" rather than fully grasping that it such regional styles were the product of using locally sourced materials and then designing to the best of our ability for human comfort given the local weather and climate.
    - DarylZero 5y ago
      It used to be people just didn't live where it was too hot to live without AC. Now they do.
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        I grew up in the Deep South. Rest assured, people lived there before AC was a thing. Houses were designed for cross ventilation with open windows. Some houses had wrap around porches on three sides so windows could be left open even when it was raining. Historically, they made a second outdoor kitchen so you could cook in summer without heating the whole house. To this day, grilling out in summer weather is a common practice. Etc.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        The population of the south basically doubled after air conditioning came in. So yes people lived there, about half as many.
        DoreenMichele 5y ago
        The world currently has nearly 8 billion people. I imagine an awful lot of places have much higher populations than they used to have, regardless of climate, available tech or quality of life. So unless you can cite sources that can show this was due entirely to AC per se and not at least partly due to population growth generally, that little factoid may well fall under the heading how to lie with statistics.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        Well, I don't think I cited any statistics, but here's some crap I just found on google: http://www.scienceofthesouth.com/some-like-it-cool-the-impact-of-ac-on-the-south/ http://www.scienceofthesouth.com/some-like-it-cool-the-impac... https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208474 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208474 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-29/cities-that-wouldn-t-exist-without-air-conditioning https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-06-29/cities-th...
mike_d 5y ago
> Because a boat doesn't have an enclosed space to heat. All ocean capable boats do. Nobody lives in canoes or row boats.

prometheus76 5y ago

And refrigeration. That's a big power draw in my home.

Gigachad 5y ago
I tied that in to heating/cooling. Basically all energy in the home is spent making things hot or cold. Lighting, TVs, laptops, etc may as well be free for the power they consume.

DarylZero 5y ago

They're more or less of a requirement depending on where you live (or where your boat is). People have frozen to death both in houses and on boats.

drewzero1 5y ago

I can't plot a course for my house that keeps me from freezing. Boats can, if course planning and timing allows, be kept within a habitable climate range more easily than a house (unless your house happens to already be built within a region that doesn't freeze solid five months a year - mine is not).