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Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

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Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#131

Post by bandrami »

mylifeandtimes wrote: post #60
lwansbrough wrote: post #9

Europeans don’t get scolded enough for their resistance to air conditioning. In terms of accounting for preventable deaths, Greece has 2x more heat-related deaths per capita annually than Mississippi has gun deaths. By comparison, the worst US state for heat related deaths, Nevada - a literal desert - has >10x fewer deaths per capita than Greece.

Air conditioning only works for things inside of buildings. Not so good for the plants and animals our lives depend on. And it raises the heat outside of buildings. Not so good for people who have to be outside, think first responders etc. "just turn on the AC and keep burning the world down" isn't really the answer.

I have a proposal to place a small, intelligent demon in every windowsill in the UK...

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#132

Post by jdkoeck »

germandiago wrote: post #46
shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

[flagged]

Thousands will die, but one guy went jogging at 40 degrees outside so it’s okay.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#133

Post by [deleted] »

JadeNB wrote: post #96
lwansbrough wrote: post #9

Europeans don’t get scolded enough for their resistance to air conditioning. In terms of accounting for preventable deaths, Greece has 2x more heat-related deaths per capita annually than Mississippi has gun deaths. By comparison, the worst US state for heat related deaths, Nevada - a literal desert - has >10x fewer deaths per capita than Greece.

I don't mean to pick on an irrelevant detail, but I genuinely don't know how to parse ">10x fewer deaths per capita." Does it mean "fewer than 1/10 as many deaths per capita," i.e., the ratio (heat related deaths in Nevada per capita)/(heat related deaths in Greece per capita) is less than 1/10?

[deleted]

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#134

Post by jackyinger »

chmod775 wrote: post #100
Noaidi wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No it doesn't. Yes, it does. It may be small temperature increase but AC use increases outside temperatures. It is just physics. Here is a simple diagram: https://www.lozierheatingcooling.com/filesimages/heatPump.jp...

This effect is temporary. Otherwise one could run their AC once for a few minutes and then it'd be cold inside your home for the rest of the year until you turn up heating. In reality equilibrium is restored quickly (and the thermal mass we're cooling/heating here is insignificant anyhow).

That heat goes out into the world, it doesn’t just disappear

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#135

Post by jdkoeck »

cjonas wrote: post #51
germandiago wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I've always assumed there is some sort of "acclimation" period, maybe even related to the conditions you grew up in. I much would rather spend a time outside in -40c (with proper outerwear) than 40c. I'm relatively healthy but I feel like my body shuts down at anything above 36c

That’s because you pay attention to your body and you’re not in denial. Above 37 degrees, your body cannot regulate itself, and it starts being seriously uncomfortable before that. Going outside for a run when it’s 40 is unbelievably stupid.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#136

Post by g-b-r »

stronglikedan wrote: post #50
g-b-r wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had the US not used air conditioning so much we probably wouldn't have this heatwave right now. Oh but what's the problem, just add more air conditioning! :facepalm:

> Had the US not used air conditioning so much we probably wouldn't have this heatwave right now. Sure we would, since AC has nothing to do with it.

I don't know, for example... https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2024/08/28/air-conditionin...

But climate change is bullshit, right?

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#137

Post by _ihaque »

jackyinger wrote: post #128
1970-01-01 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Sure the sun is a proximal cause… But are you really going to tell me that you me that tho evidence that temperatures are getting warmer is bunk? For starters check out the top diagram here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change# Would you argue against the physics of greenhouse gases? https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-pinpoint-the-quant... Are you too young to have noticed climate changes over time in…

This is an uncharitable take on the original comment which literally said:

> the fact this is how hot it will be from now on

That sounds to me like an acknowledgement that, in fact, the climate has changed.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#138

Post by ericd »

jackyinger wrote: post #134
chmod775 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This effect is temporary. Otherwise one could run their AC once for a few minutes and then it'd be cold inside your home for the rest of the year until you turn up heating. In reality equilibrium is restored quickly (and the thermal mass we're cooling/heating here is insignificant anyhow).

That heat goes out into the world, it doesn’t just disappear

Eventually radiates out into space ;-) It doesn’t disappear, but we don’t need to care much about infrared passing Alpha Centauri.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#139

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Noaidi wrote: post #113
Larrikin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give a chart with actual numbers on the increase in temperature versus the sun. Not a diagram from an elementary science textbook on how air conditioners work.

I’m not debating that the sun is stronger heating source. I’m just saying air-conditioning increases climate change because it uses fossil fuels and also the law of thermodynamics dictates that he will be created in this instance.

> I’m just saying air-conditioning increases climate change because it uses fossil fuels

It would actually be a much better global warming mitigation strategy to install bidirectional heat pumps (A/C in the summer, heat in the winter) that runs on electricity (which is increasingly produced using renewables) and then get rid of fossil-fuel burning furnaces.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#140

Post by basisword »

jdkoeck wrote: post #122
basisword wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Double glazing is very expensive but no one in Europe would go without it. This isn’t true. I’ve lived in 3 places in London with single glazing. They’re surprisingly common. All new properties come with it but the majority of our housing stock is old. There’s also little comparison between air con and double glazing. One will be helpful for 4-6 months of the year and reduce my energy bills. The other will be nece…

Unless the aircon is a heat pump, in which case it’s also useful in the winter, it’s more efficient and carbon neutral if your electricity grid is decarbonised. If most people can’t afford a heat pump, why do we entertain the idea of making them pay an order of magnitude more to better insulate their home, which doesn’t even work in the end? You’ve been misinformed by European media. Please do your research, it’s all…

I don't think you have any conception of how little money most people have. Why would I spend £15-20k I don't have on a heat pump so I can get 'free' air con when my house is already heated via another method? Most people don't have £500 spare for a portable air con unit.

On top of that, until a few months ago, government subsidies for heat pumps didn't apply to the versions that include air con so anyone who did get a heat pump didn't get that version.

>> why do we entertain the idea of making them pay an order of magnitude more to better insulate their home

We don't. There have been various schemes over the last couple of decades where people could have this done for free or at very low cost.

>> You’ve been misinformed by European media. Please do your research, it’s all online.

I suggest you do the same.

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