Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Heat people, not spaces (2015)

solar.lowtechmagazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 335 posts

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#181

Post by screamingpots »

I'm in UK (south east). I work in tech, working from home. I very rarely put the heating on. The best part of not putting the heating on is that I've had my garden doors open almost every day through the winter. I mostly work at my laptop, just inside sitting on a comfy sofa, right next to the outdoors.

In December I was mostly opening the doors about midday just for the afternoon, but since mid to late January I'm back to opening the doors mostly from about 9 in the morning again, right through to the end of the working day.

To do this and remain comfortable I have to put on extra layers. When I go out the extra layers come off.

Weirdly, this is the first winter in a long time I've not really felt cold at all. I think it's because previous winters I've been working in an office heated to 20C+, and this year I've acclimatised slowly from the summer.

When I have put the heating on, I get hot real quick unless I start taking layers off, and actually it's easier to turn the heating off.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#182

Post by xigoi »

wolverine876 wrote: post #178
novok wrote: post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

> An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. We can sit and imagine problems with every course of action, and never step forward. In my life, I've never had the quoted problem and I've never heard anyone else say it's a problem. On my list of things to worry about, this ranks near the bot…

Do you wear gloves indoors? If not, aren't your hands colder? If yes, how do you cook or work with a computer?

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#183

Post by refurb »

jerojero wrote: post #115
novok wrote: post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

Yeah, but is that sort of discomfort worth the energy usage of heating the entire room? An alternative is also, as it is mentioned in the article, to warm certain spots in a room instead of the whole of it.

At peak I was using about $2 per day of gas to keep my place at 70F versus 60F.

I could skip buying a coffee and more than make up for it.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#184

Post by wolverine876 »

olegious wrote: post #137
mc32 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One place you still need heat is the shower. Maybe some people are okay with taking a shower in 45F ambient temps, but I would resist it.

You’d be surprised how quickly you can get used to cold showers. I’ve been only cold showering for about 5 years now

I love these ideas both just for the joy of tinkering (which many on HN will understand), to experiment with saving resources, and to actually save a little:

In the summer I take cold and cool showers. It struck me that it's a bit insane to consume energy cooling my home, and then using hot water to heat myself up again. Just leave home a little warmer and the cool shower feels great - less AC, less water heating, and happier results.

Also, I took a trip to a poorer country where people, lacking plumbing, bathed using buckets and a big cup. I tried it and it worked fine[0] - almost no drawback at all, just a different habit. I need far less water to shower than I imagined and if I can, turn the water on and off as I shower. Unfortunately, it requires a shower control that is one lever that retains its heat setting; resetting the temperature every time is too cumbersome.

[0] To be clear, I am not at all implying that those people shouldn't have plumbing (they should) or that I was trying to experience poverty in any way (a ridiculous notion, considering where I came from and where I was returning to). I just saw that it worked fine and tried it.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#185

Post by asdff »

novok wrote: post #60

An issue with keeping yourself warm with clothing is some hotspots get too warm, and others too cold. Like the armpits usually get too warm, but your exposed hands too cold. If your slippers have sheep's wool in them, like ugg slippers, then they often sweat a lot or feel a little wet while simultaneously feeling cold at times, or warm enough. Most sweaters are also not designed to keep your armpits a little bit cool…

There's actually a lot of athletic wear and other clothing that has vents for the armpits if this is an issue for you

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#186

Post by nwallin »

I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and got a CPAP machine. It has the option to control temperature and humidity in the air that's pumped through it. A few weeks ago my heater went out. Nothing serious, but it took a week to get it fixed. I'm in Southern California, so it's not like life or death or anything.

It turns out if you just turn the heat up in your CPAP machine it works fantastically well as a personal heater. It would be 45°F in my house, 80°F coming out of my CPAP machine, and I'd be lying in bed under a sheet with no pajamas and sweating. I actually had to turn the temperature down to 76°F get a good night's sleep.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#187

Post by wolverine876 »

At night, the heat is off. Just a warm comforter is plenty in almost any weather, and the cool air feels great. In fact, I always try to position the head of my bed near a window and even in cold weather, at least crack open the window - breathing fresh air all night feels great.

For anyone who has gone camping, they know that a warm enough sleeping bag is fine, no problem at all, and again, the fresh air is a wonderful part of the experience.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#188

Post by silisili »

jiggunjer wrote: post #172
MrRobotics wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The energy savings from spot cooling with fans can be incredible compared to AC. A garage AC unit consumes ~1300W while a 20” fan consumes about ~150W. My startup, Following Fan, has built a person-tracking 20” fan that uses computer vision to automatically stay pointed at the user as they move around. This technology provides the location agnostic benefits of AC with the energy consumption of fans.

But ac also reduce humidity. Fans just blow air, at high humidity and high temps the fan would be useless?

Yeah, this is a big one for people in humid climates.

Here, it doesn't get that cold in the winter, but the house gets absolutely balmy and gross feeling. I have to turn the AC on just to get some humidity out of the air, despite it being in the 60s or 70s.

I have a dehumidifier also, but it can't do the job alone. It's really weird seeing how much water it sucks out of the air.

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#189

Post by refurb »

shaneofalltrad wrote: post #156

What about your lungs? There is a reason tropical animals die with respiratory diseases when using heat pads in their inclosure over warming the air.

Your nasal passages and airways do any amazing job or co diction if air before it gets deep into the lungs.

Tropical animals don’t since they don’t need it

Re: Heat people, not spaces (2015)

#190

Post by jaynetics »

screamingpots wrote: post #181

I'm in UK (south east). I work in tech, working from home. I very rarely put the heating on. The best part of not putting the heating on is that I've had my garden doors open almost every day through the winter. I mostly work at my laptop, just inside sitting on a comfy sofa, right next to the outdoors. In December I was mostly opening the doors about midday just for the afternoon, but since mid to late January I'm b…

I stopped heating out of necessity when I was a poor student and made the same discovery. It's funny how when you go outdoors with other people they are freezing and you feel super comfy. I seriously think that about 3/4 of Europeans could get by without any heating for about 3/4 of winter time. Well, as long as the gulf stream holds up anyways.
Post reply on HN