Nothing really. My apartment is quite warm for reasons unclear to me. Maybe residual heat from neighbours
Which means that if they turn off their heating, you'll be affected too.
Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
111–120 of 153 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#112I have a fireplace at home. Perhaps I might want to go seek some wood for it. Everything will be fine though, unless there are widespread blackouts, which I doubt (Switzerland’s electric energy balance is sane enough).
Most of the heat from a fireplace goes right up the chimney. I don't know what your options are in Switzerland, but a wood stove or a fireplace insert might be worth looking at. If you have a supply of wood, of course.
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#113Are people actually going to freeze? My understanding so far is that industry will freeze (as needed) so that all the reserves can be used for people. I get a feeling that this crisis is becoming more media-gorging-on-crisis-clicks than it is an objective analysis.
> Are people actually going to freeze?
If I had to guess, I'd say much more than usual, but not a calamitous amount like millions or anything. Every winter, elderly who can't take good care of themselves succumb to cold or illness. For one winter, I'd say that most average people will be able to survive, albeit uncomfortably doing things like burning through their remaining savings or getting deeper into debt, huddling in bed together or wearing thick layers indoors, and finding trees to chop down for wood if desperate.
This prediction is just for 1 winter. If this situation lasts until the next winter, people/governments will be even more screwed financially by then and the outcome will likely be calamitous then.
> My understanding so far is that industry will freeze (as needed) so that all the reserves can be used for people.
Real economies aren't video games that have a pause button. We learned during Covid that shutdowns that are labeled as temporary are not so. Supply chains get ruined: machines and spare parts and needed chemicals get harder and harder to find. Businesses can't afford to pay rent and wages for months with no income and have to shut down. Truly skilled employees with real domain knowledge use the shutdown to retire early or change careers and their knowledge of processes is lost. Etc.
And this isn't a normal time where the governments of the world can really go further and extend themselves to really help and minimize the impact: they blew themselves out financially overreacting to Covid and are insisting on blowing out whatever remaining financial resources they might have to endlessly signal their virtue against Putin.
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my case the problem is that I literally can’t work (meaning, program) if the temperature is less than 22C. Warm clothing, hot drinks, nothing helps. Tried many times. Hope that electric heating will still be legal.
Heat the space immediately around you. Don't bother with central heating. Get a small electric blanket that you can have on your lap. If you are feeling more adventurous I got through a cold winter where the heating broke when I was a student with a mix of warm clothing, blankets, and doing exercises to keep warm. When you start getting cold, do some press-ups/squats etc. If you are feeling really adventurous I would…
I'd say heat the person, not the space. Following on from the Electric Blanket mention, I'd recommend a heated vest. I have one made by Arris [1], and it has a 7.4V battery. Following a tip in an Amazon review, I
contacted their customer services and got a voucher for a second battery at half price.
Last winter, I used it a lot when WFH to avoid the temptation of using the boost on the central heating. With two batteries, one can be charging while the other is in use. According to my meter plug it was economical to charge.
I found it worked best with a thin base layer underneath the heated vest, and a good fleece over it. There are several heating areas on the front and back, and I found that the battery lasted best by starting at the highest heat setting and then stepping down through the levels as I warmed up. Very useful when sitting still long periods at your computer. And of course the advantage over a blanket or electric fan is that you can walk around with it on.
[1] https://www.arrislife.com/products/arris-heated-vest-size-ad...
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#115[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#116> It's not like we can just store energy right?
Yes, you can purchase lithium-ion-phosphate batteries, charger/inverters, and high-gauge conductors readily on Amazon and Aliexpress.
> Stocking up on foods if the prices increase too much?
I mean, you should already have a chest freezer stocked with meats, 500 gallons of water, and 400lbs of dry rice/wheat/beans, as a bare minimum, right?
Or are you one of those people who considered preppers "crazy", and deserve exactly what's coming for not procuring basic insurance whilst denigrating the people who did for their "insanity"?
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amongst the many conceits of people like you is that there is such a thing as "enough". If only you give Putin X (Crimea, Donbas, Ukraine, Moldova, Baltics), he will calm down and everything will be alright. The only 'enough' an empire knows is when it collapses.
Where is your outrage against Israel who shell and attack the Gaza strip and who steal land from the Palestinians in the West Bank? Where is your outrage when the USA attacks a foreign country with impunity and kills tens of thousands of "collateral damage" civillians in order to gain access to oil and gas resources or strategic trade routes or military positions? .... all i hear is your silence But when Russia does…
> when Russia does something to protect their border, ooooohhh, big bad russia
That’s funny, I didn’t realize that Ukraine was inside of Russia’s borders. I thought it was it’s own sovereign country.
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#118Quoted post unavailable.
Putin, but cutting off the gas without any warning, only showed everyone that relying on Russia's gas so much was pure insanity in the first place. Now, Europe will pay the price for that stupidity. Hopefully, it won't be that high and things will come back to normal in a couple of years. BTW, I wonder if US is paying attention. It's no longer 1940s when the US manufacturing output won WWII, now the US are mainly peo…
The US is still has the second largest manufacturing output in the world.
This also isn’t the 1940s anymore in the sense that, while the world and the US are particularly dependent on China, China is also dependent on the rest of the world. Supply chains are global and span multiple countries for even basic items.
Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#119Re: Ask HN: How do I/you prep for the energy crisis in EU?
#120Same as you really. Turned off an extra fridge we could live without. May turn off some other devices over night, but as they're all energy saving they probably won't make much difference. I did get a massively reduced bill last month though. The only thing I can really ascribe that to is only filling the kettle with minimal water, and getting my son to turn his gaming pc off when he's not using it!
I have been seeing this meme about the kettle recently. I ran the numbers and you are talking a few cents per boil even at current energy prices. You’d have to be drinking truly epic amounts of tea to see it affect your electric bill.
I do drink epic amounts of tea!
But I'm sure it really isn't responsible for the vast majority of my energy usage. Its the only real change I made though over the last month, so not sure why my usage has dropped...