6 ms·

I've been keeping my house at 55F/13C this winter, not for money reasons, but because of climate change. Last winter I got used to 60F/15.5C, which now feels s

by Panino 5y ago

I've been keeping my house at 55F/13C this winter, not for money reasons, but because of climate change. Last winter I got used to 60F/15.5C, which now feels super warm and unnecessary. So here's my advice for people: 1. Start today! Don't wait to see what happens in Ukraine. Lower your temperature by 1 degree right now. Just do it. 1 little degree isn't a big deal. Let your body acclimate to that. It'll happen on its own - our bodies constantly adjust to different temperatures throughout the year. Know that a temperature barely lower than you're used to won't give you hypothermia. It's not a threat to you. It's just a slightly different temperature so embrace it. Welcome the change, mentally choosing it. Once you're comfortable, lower the temperature again. Rinse and repeat. If you do this, you'll look back and be shocked at how you once thought a homeostasis temperature was necessary (or even desirable). 2. Eventually you'll feel the need for extra heating. The most efficient ways are directly heating the body through appropriate clothing and direct heat sources. For clothing, if you're cold, just add more. For direct heat, use a hot water bottle. You can also get an electric bed mattress pad. A heated mattress pad is amazing. 3. Warm food and drink: in summer, drink cold things. In winter, drink warm things. Eat warm foods like porridge (oatmeal/grits/cream of wheat/etc.), soup/stew, etc. When drinking, hold the hot mug in your hand. When eating, hold the hot bowl in your hand. 3. Water conservation - a lot of the water we use has been heated, for showers, washing hands, etc. Efficient showerheads and faucet aerators are CHEAP! Some of them have their usage etched into the side, if not, you can measure its flow rate with a measuring cup and a stopwatch. Once you know how much it uses, look into upgrades. When showering, turn the water on, get wet. Turn off the water. Soap your whole body, then wash the soap off. Now you're almost done with ~45 seconds of water use. It's easier in summer, but I'm now doing this in winter also. Those are the basics and you'll get better with time. Eventually you'll be able to see heat like Dr. Manhattan sees atoms. You'll just see it everywhere, how it moves in and out of the system, and how you can harness and hold on to it, using it multiple times before it's gone.

endisneigh 5y ago
That’s pretty incredible - I could never get used to 55F indoors other than when I’m sleeping.
- DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
  been spending last summer in high altitude. firing up the gas heater was really expensive and fire not always practical. During days I got used to wearing functional clothing to keep me dry, a wooly hat, a warm soup for lunch. It was weird initially but got used to it fast. I even liked it after a while since I learned to really appreciate the act of making the place warm for 3-4 hours every evening, take a shot shower, cook etc ... Not something I previously considered I'd derive pleasure from as I'd always taken this for granted.
  - landemva 5y ago
    What is high altitude for you?
    - DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
      not that high 2200m-2600m. But temperature wise it was tough ... woke up to snow on regular basis in August. the surrounding peaks were all +4000m / glaciers. weather could be 4 seasons in a single day.
- opportune 5y ago
  It's 12C/54F in my apartment right now, and while I'm very much in favor of people lowering their temps as much as they can, I wouldn't expect most people to put up with it. This is around the temperature that my knuckles get stiff.
logifail 5y ago
> Lower your temperature by 1 degree right now Not wishing to open a(nother) can of HN-worms, but what happens if you share your home with members of the opposite sex? My wife and my daughter are the two members of the household who complain about feeling cold. In the winter they each want a hot water bottle to take to bed. My sons and I just don't seem to mind .. and all the bedrooms are at the same temperature!
- maccard 5y ago
  > but what happens if you share your home with members of the opposite sex? No reason to bring sex into it. My girlfriend complains that our home is too warm meanwhile I sit under a blanket with a hot water bottle.
  - logifail 5y ago
    Science: New study reveals the evolutionary reason why women feel colder than men https://phys.org/news/2021-10-reveals-evolutionary-women-colder-men.html https://phys.org/news/2021-10-reveals-evolutionary-women-col...
- lucb1e 5y ago
  If they aren't to be convinced of the cause then there's no choice right? Then your bedroom will just be colder than theirs, and shared spaces could meet in the middle (sofa can have blankets; at dinner there is hot food; at lunch you might need to heat the eating room a bit more). And it depends on how extreme you want to go: 13°C is laudable but I'm trying to do the same and 16-17°C is the limit before I need to put on a real winter coat and actually impair comfort/mobility while working on my computer. And that's with headwear and everything (which I take off for customer video calls, to come across a bit more professionally...). If you'd want to go 13°C then I guess shared spaces might be more towards the comfort side of the spectrum.
  - logifail 5y ago
    > If they aren't to be convinced of the cause then there's no choice right? Then your bedroom will just be colder than theirs [..] Not wishing to be completely silly, but you've obviously not met my wife and daughter. You are correct in one sense, there is no choice: the [whole] house will be warm. At a slightly less silly level: I'm not sure we win the climate debate by picking fights within our immediate families.
landemva 5y ago
55F is uncomfortably cold for many people. My heat goes down to 55F at night when I am bundled in bed. My experience is that leak sealing based on results of blower air test brings nice heating use reduction while fixing the cold/drafty areas. After that take off window trim molding and spray foam both inside and out. Then apply extra insulation AFTER sealing. Maybe then another blower door test. If you start by replacing windows it will be expensive and less effective.
throwawayboise 5y ago
Be on the lookout for moisture and mold. I tried to isolate my basement from being heated last winter, and my reward was that everything stored there got moldy. You need to maintain a temperature warm enough to reduce relative humidity, or run a dehumidifier.
safog 5y ago
That's nuts, we're at 70F most of the time and like 65F when sleeping.
vcdimension 5y ago
I hardly used any extra heating at all this winter, neither central heating nor spot heating. I've been having cold showers every morning, and allowing myself to shiver, and I feel great. If it gets uncomfortably cold I just put on more clothes. Sometime I use an electric blanket at night, which uses a fraction of the energy of an electric heater or central heating. The shivering helps to burn fat, and stimulate the production of healthy brown fat which has been implicated in many beneficial health outcomes such as better insulin response, bone density, and longevity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue
- zdragnar 5y ago
  A bit of context on where you are would help. Here in the upper Midwest in the US, not having your heat running during the coldest winter days (-40 wind chills) means your plumbing would freeze and pipes burst in a day or two, less if it is an older house.
  - vcdimension 5y ago
    I'm in the south east of the UK, but the point I'm making applies almost anywhere in the Western world; it's perfectly possible, and even healthier, to get by at a much lower indoor temperature than most people are accustomed to.
    - redleader55 5y ago
      No, your point doesn't apply to anywhere in "the Western world". It depends on local weather, if there is wind or not, the amount of humidity, what kind of isolation your house has, but one of the most important is how many hours of daylight there are during the winter where you live. We used to have a guy in my country who was telling us to wear a warmer coat during the winter to compensate for the complete lack of heat. He's no longer with as after 25 December 1989, but people still regret him.
      - vcdimension 5y ago
user568439 5y ago
My hands get cold at 18,5 C, I tried to set it lower but I'm really not comfortable. I used fingerless gloves to work with the keyboard and this helped me to go a bit lower, maybe 17,5 but it's not ideal. When I'm moving it can be colder and when I'm in bed or sofa I use a blanket or anything so it can also be lower, but for using the PC I really need 18,5 C.
- akira2501 5y ago
  If we're reducing room heat to the point that it generally harms productivity, that doesn't seem like a net gain in the system. At that point it seems far more useful to consider things like better insulation and building design standards that it does what the thermostat is set to. Either that or like you.. I'm going to need a heated desk, keyboard and mouse.

by Panino 5y ago

endisneigh 5y ago

That’s pretty incredible - I could never get used to 55F indoors other than when I’m sleeping.

DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
been spending last summer in high altitude. firing up the gas heater was really expensive and fire not always practical. During days I got used to wearing functional clothing to keep me dry, a wooly hat, a warm soup for lunch. It was weird initially but got used to it fast. I even liked it after a while since I learned to really appreciate the act of making the place warm for 3-4 hours every evening, take a shot shower, cook etc ... Not something I previously considered I'd derive pleasure from as I'd always taken this for granted.
- landemva 5y ago
  What is high altitude for you?
  - DyslexicAtheist 5y ago
    not that high 2200m-2600m. But temperature wise it was tough ... woke up to snow on regular basis in August. the surrounding peaks were all +4000m / glaciers. weather could be 4 seasons in a single day.
opportune 5y ago
It's 12C/54F in my apartment right now, and while I'm very much in favor of people lowering their temps as much as they can, I wouldn't expect most people to put up with it. This is around the temperature that my knuckles get stiff.

logifail 5y ago

> Lower your temperature by 1 degree right now Not wishing to open a(nother) can of HN-worms, but what happens if you share your home with members of the opposite sex? My wife and my daughter are the two members of the household who complain about feeling cold. In the winter they each want a hot water bottle to take to bed. My sons and I just don't seem to mind .. and all the bedrooms are at the same temperature!

maccard 5y ago
> but what happens if you share your home with members of the opposite sex? No reason to bring sex into it. My girlfriend complains that our home is too warm meanwhile I sit under a blanket with a hot water bottle.
- logifail 5y ago
  Science: New study reveals the evolutionary reason why women feel colder than men https://phys.org/news/2021-10-reveals-evolutionary-women-colder-men.html https://phys.org/news/2021-10-reveals-evolutionary-women-col...
lucb1e 5y ago
If they aren't to be convinced of the cause then there's no choice right? Then your bedroom will just be colder than theirs, and shared spaces could meet in the middle (sofa can have blankets; at dinner there is hot food; at lunch you might need to heat the eating room a bit more). And it depends on how extreme you want to go: 13°C is laudable but I'm trying to do the same and 16-17°C is the limit before I need to put on a real winter coat and actually impair comfort/mobility while working on my computer. And that's with headwear and everything (which I take off for customer video calls, to come across a bit more professionally...). If you'd want to go 13°C then I guess shared spaces might be more towards the comfort side of the spectrum.
- logifail 5y ago
  > If they aren't to be convinced of the cause then there's no choice right? Then your bedroom will just be colder than theirs [..] Not wishing to be completely silly, but you've obviously not met my wife and daughter. You are correct in one sense, there is no choice: the [whole] house will be warm. At a slightly less silly level: I'm not sure we win the climate debate by picking fights within our immediate families.

landemva 5y ago

55F is uncomfortably cold for many people. My heat goes down to 55F at night when I am bundled in bed. My experience is that leak sealing based on results of blower air test brings nice heating use reduction while fixing the cold/drafty areas. After that take off window trim molding and spray foam both inside and out. Then apply extra insulation AFTER sealing. Maybe then another blower door test. If you start by replacing windows it will be expensive and less effective.

throwawayboise 5y ago

Be on the lookout for moisture and mold. I tried to isolate my basement from being heated last winter, and my reward was that everything stored there got moldy. You need to maintain a temperature warm enough to reduce relative humidity, or run a dehumidifier.

safog 5y ago

That's nuts, we're at 70F most of the time and like 65F when sleeping.

vcdimension 5y ago

I hardly used any extra heating at all this winter, neither central heating nor spot heating. I've been having cold showers every morning, and allowing myself to shiver, and I feel great. If it gets uncomfortably cold I just put on more clothes. Sometime I use an electric blanket at night, which uses a fraction of the energy of an electric heater or central heating. The shivering helps to burn fat, and stimulate the production of healthy brown fat which has been implicated in many beneficial health outcomes such as better insulin response, bone density, and longevity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue

zdragnar 5y ago
A bit of context on where you are would help. Here in the upper Midwest in the US, not having your heat running during the coldest winter days (-40 wind chills) means your plumbing would freeze and pipes burst in a day or two, less if it is an older house.
- vcdimension 5y ago
  I'm in the south east of the UK, but the point I'm making applies almost anywhere in the Western world; it's perfectly possible, and even healthier, to get by at a much lower indoor temperature than most people are accustomed to.
  - redleader55 5y ago
    No, your point doesn't apply to anywhere in "the Western world". It depends on local weather, if there is wind or not, the amount of humidity, what kind of isolation your house has, but one of the most important is how many hours of daylight there are during the winter where you live. We used to have a guy in my country who was telling us to wear a warmer coat during the winter to compensate for the complete lack of heat. He's no longer with as after 25 December 1989, but people still regret him.
    - vcdimension 5y ago

user568439 5y ago

My hands get cold at 18,5 C, I tried to set it lower but I'm really not comfortable. I used fingerless gloves to work with the keyboard and this helped me to go a bit lower, maybe 17,5 but it's not ideal. When I'm moving it can be colder and when I'm in bed or sofa I use a blanket or anything so it can also be lower, but for using the PC I really need 18,5 C.

akira2501 5y ago
If we're reducing room heat to the point that it generally harms productivity, that doesn't seem like a net gain in the system. At that point it seems far more useful to consider things like better insulation and building design standards that it does what the thermostat is set to. Either that or like you.. I'm going to need a heated desk, keyboard and mouse.