3 ms·

> Has there been a really bad heat wave in the UK lately? Around 2010 we hit 100F for the first time when there was a Europe-wide heatwave. The very south eas

> Has there been a really bad heat wave in the UK lately? Around 2010 we hit 100F for the first time when there was a Europe-wide heatwave. The very south east corner of the UK closest to Europe (where I grew up), is getting worse year by year. When I was a kid in the 70s, we had one humid long summer in 1976. Now it's pretty much every other year, in the 30s for a few days and horribly humid. To make matters worse, in the pursuit of "green" policies, the government mandated better insulation for new build houses. Which is fine for most of the year. Except the "summer" now starts at the end of May and finishes in early October, and then insides of these new houses and flats can be over 30C, even at night. There's no UK policy for keeping houses cool in the summer, despite "literally everyone" talking about how the world is going to get warmer. Houses don't have to be painted white, or require solar panels, or passive heating. Just masses of insulation.

Mezzie 4y ago
People really underestimate how environment and infrastructure can matter when it comes to heat/cooling. I'm a Michigander, and in my lifetime (I'm 33) our summers have changed from bearable without A/C (Temps topping out around 85-90 with 70% humidity for a day or two) to requiring it (weeks over 90 with high humidity). A major compounding factor is that almost none of our homes are designed for cooling. Tons of the houses don't have A/C, and in my case, our building is built out of solid brick and is insulated. The floor is all warm carpet. Air flow is non-existent. Once it heats up, it doesn't cool back down and it's unbearable.
- DrBazza 4y ago
  That's pretty similar to here in south-east England, in particular with "new build" houses (anything built in the last 20 years, of which there are lots). I never saw A/C in the UK when I was younger, and in the last 5 years, I can point out a good dozen houses within walking distance of my house that has had units added. We're going to be one of those shortly.
Y-bar 4y ago
> To make matters worse, in the pursuit of "green" policies, the government mandated better insulation for new build houses. Which is fine for most of the year. Except the "summer" now starts at the end of May and finishes in early October, and then insides of these new houses and flats can be over 30C, even at night. The insulation used here in Scandinavia helps keep the indoor temperature lower in the summer as well, what are you doing differently in the UK?
- DrBazza 4y ago
  All our new buildings trap the heat. The exteriors are almost always made of dark brick, which retains the heat, and never ever rendered white. Our roofs are dark, high, pitched, and stuffed with insulation. So there's a huge pocket of hot air sat above the house as well. There was a TV programme recently where they were pointing thermal cameras at buildings and you could see the temperatures very much above "ambient" long into the evenings. It's something we should address in the UK but unfortunately the whole building industry in the UK is 100% in favour of maximising developer profits and minimising their costs. So rather than the old fashioned way of building thicker walls to stay warm in winter and cool in summer, we now have one skin of thin brick work, insulation (foam), breeze block, more insulation, steel/aluminium frame with insulation, covered in plasterboard (the final interior wall). Maximum profit, quick to build, cheap materials. Unless the government legislates, the UK is building a whole stock of housing that's going to be rather awful for future generations.
  - Y-bar 4y ago
    I'm not in any way saying your conclusions are incorrect. But our description ("...one skin of thin brick work, insulation (foam), breeze block, more insulation, steel/aluminium frame with insulation, covered in plasterboard (the final interior wall.") matches pretty perfectly building standards in my town, yet the result here is that the insulation helps quite well against the summer heat. We have triple-pane windows, do you, maybe that is it?
    - DrBazza 4y ago
lordnacho 4y ago
I'm in Kent too, which part are you? The corner near London is indeed pretty hot in the summer, I had actually forgotten that I was in a new building without aircon until I moved to the forest. That old building was basically an oven during the summer a few years ago, I ended up using a two-piece cooling system. But still, you can find a way in 36C heat for a couple of weeks. At 47C, I think it could be bad enough to leave.
- DrBazza 4y ago
  Not far enough from Faversham... :) ...where we hit (or were right on) 100F and held the record for a bit (I think the gauge was near Brogdale). The North Downs / Thames corridor seems to have a weird way of being hotter on the north side (Gravesend was 100F as well), than the southern side.

Mezzie 4y ago

People really underestimate how environment and infrastructure can matter when it comes to heat/cooling. I'm a Michigander, and in my lifetime (I'm 33) our summers have changed from bearable without A/C (Temps topping out around 85-90 with 70% humidity for a day or two) to requiring it (weeks over 90 with high humidity). A major compounding factor is that almost none of our homes are designed for cooling. Tons of the houses don't have A/C, and in my case, our building is built out of solid brick and is insulated. The floor is all warm carpet. Air flow is non-existent. Once it heats up, it doesn't cool back down and it's unbearable.

DrBazza 4y ago
That's pretty similar to here in south-east England, in particular with "new build" houses (anything built in the last 20 years, of which there are lots). I never saw A/C in the UK when I was younger, and in the last 5 years, I can point out a good dozen houses within walking distance of my house that has had units added. We're going to be one of those shortly.

Y-bar 4y ago

> To make matters worse, in the pursuit of "green" policies, the government mandated better insulation for new build houses. Which is fine for most of the year. Except the "summer" now starts at the end of May and finishes in early October, and then insides of these new houses and flats can be over 30C, even at night. The insulation used here in Scandinavia helps keep the indoor temperature lower in the summer as well, what are you doing differently in the UK?

DrBazza 4y ago
All our new buildings trap the heat. The exteriors are almost always made of dark brick, which retains the heat, and never ever rendered white. Our roofs are dark, high, pitched, and stuffed with insulation. So there's a huge pocket of hot air sat above the house as well. There was a TV programme recently where they were pointing thermal cameras at buildings and you could see the temperatures very much above "ambient" long into the evenings. It's something we should address in the UK but unfortunately the whole building industry in the UK is 100% in favour of maximising developer profits and minimising their costs. So rather than the old fashioned way of building thicker walls to stay warm in winter and cool in summer, we now have one skin of thin brick work, insulation (foam), breeze block, more insulation, steel/aluminium frame with insulation, covered in plasterboard (the final interior wall). Maximum profit, quick to build, cheap materials. Unless the government legislates, the UK is building a whole stock of housing that's going to be rather awful for future generations.
- Y-bar 4y ago
  I'm not in any way saying your conclusions are incorrect. But our description ("...one skin of thin brick work, insulation (foam), breeze block, more insulation, steel/aluminium frame with insulation, covered in plasterboard (the final interior wall.") matches pretty perfectly building standards in my town, yet the result here is that the insulation helps quite well against the summer heat. We have triple-pane windows, do you, maybe that is it?
  - DrBazza 4y ago

lordnacho 4y ago

I'm in Kent too, which part are you? The corner near London is indeed pretty hot in the summer, I had actually forgotten that I was in a new building without aircon until I moved to the forest. That old building was basically an oven during the summer a few years ago, I ended up using a two-piece cooling system. But still, you can find a way in 36C heat for a couple of weeks. At 47C, I think it could be bad enough to leave.

DrBazza 4y ago
Not far enough from Faversham... :) ...where we hit (or were right on) 100F and held the record for a bit (I think the gauge was near Brogdale). The North Downs / Thames corridor seems to have a weird way of being hotter on the north side (Gravesend was 100F as well), than the southern side.