9 ms·

Restoring the Old Way of Warming: Heating People, Not Places

146 points by stonlyb 12y ago

OneOneOneOne 12y ago
This sounds like a good idea until mold starts growing in your house. Back in the day the houses were not insulated as tightly and people did not shower every day.
- mrob 12y ago
  Depending on the exact climate/heating system, the energy saved might be enough to run a dehumidifier and still come out ahead. The dehumidifier will also raise the air temperature.
  - fixedd 12y ago
    Recently, I've been wondering why we use exhaust fans in bathrooms and not dehumidifiers. I might be way off base here, but it seems like taking conditioned air that's a little moist and dumping it outside and replacing it with drier unconditioned air would be less efficient than just removing the moisture from the already-conditioned air. I imagine it isn't one of those things where it's "always cheaper to do X", but there's probably a break-even point. Does anyone know how to do the math to draw that chart?
    - saiya-jin 12y ago
      too dry air ain't very good for your "mucous" membranes (nose, throat, eyes etc). You want to be sicker just to save few bucks for heating? If poor, I guess it's the only option, but otherwise having heated place is same "luxury" as say buying a cheap & good coffee in the morning instead of doing it yourself...
    - tonyarkles 12y ago
      Think about some of the other things that happen in the bathroom, and ask yourself whether you'd want that air recirculating in your house.
- x1798DE 12y ago
  Just a (cheap) shot in the dark, but I suspect that readers of "low tech magazine" might not shower every day either.
- Theodores 12y ago
  In the UK we have plenty of old houses where there is no central heating, double glazing, loft insulation or fitted carpet. Typically the windows are wood framed 'sash' windows with the walls made from quite thick stone (1 - 4+ ft thick). Heating might be just the one fireplace with the kitchen cooker also there to warm the house up. I grew up in such a house and not once did I see mould. Typically such houses were built centuries ago for 'cottage industries' such as making cloth. Back then family sizes were much larger so herds of children would also warm the place up. There might also be an actual herd of animals too - pets as well as livestock, e.g. goats. Also changed is global warming - the pipes would freeze in the 1970's. Nowadays, nada. There was an art to keeping warm. Most important - the fire. This would be open and powered by coal or wood. It would not be 'turned on' until the evening or early afternoon if it was the weekend (in winter). Once started the fire would suck air from wherever possible so that was the primary source of a draft. To mitigate the draft thick curtains would be the thing. The front door would have a curtain as would internal doors to the living room. If you wanted to keep the fire 'in' for the next day you could smother the fire in coal and keep the ashes in underneath. Air would by restricted that way so the fire would slowly burn through the available fuel. Rake it through in the morning, top up with more coal and perhaps some kindling (a word I haven't used in a while) and the fire would live another day. The default would be 'off' though. As for clothing, one word - layers. Wool rather than cotton or anything else. The layers approach also worked for the bed. If you were lucky you might have a hot water bottle, otherwise no heat in the bedrooms. Due to the thick stone walls heat would be retained in winter and cold during summer. Consequently, regardless of the time of year, there would never be 'T-Shirt' weather indoors. You would be acclimatised to the cold and expect to see your breath in most of the house mid winter. There would also be that thing where the side of you facing the fire would be red hot whilst your back would be freezing. To solve this problem you would need the air to circulate, so no standing right in front of the fire, blocking the heat, even if that was very pleasurable to do. A cast iron fire grate would be red hot and in your living room. Today's central heating does not do 'red hot' in the living room - radiators don't glow bright red like that although electric 'bar' fires get close. As for showers, a bath, once a week was it. We actually had a copper bath in front of the fire and that was filled with a hose connected to a twin-tub washing machine. Emptying the bath involved making an actual siphon, there was none of this 'plug' and 'plumbing' convenience. Needless to say it was very easy to dry off in front of the fire and towels would be toasty. Personally I prefer watching a fire to watching TV.
- adrianN 12y ago
  Invest ten bucks in a hygrometer and open the windows when the humidity gets too high. Mold is not caused by cold temperatures.
  - fsloth 12y ago
    Mold is caused by humidity. One way to increase humidity in building's shell is to have humid air and large thermal gradients in poorly ventilated areas. Opening windows does not help in the humidity that gets into structures when air with vapour enters colder structural parts of the building and releases it's moisture. Warmer houses-> the point where moisture is released moves closer to outer wall. That's at least my laymans understanding of one of the mechanisms which affect houses.
    - saiya-jin 12y ago
      true, proper term is "dew point" I believe, that's where all the wet magic happens (however weird that sentence looks like, it's perfectly normal)
ashark 12y ago
cmd+f "pipe" 0 results found Try setting your heat to, say, 50 degrees F and you may discover you've got some cold spots in your house when the pipes there freeze and burst. Let alone if you try going for lower temperatures, or entirely without whole-house heating. So set it to the low 60s and wear layers? Welcome to what anyone who's ever been even close to poor already knows. [edit] Maybe this is more useful in places that already barely need heating. Winter lows in the 20s and 30s (F), that sort of thing.
- yaddayadda 12y ago
  > It makes good sense to return to this concept of heating, but that doesn't mean that we have to go back to using fireplaces and carrying burning embers around the house. While the old concept of heating is more energy-efficient, the same cannot be said of most of the old heating devices. Two problems meet one stone - hydronic heating (http://www.warmmfloors.com/ http://www.warmmfloors.com/ | http://www.hydronicheating.net/ http://www.hydronicheating.net/)
- _delirium 12y ago
  It's pretty common around here (Copenhagen) for people to set their radiators to around 5-8 C (40-45 F) in rooms that they aren't using, or the whole house/apartment to that temperature if they're gone for more than a day or so, to save money on heating. Most radiators have a specific "frost protection" setting, indicated by a little snowflake icon, which is set by the manufacturer or building to whatever temperature they think is suitable for frost protection (mine are at 5 C / 41 F). I haven't heard of anyone having trouble with burst pipes from this setup. Could be an issue with hollow-wall wood-frame construction and forced-air duct heating? With brick/stone construction and regularly spaced radiators, things typically won't freeze anywhere, even if you have the temperature set down to 5 C. It's also relatively uncommon for pipes here to be in outer walls; all of mine are run along or in the interior walls.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    I think as much as anything natural gas is cheap in the US. Does a house usually cool all the way down to 5 if you are gone for the day? A wood house definitely would (newer houses with better insulation might not, but many standing houses would).
alricb 12y ago
It better be cheap; it's possible to build an affordable house that is well-insulated enough that the plug loads will be higher than the heating loads. In a very cold climate, you also need to keep your house fairly warm to avoid problems like frozen pipes. Ironically, the wasted heat caused by poor building practices can help make buildings more durable by facilitating the drying of the external walls (less of a concern in Europe where houses are often made of masonry instead of wood).
- jjoonathan 12y ago
  Agreed. They seemed oddly insistent on pushing their implicit premise that heating large volumes of air is wasteful. http://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e8883301bb07e2eeda970d-pi http://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e8883301bb07e... However, the volume of air is not inextricably linked to energy expenditure, which only happens when heat flows down a gradient, not while it sits in a room. We can model it like a simple resistive circuit; the equations are analogous. V = I * R ∆T = P * R P is heat energy expended per time (power) ∆T is the temperature difference between hottest and coldest regions R is thermal resistance, a measure of how insulating something is Bringing the thermal gradients into the room (as opposed to holding them across the wall alone) adds a small, fixed bit of thermal resistance "in series" to what's already in the walls and windows. P = ∆T/R R = Rwall + Rroom Rwall is a function of the amount of insulation, while Rroom is fixed by the geometry of the room. If Rwall==Rroom, you can save 50% of your heating bill by huddling over your heated desk. However, if Rwall=10*Rroom, which it may well be if your house is properly insulated, you can't even save 10% of your heating bill with area heating. alricb is right: don't let the name of the site fool you. Insulation is the cheap low-tech solution that works, while spot-heating is the gimmicky high-tech solution that only works in specific circumstances and even then only after ignoring the time, money, and discomfort invested in reinventing the wheel.
  - darkmighty 12y ago
    Nobody is advocating a bad insulation. You said it yourself, P ~ ∆T: I think the rationale here is to lower ∆T and provide heat to your "spot" as needed. It's probably not going "mainstream" quickly either, but it can save you some energy: it's not so wild to imagine lowering your thermostat a few degrees and get a localized heat source if you seat in that one spot most time.
athenot 12y ago
As others pointed out, this older style is more suitable for masonry homes which might be less susceptible to mold and have enough thermal inertia to prevent pipe freezing. On the flip side, you can make your house air-tight and use a heat exchanger to refresh the air while retaining the heat: that's the concept of Passive Houses[0]. Not suitable for cooling down hot & humid air (you'd have a condensation problem) but definitely an option for heating a home. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
- stephen_g 12y ago
  There's a section there that talks about hot climates - you use an energy recovery ventilation system instead of heat recovery.
username223 12y ago
I'm disappointed not to see anything about "Human Heater." Just microwave 'em!
GregBuchholz 12y ago
They've got nothing on this guy: Micro heaters cut 87% off my electric heat bill http://www.richsoil.com/electric-heat.jsp http://www.richsoil.com/electric-heat.jsp
- vinceguidry 12y ago
  One winter when I was younger and had my own apartment, I was shocked by how much it cost to heat the whole townhouse, so I shut the heat off, enclosed my computer desk with a 5' x 5' x 6' PVC framework over which I draped blankets. Inside was a space heater that I only had to run for 10 minutes to get the whole space nice and toasty. Moved out next year.
jdietrich 12y ago
Motorcyclists provide an interesting example of this principle. The extreme windchill experienced by motorcyclists makes it very difficult to keep warm - a rider travelling at 70mph at 0°C experiences a windchill of -18°C. Many riders in northern climates use electrically heated underclothing, which, in conjunction with an insulated outer layer, can keep a rider warm with just a few watts. Better battery technology could make such garments commonplace.
- Mister_Snuggles 12y ago
  Milwaukee Tool came out with a line of heated jackets, powered by the same batteries that power their drills and other tools. I believe the red ones were the first ones out, then they saw a market in the hunting crowd and came out with the camouflage version. http://www.milwaukeetool.ca/heated-gear http://www.milwaukeetool.ca/heated-gear
- Mandatum 12y ago
  In Rarotonga in the winter months you can buy puffer jackets with copper wiring sewn to the inside with a 9V battery.
  - mistermann 12y ago
    Very cool....how long does it last?
    - gambiting 12y ago
      http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/04/columbia-omni-heat-circuit-breaker-softshell-electric-heated-j/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/04/columbia-omni-heat-circui... Apparently 5.5h on maximum power,which is pretty impressive.
    - draven 12y ago
      Some heated motorcycle jackets can be plugged to the bike's battery (you just have to install the plug somewhere accessible and connect it to the battery.) Then when you get on your bike you just have to connect your jacket and off you go. The alternator provides the power during your ride. For ex. stuff like that: http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbing-12v-ex-heated-jacket http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbing-12v-ex-heated-jac... Together with heated grips, cold is not an issue.
mikekchar 12y ago
I find it interesting that they continually use the past tense in the article. While it is true that the west has largely abandoned these ideas, they are still very strong in the more temperate climates of Asia. I live in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. It does not get very cold here compared to my home town of Winnipeg, Canada. On the very coldest days it might just dip below freezing at night. While some people heat their homes, my experience is that most do not. It took me a long time to get used to it, but I prefer living this way. Since most people have not experienced it, I will point out a few things. 1) I would not do this if the normal daytime temperature was not above freezing. People's comments about water pipes bursting, etc, etc are right on. But more to the point, it's just plain dangerous for your health. Instead, I would heat the house to just above 5 degrees C (41 F) (see next point). 2) From experience, 5 degrees is the point at which my body starts to have trouble. Below that, my extremities shut down and frostbite is absolutely certain unless I am careful. Also, if you do not pay attention to your body, it is easy to get too cold. This can raise your blood pressure. Then when you warm yourself up, your blood pressure can crash. This can give you severe headaches and can even be quite dangerous. To be honest, I'm actually fine down to freezing temps if I pay attention, but the point at which I need to pay attention seems to be about 5 degrees C. 3) Baths/showers. Some people commented about mold. Where I live, mold is a constant problem because in the summer it often goes weeks on end without the temperature dropping below 30C (86F) even at night. Humidity is usually in the 80% range. So we have mold problems all the time. The key is to wipe down the surfaces with a towel after you have a bath and to air things out frequently (see next point). But a bath/shower (preferably bath) is practically mandatory when it is very cold. If you don't warm yourself up at least a few times a day, you will have health problems. The best time is right before you go to bed (this took a lot of getting used to!). That's the time your body needs the heat the most. 4) Airing out the house. The thing I could never figure out about Japanese culture was opening the windows in the middle of winter every hour or so to "exchange the air". Many people will use a small kerosene heater, so you need to do this so that you don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning. We use a charcoal hibachi (ceramic vase with ashes -- not a BBQ) to heat small areas and need to do the same. But even if you are using fancy electric radiant heaters (see below), Japanese people air out their houses frequently. That's because they aren't heating the air. I now do it religiously too and I'm convinced that it makes me feel better (the old me would think me absolutely crazy and probably many people reading this think so too!) 5) Even though you are heating bodies, not air, it is best to create small microclimates as stated in the article. Sliding paper doors and shoji screens are the traditional way of doing it in Japan. A low coffee table with a blanket over it and possibly a heater underneath as well (kotatsu) is amazingly nice. It always seems a shame to destroy the cozy atmosphere when you "exchange the air", but since the space is small, it heats up again very quickly. 6) In Japan they recently came out with "smart" heaters. They have cameras which can identify people and aim jets of warm air at the people. I've never actually tried it, but people tell me they are amazing. Heating bodies, not air does not have to be low tech! 7) Within reason, getting cold and then getting warm again is a pleasurable experience. The thing I look forward to most in the winter are things like jumping into bed with a hot water bottle when you are cold (seriously, if you have never tried it, it's incredible). Eating hot soups and stews in the winter are amazing. Warming your hands with a hot cup of coffee is wonderful. When I first came to Japan, I asked an old woman what I could do to learn Japanese culture. She told me that to be Japanese is to be acutely aware of the seasons. It is the contrast that makes life interesting. In the winter it is cold and in the summer it is hot. Avoiding the season by constantly adjusting your environment robs you of that contrast. Over many years, I have learned to appreciate and enjoy that advice, although at first it was horrible ;-) With time and experience, though, I feel that I am much better off living this way. I hope this proves to be interesting to those who have never experienced this way of life.
merraksh 12y ago
Seems related to a recent news about nanowire clothes for personal heating: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856501 This said, I tried working at my computer for a few hours in a cold room with layers on but, obviously, no gloves, and my hands didn't like it. The same was at school age: to save on heating we'd only heat up the kitchen (around 19C, 65F) so my brothers and I would do our homework there instead of our rooms (15C, or 59F).
KevinMS 12y ago
I just recently got a heating pad just for this purpose. Its freezing here up in the NE. To save money (apartment has terrible insulation) I got a heating pad with a 'stay on' feature. Actually I had to get another one because my cat got the idea first and now its hers. http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-2013-912-XpressHeat-Heating-Extra/dp/B005NZ66KU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423702394&sr=8-1&keywords=heating+pad http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-2013-912-XpressHeat-Heating-Ex... Turned the apartment heat down to about 55 (it stays around 60 for some reason), and I move the heating pad back and forth with from my office chair to my lazy boy multiple times a day. Feels great, and I'm very very comfortable. It must cost almost nothing to run it all day, at least a lot less than heating a 3 bedroom apartment another 10 degrees.
- yourneighbors 12y ago
  "(it stays around 60 for some reason)" You're leeching heat from your neighbors.
  - hyperpape 12y ago
    And some larger buildings will actually attempt to charge you if they believe you are doing this. It happened to a friend of mine some years ago.
- lportion 12y ago
  It looks like it's 180W, so it would run for about 4 pence an hour (in the UK, depending on rates).
sanatgersappa 12y ago
or you could just move to the tropics ;-)
- stonlyb 12y ago
  Miami is nice this time of year. actually all year round.
Scoundreller 12y ago
3 Points: 1. Cars are moving into this with heated seats, and even heated steering wheels. Electric cars in cooler climates that don't have the excess heat production of an IC engine will depend on it to keep occupants warm. 2. There was an article a while back on HN about a fellow that had a computer desk with a heated keyboard, heated mouse, heated floor mat (designed for animal cages) and a warm incandescent light pointing at them. 3. The IoT can't happen fast enough. I want my electric blanket to talk to my HVAC system to know when to turn each other on or off. And my HVAC to interact with my flight schedule or my phone's GPS to turn up/down the temperature and know when to turn on so it's still toasty when I get home.
- roel_v 12y ago
  "The IoT can't happen fast enough. I want my electric blanket to talk to my HVAC system to know when to turn each other on or off. And my HVAC to interact with my flight schedule or my phone's GPS to turn up/down the temperature and know when to turn on so it's still toasty when I get home." I have these things right now (well, not the flight schedule thing since that happens so little that I prefer manual control) with a few hundred $ worth of home automation gear and a regular PC as the control center. Anyone with a bit of hacker mindset can build such a thing, really.
- zupreme 12y ago
  Number 3 is already here. Your electric blanket can be connected to an internet connected power strip which can be turned on an off with an IFTTT recipe. Your Nest thermostat and this can both be scripted to turn on based on yout smartphone location.
- na85 12y ago
  Heated steering wheels might seem like frivolities at first glance, but they're actually an important safety measure. Lots of people drive with only the fingertips of one hand in the cold mornings because of cold steering wheels. Heating the steering wheel encourages the driver to keep both hands on the wheel, which is particularly valuable in winter when road conditions can be poor.
  - 12y ago
wodenokoto 12y ago
At least in Japan and most parts of China, houses are poorly insulated and heating is often from aircon, which means if you want to stay warm, you wear thick clothes inside, sit under a heated blanket and what not. This sucks. Your nose and hands are still cold. If you want to move from the blanket its cold. I don't see anything that really addresses this. Yeah, the insulated chair is nice when you sit on it, but what about when you need to get a cup of coffee?
- maccard 12y ago
  Well, you could always just size up one of those heated blankets, and attach it to the wall. Maybe even combine it with a more efficient fuel source like Natural Gas, and heat water that flows through the system instead of a coil. Sounds much more efficient, especially if you have multiple people in your household. Imagine a system like that...
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    We were thinking about heated floors; still not that great, but the best you can do in a south Chinese apartment without central heating.
  - wodenokoto 12y ago
    Coming from Denmark that basically sounds like "normal" heating to me (except we usually only heat through the floor or dedicated radiators) But I really like your idea about carpeting the walls. Might do that if I end up living here long term!
    - maccard 12y ago
      I was attempting to be srcastic and explain that mounting a radiator on a wall connected to a gas boiler would be an improvement on what we have here. Also, many places in the UK and Ireland have insulation on exterior walls already.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  Ya, my wife's mom lives in south china and we just visited her over Xmas, coldest 7C I've ever had to deal with. Japan deals with poor insulation using kotatsu, and things like heated toilet and train seats. Ugh, it still sucks though.
aridiculous 12y ago
I've seen some truly amazing things done with passive solar (i.e. building your house to optimally capture sun radiation and store it. The greenhouse effect on steroids.) Some houses in Maine don't have any heating system at all; they are built on certain inclines, angled just the right way, with ideal ratios of windows to insulation. In some cases, large stones are strategically just inside the windows to retain and slowly release heat. It requires an esoteric expertise, lots of charts and graphs, and freedom to customize your plot of land. But it's awesome.
tim333 12y ago
I spent a couple of months on a mountain at temps down to -20C and high winds with no heating without getting cold by wearing a down suit like this http://www.rockrun.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/x/exped-suit__03382.jpg http://www.rockrun.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9... but I can't see it catching on. People like their comforts.
- p8952 12y ago
  They look like they start at around $1000+, which means you are looking at about 1 year before it pays itself off. Based on my estimated heating bill anyway. Additionally the biggest problem I find when turning off the heating in winter is hands and feet. You can wear gloves but then you can't type.
  - kaybe 12y ago
    I like fingerless gloves (or get cheap ones and cut the tips off), but I also know people who feel hindered by them.
    - smcl 12y ago
      I do too but endlessly explaining to colleagues\friends why I'm wearing "homeless" gloves is tiresome. I don't know why people fail to see their utility, and indeed forget the explanation after a week and ask me again :-/
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jraedisch 12y ago
A complementing approach is to teach yourself and others to tolerate lower temperatures, especially in offices and other environments, where people have to agree on a "comfy" heater setting. I wonder how much energy that could save.
- hessenwolf 12y ago
  This is really true. Where I am from, we discuss a six-week period or so when the season changes, from shitty to other-shitty, in which we say either your blood or skin thickens to the cold, or your blood thins for the warmth. (somehow, the skin never thins) I have no idea if this has any scientific basis. Anecdotally, the partner of the Columbian who shares an office with me is complaining that she is now used to colder temperatures.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  Except: fat people and thin people
  - kaybe 12y ago
    Adjust with woolen clothing. I can vary between 25°C and 15°C just by taking off stuff or putting it back on. (Also needs adjustments for movement since I warm up fast when I move.)
tomohawk 12y ago
Makes me think of this: http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
praptak 12y ago
Christopher Alexander (of the Patterns fame) gives props to this concept in "A Pattern Language": Pattern 230, "Radiant Heat":http://patterns-dev.github.io/patterns/newpat/newpat230/newpat230.htm http://patterns-dev.github.io/patterns/newpat/newpat230/newp...
erikb 12y ago
I don't know about other people but since I have to pay for heating I am deeply interested in this topic. The article provides a conclusion, but what are solution options? How to exactly use the classic principles with modern technology for more efficiency? And the second point is that I am a lot more comfortable in an air heated system than a radiator system. Having a radiator warming me means one side of me is too warm and the other too cold, also eyes and breathing pathways get dried out a lot more, and I still need more clothing. Wearing less and having no dried eyes is a clear advantage of air heating.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  Tune in next week to find out!
thewarrior 12y ago
This reminds me of Human Heater from HBO's Silicon Valley.
- jtn_001 12y ago
  Same thought, It's tagline was "Making World a Better Place" :) !! People reaction was "Brutal"
empressplay 12y ago
Down here in Australia central heating is (also) not very common, and at least around Melbourne it can dip to freezing or below throughout July and August. Generally only one room of the house is heated (often the room with the air conditioner on heat setting). Beds have electric blankets or hot water bottles, and otherwise you wear several layers if you want to be warm elsewhere. The curious thing is that gas is prevalent but gas furnaces are not, and electricity is too expensive to use to heat an entire house.
- stephen_g 12y ago
  I think it's crazy how badly we insulate our houses in Australia. I live in Brisbane, and many houses just aren't insulated at all, like old Queenslanders [1] that just let the wind blow through underneath the floorboards and in through cracks in the walls, and even new-builds hardly have any... You'd think it never gets cold here, but it really does for a couple of months at least... What you end up with is houses that cost craploads to heat or cool and just have generally terrible thermal performance. Sydney and Melbourne (that have colder winters) aren't much better... I hope to build a house eventually, and fully intend to pack it with insulation, air-seal it as much as possible, use all double-glazed windows, and then use an energy recovery ventilation system to stop condensation and mould problems and reduce the load on the heating/cooling system. From my research, it looks like even a small PV solar system on the roof should be enough to completely offset the heating and cooling costs and keep the entire building at a comfortable temperature. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenslander_%28architecture%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenslander_%28architecture%2...
- cashmonkey85 12y ago
  New Zealand is much the same with cheap uninsulated houses plus some bonus mold from a humid winter. Living in poorer korea now but the standard of living is higher just because they bother to insulate their houses.
marcusgarvey 12y ago
I remember seeing something about an idea to use individual wristbands that would give off electric impulses which would make you feel cooler or warmer. I believe some prototypes were being worked on. Wish I could recall the people / startup involved. Does it ring a bell for anyone?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ay 12y ago
  http://slice.mit.edu/2013/11/05/wristify-thermal-comfort-via-a-wrist-band/ http://slice.mit.edu/2013/11/05/wristify-thermal-comfort-via... and http://www.embrlabs.com/ http://www.embrlabs.com/ ?
  - marcusgarvey 12y ago
    Thanks!
- DanBC 12y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6646074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6646074 http://www.wired.com/2013/10/an-ingenious-wristband-that-keeps-your-body-at-the-perfect-temperature-no-ac-required/ http://www.wired.com/2013/10/an-ingenious-wristband-that-kee...
  - marcusgarvey 12y ago
    Thanks!

146 points by stonlyb 12y ago

This sounds like a good idea until mold starts growing in your house. Back in the day the houses were not insulated as tightly and people did not shower every day.

mrob 12y ago
Depending on the exact climate/heating system, the energy saved might be enough to run a dehumidifier and still come out ahead. The dehumidifier will also raise the air temperature.
- fixedd 12y ago
  Recently, I've been wondering why we use exhaust fans in bathrooms and not dehumidifiers. I might be way off base here, but it seems like taking conditioned air that's a little moist and dumping it outside and replacing it with drier unconditioned air would be less efficient than just removing the moisture from the already-conditioned air. I imagine it isn't one of those things where it's "always cheaper to do X", but there's probably a break-even point. Does anyone know how to do the math to draw that chart?
  - saiya-jin 12y ago
    too dry air ain't very good for your "mucous" membranes (nose, throat, eyes etc). You want to be sicker just to save few bucks for heating? If poor, I guess it's the only option, but otherwise having heated place is same "luxury" as say buying a cheap & good coffee in the morning instead of doing it yourself...
  - tonyarkles 12y ago
    Think about some of the other things that happen in the bathroom, and ask yourself whether you'd want that air recirculating in your house.
x1798DE 12y ago
Just a (cheap) shot in the dark, but I suspect that readers of "low tech magazine" might not shower every day either.
Theodores 12y ago
In the UK we have plenty of old houses where there is no central heating, double glazing, loft insulation or fitted carpet. Typically the windows are wood framed 'sash' windows with the walls made from quite thick stone (1 - 4+ ft thick). Heating might be just the one fireplace with the kitchen cooker also there to warm the house up. I grew up in such a house and not once did I see mould. Typically such houses were built centuries ago for 'cottage industries' such as making cloth. Back then family sizes were much larger so herds of children would also warm the place up. There might also be an actual herd of animals too - pets as well as livestock, e.g. goats. Also changed is global warming - the pipes would freeze in the 1970's. Nowadays, nada. There was an art to keeping warm. Most important - the fire. This would be open and powered by coal or wood. It would not be 'turned on' until the evening or early afternoon if it was the weekend (in winter). Once started the fire would suck air from wherever possible so that was the primary source of a draft. To mitigate the draft thick curtains would be the thing. The front door would have a curtain as would internal doors to the living room. If you wanted to keep the fire 'in' for the next day you could smother the fire in coal and keep the ashes in underneath. Air would by restricted that way so the fire would slowly burn through the available fuel. Rake it through in the morning, top up with more coal and perhaps some kindling (a word I haven't used in a while) and the fire would live another day. The default would be 'off' though. As for clothing, one word - layers. Wool rather than cotton or anything else. The layers approach also worked for the bed. If you were lucky you might have a hot water bottle, otherwise no heat in the bedrooms. Due to the thick stone walls heat would be retained in winter and cold during summer. Consequently, regardless of the time of year, there would never be 'T-Shirt' weather indoors. You would be acclimatised to the cold and expect to see your breath in most of the house mid winter. There would also be that thing where the side of you facing the fire would be red hot whilst your back would be freezing. To solve this problem you would need the air to circulate, so no standing right in front of the fire, blocking the heat, even if that was very pleasurable to do. A cast iron fire grate would be red hot and in your living room. Today's central heating does not do 'red hot' in the living room - radiators don't glow bright red like that although electric 'bar' fires get close. As for showers, a bath, once a week was it. We actually had a copper bath in front of the fire and that was filled with a hose connected to a twin-tub washing machine. Emptying the bath involved making an actual siphon, there was none of this 'plug' and 'plumbing' convenience. Needless to say it was very easy to dry off in front of the fire and towels would be toasty. Personally I prefer watching a fire to watching TV.
adrianN 12y ago
Invest ten bucks in a hygrometer and open the windows when the humidity gets too high. Mold is not caused by cold temperatures.
- fsloth 12y ago
  Mold is caused by humidity. One way to increase humidity in building's shell is to have humid air and large thermal gradients in poorly ventilated areas. Opening windows does not help in the humidity that gets into structures when air with vapour enters colder structural parts of the building and releases it's moisture. Warmer houses-> the point where moisture is released moves closer to outer wall. That's at least my laymans understanding of one of the mechanisms which affect houses.
  - saiya-jin 12y ago
    true, proper term is "dew point" I believe, that's where all the wet magic happens (however weird that sentence looks like, it's perfectly normal)

ashark 12y ago

cmd+f "pipe" 0 results found Try setting your heat to, say, 50 degrees F and you may discover you've got some cold spots in your house when the pipes there freeze and burst. Let alone if you try going for lower temperatures, or entirely without whole-house heating. So set it to the low 60s and wear layers? Welcome to what anyone who's ever been even close to poor already knows. [edit] Maybe this is more useful in places that already barely need heating. Winter lows in the 20s and 30s (F), that sort of thing.

yaddayadda 12y ago
> It makes good sense to return to this concept of heating, but that doesn't mean that we have to go back to using fireplaces and carrying burning embers around the house. While the old concept of heating is more energy-efficient, the same cannot be said of most of the old heating devices. Two problems meet one stone - hydronic heating (http://www.warmmfloors.com/ http://www.warmmfloors.com/ | http://www.hydronicheating.net/ http://www.hydronicheating.net/)
_delirium 12y ago
It's pretty common around here (Copenhagen) for people to set their radiators to around 5-8 C (40-45 F) in rooms that they aren't using, or the whole house/apartment to that temperature if they're gone for more than a day or so, to save money on heating. Most radiators have a specific "frost protection" setting, indicated by a little snowflake icon, which is set by the manufacturer or building to whatever temperature they think is suitable for frost protection (mine are at 5 C / 41 F). I haven't heard of anyone having trouble with burst pipes from this setup. Could be an issue with hollow-wall wood-frame construction and forced-air duct heating? With brick/stone construction and regularly spaced radiators, things typically won't freeze anywhere, even if you have the temperature set down to 5 C. It's also relatively uncommon for pipes here to be in outer walls; all of mine are run along or in the interior walls.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  I think as much as anything natural gas is cheap in the US. Does a house usually cool all the way down to 5 if you are gone for the day? A wood house definitely would (newer houses with better insulation might not, but many standing houses would).

alricb 12y ago

It better be cheap; it's possible to build an affordable house that is well-insulated enough that the plug loads will be higher than the heating loads. In a very cold climate, you also need to keep your house fairly warm to avoid problems like frozen pipes. Ironically, the wasted heat caused by poor building practices can help make buildings more durable by facilitating the drying of the external walls (less of a concern in Europe where houses are often made of masonry instead of wood).

jjoonathan 12y ago
Agreed. They seemed oddly insistent on pushing their implicit premise that heating large volumes of air is wasteful. http://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e8883301bb07e2eeda970d-pi http://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e8883301bb07e... However, the volume of air is not inextricably linked to energy expenditure, which only happens when heat flows down a gradient, not while it sits in a room. We can model it like a simple resistive circuit; the equations are analogous. V = I * R ∆T = P * R P is heat energy expended per time (power) ∆T is the temperature difference between hottest and coldest regions R is thermal resistance, a measure of how insulating something is Bringing the thermal gradients into the room (as opposed to holding them across the wall alone) adds a small, fixed bit of thermal resistance "in series" to what's already in the walls and windows. P = ∆T/R R = Rwall + Rroom Rwall is a function of the amount of insulation, while Rroom is fixed by the geometry of the room. If Rwall==Rroom, you can save 50% of your heating bill by huddling over your heated desk. However, if Rwall=10*Rroom, which it may well be if your house is properly insulated, you can't even save 10% of your heating bill with area heating. alricb is right: don't let the name of the site fool you. Insulation is the cheap low-tech solution that works, while spot-heating is the gimmicky high-tech solution that only works in specific circumstances and even then only after ignoring the time, money, and discomfort invested in reinventing the wheel.
- darkmighty 12y ago
  Nobody is advocating a bad insulation. You said it yourself, P ~ ∆T: I think the rationale here is to lower ∆T and provide heat to your "spot" as needed. It's probably not going "mainstream" quickly either, but it can save you some energy: it's not so wild to imagine lowering your thermostat a few degrees and get a localized heat source if you seat in that one spot most time.

athenot 12y ago

As others pointed out, this older style is more suitable for masonry homes which might be less susceptible to mold and have enough thermal inertia to prevent pipe freezing. On the flip side, you can make your house air-tight and use a heat exchanger to refresh the air while retaining the heat: that's the concept of Passive Houses[0]. Not suitable for cooling down hot & humid air (you'd have a condensation problem) but definitely an option for heating a home. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

stephen_g 12y ago
There's a section there that talks about hot climates - you use an energy recovery ventilation system instead of heat recovery.

username223 12y ago

I'm disappointed not to see anything about "Human Heater." Just microwave 'em!

GregBuchholz 12y ago

They've got nothing on this guy: Micro heaters cut 87% off my electric heat bill http://www.richsoil.com/electric-heat.jsp http://www.richsoil.com/electric-heat.jsp

vinceguidry 12y ago
One winter when I was younger and had my own apartment, I was shocked by how much it cost to heat the whole townhouse, so I shut the heat off, enclosed my computer desk with a 5' x 5' x 6' PVC framework over which I draped blankets. Inside was a space heater that I only had to run for 10 minutes to get the whole space nice and toasty. Moved out next year.

jdietrich 12y ago

Motorcyclists provide an interesting example of this principle. The extreme windchill experienced by motorcyclists makes it very difficult to keep warm - a rider travelling at 70mph at 0°C experiences a windchill of -18°C. Many riders in northern climates use electrically heated underclothing, which, in conjunction with an insulated outer layer, can keep a rider warm with just a few watts. Better battery technology could make such garments commonplace.

Mister_Snuggles 12y ago
Milwaukee Tool came out with a line of heated jackets, powered by the same batteries that power their drills and other tools. I believe the red ones were the first ones out, then they saw a market in the hunting crowd and came out with the camouflage version. http://www.milwaukeetool.ca/heated-gear http://www.milwaukeetool.ca/heated-gear
Mandatum 12y ago
In Rarotonga in the winter months you can buy puffer jackets with copper wiring sewn to the inside with a 9V battery.
- mistermann 12y ago
  Very cool....how long does it last?
  - gambiting 12y ago
    http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/04/columbia-omni-heat-circuit-breaker-softshell-electric-heated-j/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/04/columbia-omni-heat-circui... Apparently 5.5h on maximum power,which is pretty impressive.
  - draven 12y ago
    Some heated motorcycle jackets can be plugged to the bike's battery (you just have to install the plug somewhere accessible and connect it to the battery.) Then when you get on your bike you just have to connect your jacket and off you go. The alternator provides the power during your ride. For ex. stuff like that: http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbing-12v-ex-heated-jacket http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/gerbing-12v-ex-heated-jac... Together with heated grips, cold is not an issue.

mikekchar 12y ago

I find it interesting that they continually use the past tense in the article. While it is true that the west has largely abandoned these ideas, they are still very strong in the more temperate climates of Asia. I live in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. It does not get very cold here compared to my home town of Winnipeg, Canada. On the very coldest days it might just dip below freezing at night. While some people heat their homes, my experience is that most do not. It took me a long time to get used to it, but I prefer living this way. Since most people have not experienced it, I will point out a few things. 1) I would not do this if the normal daytime temperature was not above freezing. People's comments about water pipes bursting, etc, etc are right on. But more to the point, it's just plain dangerous for your health. Instead, I would heat the house to just above 5 degrees C (41 F) (see next point). 2) From experience, 5 degrees is the point at which my body starts to have trouble. Below that, my extremities shut down and frostbite is absolutely certain unless I am careful. Also, if you do not pay attention to your body, it is easy to get too cold. This can raise your blood pressure. Then when you warm yourself up, your blood pressure can crash. This can give you severe headaches and can even be quite dangerous. To be honest, I'm actually fine down to freezing temps if I pay attention, but the point at which I need to pay attention seems to be about 5 degrees C. 3) Baths/showers. Some people commented about mold. Where I live, mold is a constant problem because in the summer it often goes weeks on end without the temperature dropping below 30C (86F) even at night. Humidity is usually in the 80% range. So we have mold problems all the time. The key is to wipe down the surfaces with a towel after you have a bath and to air things out frequently (see next point). But a bath/shower (preferably bath) is practically mandatory when it is very cold. If you don't warm yourself up at least a few times a day, you will have health problems. The best time is right before you go to bed (this took a lot of getting used to!). That's the time your body needs the heat the most. 4) Airing out the house. The thing I could never figure out about Japanese culture was opening the windows in the middle of winter every hour or so to "exchange the air". Many people will use a small kerosene heater, so you need to do this so that you don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning. We use a charcoal hibachi (ceramic vase with ashes -- not a BBQ) to heat small areas and need to do the same. But even if you are using fancy electric radiant heaters (see below), Japanese people air out their houses frequently. That's because they aren't heating the air. I now do it religiously too and I'm convinced that it makes me feel better (the old me would think me absolutely crazy and probably many people reading this think so too!) 5) Even though you are heating bodies, not air, it is best to create small microclimates as stated in the article. Sliding paper doors and shoji screens are the traditional way of doing it in Japan. A low coffee table with a blanket over it and possibly a heater underneath as well (kotatsu) is amazingly nice. It always seems a shame to destroy the cozy atmosphere when you "exchange the air", but since the space is small, it heats up again very quickly. 6) In Japan they recently came out with "smart" heaters. They have cameras which can identify people and aim jets of warm air at the people. I've never actually tried it, but people tell me they are amazing. Heating bodies, not air does not have to be low tech! 7) Within reason, getting cold and then getting warm again is a pleasurable experience. The thing I look forward to most in the winter are things like jumping into bed with a hot water bottle when you are cold (seriously, if you have never tried it, it's incredible). Eating hot soups and stews in the winter are amazing. Warming your hands with a hot cup of coffee is wonderful. When I first came to Japan, I asked an old woman what I could do to learn Japanese culture. She told me that to be Japanese is to be acutely aware of the seasons. It is the contrast that makes life interesting. In the winter it is cold and in the summer it is hot. Avoiding the season by constantly adjusting your environment robs you of that contrast. Over many years, I have learned to appreciate and enjoy that advice, although at first it was horrible ;-) With time and experience, though, I feel that I am much better off living this way. I hope this proves to be interesting to those who have never experienced this way of life.

merraksh 12y ago

Seems related to a recent news about nanowire clothes for personal heating: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8856501 This said, I tried working at my computer for a few hours in a cold room with layers on but, obviously, no gloves, and my hands didn't like it. The same was at school age: to save on heating we'd only heat up the kitchen (around 19C, 65F) so my brothers and I would do our homework there instead of our rooms (15C, or 59F).

KevinMS 12y ago

I just recently got a heating pad just for this purpose. Its freezing here up in the NE. To save money (apartment has terrible insulation) I got a heating pad with a 'stay on' feature. Actually I had to get another one because my cat got the idea first and now its hers. http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-2013-912-XpressHeat-Heating-Extra/dp/B005NZ66KU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423702394&sr=8-1&keywords=heating+pad http://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-2013-912-XpressHeat-Heating-Ex... Turned the apartment heat down to about 55 (it stays around 60 for some reason), and I move the heating pad back and forth with from my office chair to my lazy boy multiple times a day. Feels great, and I'm very very comfortable. It must cost almost nothing to run it all day, at least a lot less than heating a 3 bedroom apartment another 10 degrees.

yourneighbors 12y ago
"(it stays around 60 for some reason)" You're leeching heat from your neighbors.
- hyperpape 12y ago
  And some larger buildings will actually attempt to charge you if they believe you are doing this. It happened to a friend of mine some years ago.
lportion 12y ago
It looks like it's 180W, so it would run for about 4 pence an hour (in the UK, depending on rates).

sanatgersappa 12y ago

or you could just move to the tropics ;-)

stonlyb 12y ago
Miami is nice this time of year. actually all year round.

Scoundreller 12y ago

3 Points: 1. Cars are moving into this with heated seats, and even heated steering wheels. Electric cars in cooler climates that don't have the excess heat production of an IC engine will depend on it to keep occupants warm. 2. There was an article a while back on HN about a fellow that had a computer desk with a heated keyboard, heated mouse, heated floor mat (designed for animal cages) and a warm incandescent light pointing at them. 3. The IoT can't happen fast enough. I want my electric blanket to talk to my HVAC system to know when to turn each other on or off. And my HVAC to interact with my flight schedule or my phone's GPS to turn up/down the temperature and know when to turn on so it's still toasty when I get home.

roel_v 12y ago
"The IoT can't happen fast enough. I want my electric blanket to talk to my HVAC system to know when to turn each other on or off. And my HVAC to interact with my flight schedule or my phone's GPS to turn up/down the temperature and know when to turn on so it's still toasty when I get home." I have these things right now (well, not the flight schedule thing since that happens so little that I prefer manual control) with a few hundred $ worth of home automation gear and a regular PC as the control center. Anyone with a bit of hacker mindset can build such a thing, really.
zupreme 12y ago
Number 3 is already here. Your electric blanket can be connected to an internet connected power strip which can be turned on an off with an IFTTT recipe. Your Nest thermostat and this can both be scripted to turn on based on yout smartphone location.
na85 12y ago
Heated steering wheels might seem like frivolities at first glance, but they're actually an important safety measure. Lots of people drive with only the fingertips of one hand in the cold mornings because of cold steering wheels. Heating the steering wheel encourages the driver to keep both hands on the wheel, which is particularly valuable in winter when road conditions can be poor.
- 12y ago

wodenokoto 12y ago

At least in Japan and most parts of China, houses are poorly insulated and heating is often from aircon, which means if you want to stay warm, you wear thick clothes inside, sit under a heated blanket and what not. This sucks. Your nose and hands are still cold. If you want to move from the blanket its cold. I don't see anything that really addresses this. Yeah, the insulated chair is nice when you sit on it, but what about when you need to get a cup of coffee?

maccard 12y ago
Well, you could always just size up one of those heated blankets, and attach it to the wall. Maybe even combine it with a more efficient fuel source like Natural Gas, and heat water that flows through the system instead of a coil. Sounds much more efficient, especially if you have multiple people in your household. Imagine a system like that...
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  We were thinking about heated floors; still not that great, but the best you can do in a south Chinese apartment without central heating.
- wodenokoto 12y ago
  Coming from Denmark that basically sounds like "normal" heating to me (except we usually only heat through the floor or dedicated radiators) But I really like your idea about carpeting the walls. Might do that if I end up living here long term!
  - maccard 12y ago
    I was attempting to be srcastic and explain that mounting a radiator on a wall connected to a gas boiler would be an improvement on what we have here. Also, many places in the UK and Ireland have insulation on exterior walls already.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
Ya, my wife's mom lives in south china and we just visited her over Xmas, coldest 7C I've ever had to deal with. Japan deals with poor insulation using kotatsu, and things like heated toilet and train seats. Ugh, it still sucks though.

aridiculous 12y ago

I've seen some truly amazing things done with passive solar (i.e. building your house to optimally capture sun radiation and store it. The greenhouse effect on steroids.) Some houses in Maine don't have any heating system at all; they are built on certain inclines, angled just the right way, with ideal ratios of windows to insulation. In some cases, large stones are strategically just inside the windows to retain and slowly release heat. It requires an esoteric expertise, lots of charts and graphs, and freedom to customize your plot of land. But it's awesome.

tim333 12y ago

I spent a couple of months on a mountain at temps down to -20C and high winds with no heating without getting cold by wearing a down suit like this http://www.rockrun.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/x/exped-suit__03382.jpg http://www.rockrun.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9... but I can't see it catching on. People like their comforts.

p8952 12y ago
They look like they start at around $1000+, which means you are looking at about 1 year before it pays itself off. Based on my estimated heating bill anyway. Additionally the biggest problem I find when turning off the heating in winter is hands and feet. You can wear gloves but then you can't type.
- kaybe 12y ago
  I like fingerless gloves (or get cheap ones and cut the tips off), but I also know people who feel hindered by them.
  - smcl 12y ago
    I do too but endlessly explaining to colleagues\friends why I'm wearing "homeless" gloves is tiresome. I don't know why people fail to see their utility, and indeed forget the explanation after a week and ask me again :-/

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

jraedisch 12y ago

A complementing approach is to teach yourself and others to tolerate lower temperatures, especially in offices and other environments, where people have to agree on a "comfy" heater setting. I wonder how much energy that could save.

hessenwolf 12y ago
This is really true. Where I am from, we discuss a six-week period or so when the season changes, from shitty to other-shitty, in which we say either your blood or skin thickens to the cold, or your blood thins for the warmth. (somehow, the skin never thins) I have no idea if this has any scientific basis. Anecdotally, the partner of the Columbian who shares an office with me is complaining that she is now used to colder temperatures.
SixSigma 12y ago
Except: fat people and thin people
- kaybe 12y ago
  Adjust with woolen clothing. I can vary between 25°C and 15°C just by taking off stuff or putting it back on. (Also needs adjustments for movement since I warm up fast when I move.)

tomohawk 12y ago

Makes me think of this: http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

praptak 12y ago

Christopher Alexander (of the Patterns fame) gives props to this concept in "A Pattern Language": Pattern 230, "Radiant Heat":http://patterns-dev.github.io/patterns/newpat/newpat230/newpat230.htm http://patterns-dev.github.io/patterns/newpat/newpat230/newp...

erikb 12y ago

I don't know about other people but since I have to pay for heating I am deeply interested in this topic. The article provides a conclusion, but what are solution options? How to exactly use the classic principles with modern technology for more efficiency? And the second point is that I am a lot more comfortable in an air heated system than a radiator system. Having a radiator warming me means one side of me is too warm and the other too cold, also eyes and breathing pathways get dried out a lot more, and I still need more clothing. Wearing less and having no dried eyes is a clear advantage of air heating.

SixSigma 12y ago
Tune in next week to find out!

thewarrior 12y ago

This reminds me of Human Heater from HBO's Silicon Valley.

jtn_001 12y ago
Same thought, It's tagline was "Making World a Better Place" :) !! People reaction was "Brutal"

empressplay 12y ago

Down here in Australia central heating is (also) not very common, and at least around Melbourne it can dip to freezing or below throughout July and August. Generally only one room of the house is heated (often the room with the air conditioner on heat setting). Beds have electric blankets or hot water bottles, and otherwise you wear several layers if you want to be warm elsewhere. The curious thing is that gas is prevalent but gas furnaces are not, and electricity is too expensive to use to heat an entire house.

stephen_g 12y ago
I think it's crazy how badly we insulate our houses in Australia. I live in Brisbane, and many houses just aren't insulated at all, like old Queenslanders [1] that just let the wind blow through underneath the floorboards and in through cracks in the walls, and even new-builds hardly have any... You'd think it never gets cold here, but it really does for a couple of months at least... What you end up with is houses that cost craploads to heat or cool and just have generally terrible thermal performance. Sydney and Melbourne (that have colder winters) aren't much better... I hope to build a house eventually, and fully intend to pack it with insulation, air-seal it as much as possible, use all double-glazed windows, and then use an energy recovery ventilation system to stop condensation and mould problems and reduce the load on the heating/cooling system. From my research, it looks like even a small PV solar system on the roof should be enough to completely offset the heating and cooling costs and keep the entire building at a comfortable temperature. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenslander_%28architecture%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenslander_%28architecture%2...
cashmonkey85 12y ago
New Zealand is much the same with cheap uninsulated houses plus some bonus mold from a humid winter. Living in poorer korea now but the standard of living is higher just because they bother to insulate their houses.

marcusgarvey 12y ago

I remember seeing something about an idea to use individual wristbands that would give off electric impulses which would make you feel cooler or warmer. I believe some prototypes were being worked on. Wish I could recall the people / startup involved. Does it ring a bell for anyone?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ay 12y ago
http://slice.mit.edu/2013/11/05/wristify-thermal-comfort-via-a-wrist-band/ http://slice.mit.edu/2013/11/05/wristify-thermal-comfort-via... and http://www.embrlabs.com/ http://www.embrlabs.com/ ?
- marcusgarvey 12y ago
  Thanks!
DanBC 12y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6646074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6646074 http://www.wired.com/2013/10/an-ingenious-wristband-that-keeps-your-body-at-the-perfect-temperature-no-ac-required/ http://www.wired.com/2013/10/an-ingenious-wristband-that-kee...
- marcusgarvey 12y ago
  Thanks!