Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave • Hacker News Board

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#101

Post by KingOfCoders » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:48 AM UTC

sschueller wrote: post #92

35mm wrote: post #65

Instead of relying solely on air conditioning, which often adds to greenhouse gas emissions if run on fossil power, there are a number of passive solar design strategies that work without additional energy: - Solar chimneys draw cool air in when it’s sunny via pressure differential - Building orientation along with natural shading from deciduous trees prevent excessive solar insolation heating the building - Building…

Somehow this has been lost over the years. I can especially see this in Zürich Switzerland where new office buildings being built are awful and there seems little thinking about temperature. Everything is managed by complex air systems to move air from one area to the other. On the other hand you go into a 200+ year old building and you notice it's cool in summer although there is no air conditioning. The building is…

I would assume it's mostly the thicker walls, at least it was this case in Berlin with older buildings staying cool for a long time because it took months to heat the walls. Then those walls were warm in winter and it took months to cool them down (though it didn't work very well in the last very hot summers that were hot early on)

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#102

Post by moffkalast » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:49 AM UTC

gkalbert wrote: post #59

nikanj wrote: post #4

India has been happily buying discount fossil fuels from Russia. Foot, meet gun

Countries with secure energy reserves are sitting on the moral high horse right now. Similar to the India criticism above, in Europe it is always Germany that is criticized for importing natural gas from Russia. This week it turned out that Poland and Bulgaria (which Russia has just cut off) relied to the order of 45% and 90% on Russian gas. Poland is now re-importing Russian gas from Germany! Other European countrie…

Still it's easier to lay blame on the richest country in Europe for picking the cheaper and dirtier option while they could do better, than Poland for trying to pull itself out of poverty. Not to mention a large chunk of Germany's gas is used by the chemical industry, which is kind of like saying "we're gonna keep buying Russian gas to not hurt our profit margins".

What we should really be doing is following France's shining example of complete nuclear power independence, but the time for that was 15 years ago and we're basically all fucked right now.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#103

Post by magpi3 » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:50 AM UTC

kortilla wrote: post #68

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it and I thought it was pretty dumb. Much much too optimistic for my understanding of the situation. My main gripe with it was that it leaves the reader thinking that climate change can be combatted with sensibility and reason. The idea that our global elites will come to their senses if we shove a few incidents in front of their faces goes against the fundamental narcissistic arc western civilization is curre…

China is left out because the government behavior there for the past few decades has been to deprioritize climate change entirely. Until they take some kind of initiative in leading the world in reducing CO2, European countries are likely where this innovation will be. Right now both the US and China are the problem, this has nothing to do with “white”.

I am in Shenzhen, and have been told by friends that it is impossible to get a license for gas powered cars. There is a strong push for all cars to be electric, electric bikes are everywhere, and all buses are electric. And China is making a push towards renewables and to reduce their dependence on coal, if only to combat air pollution.

Maybe they don't talk about climate change as the reason perse, but it is wrong to say they are doing nothing, and in fact I would argue they have done much more than I see in my native country (the U.S.).

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#104

Post by K0balt » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:50 AM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #50

And here in the western world, people still don't like using public transport and their bikes (when they can). It's difficult to be optimistic, but it seems there is nothing that will truly limit fossil fuel consumption. Maybe some oil producing countries could get in some sort of alliance, and artificially limit the amount of oil they extract, in return for subsidies? Those countries could also put a tariff on oil.…

It doesn’t matter. We are now in a feedback loop that will take us to +20c regardless . Geoengineering is our only hope.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#105

Post by K0balt » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:51 AM UTC

Ekaros wrote: post #63

pawsforthought wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is nature going to put a stop to our rape of this planet by directly killing millions (maybe billions) through heat, fire, flooding, famine, drought, etc.? Is that what it will take? Am I wrong to be despondent about our capability as a species to prevent this coming catastrophe any other way?

Population reduction is the most effective tool we actually have. So nature doing it for us is a good thing. Sadly it targets more likely those who emit less and not more.

It doesn’t matter. We are now in a feedback loop that will take us to +20c regardless of human emissions. Geoengineering is our only hope.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#106

Post by bsedlm » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:51 AM UTC

sschueller wrote: post #92

35mm wrote: post #65

Instead of relying solely on air conditioning, which often adds to greenhouse gas emissions if run on fossil power, there are a number of passive solar design strategies that work without additional energy: - Solar chimneys draw cool air in when it’s sunny via pressure differential - Building orientation along with natural shading from deciduous trees prevent excessive solar insolation heating the building - Building…

Somehow this has been lost over the years. I can especially see this in Zürich Switzerland where new office buildings being built are awful and there seems little thinking about temperature. Everything is managed by complex air systems to move air from one area to the other. On the other hand you go into a 200+ year old building and you notice it's cool in summer although there is no air conditioning. The building is…

maybe i'm squinting too hard,

but I see this as related to a more general attitude of imposing our will while disregarding what is already there.

"why would we want to position the building according to where it is? specially when there's an alternative of putting it however we like, and then involving a sophisticated air system which will isolate the building from it's environment (which is going to shit anyways) and also, think of all the jobs, the infrastructure, electricity, generators, coal-mining, ac technicians, etc that come with an AC based building! if the building, just by virtue of where it is, can do without all this then the economy will shrink, we cannot have that."

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#107

Post by srvmshr » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:52 AM UTC

LightG wrote: post #37

kzrdude wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a European. I think we have to accept that not the whole world has to care about a war in eastern Europe. For us, it's the world, but it's hypocritical to demand that everyone pays attention to our crisis.

I generally agree - but considering this conflict could (unlikely but possibly) become a world war then, yes, other countries should pay attention.

True.

It does, but similar risks have come by before (in S Asia). India & Pakistan had a full confrontation in 1990s, when they were both nuclear capable & backed by Russia and US respectively. People at the helm of warcraft perhaps know where to draw the line. It is highly unlikely Putin will use tactical nukes or pre-emptively strike US/EU, no matter how grim the war looks.

People do not realize that the game of brinksmanship has played out several times in the past. We empathize Ukraine because news coverage & social media have brought the sounds of guns and rocket right to our doorstep. Horrific war crimes have happened, countless people died & children orphaned in Kosovo, Palestine, Kashmir etc. - but we can't connect with it because we don't see it flashed in the daily news.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#108

Post by Etheryte » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:55 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #94

Etheryte wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Climate change isn't only new record high temperatures. It's also, as described in the article, temperatures consistently being higher than is regular for this time of the year.

How do you tell "climate change" heat waves from "non-climate change" heat waves? I mean "heat waves" are not some recent phenomenon. I mean, any farmer can tell you some growing seasons are really warm, others cold, some very dry and others very wet. No two seasons are the same.

This is more or less covered in the article as well:

> Meteorologists from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) found that March 2022 was the hottest March for India as a whole since 1901, with average highs jumping to a staggering 3.35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.86 degrees Celsius) above the climatological average.

Heat waves happen, and have happened before, but if they become more common, longer, hotter on average etc you can see this in the statistics.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#109

Post by G3rn0ti » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:56 AM UTC

K0balt wrote: post #98

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is that what it will take? Probably. That said, the brunt will be born by the poor. America may face a deep recession. India, starvation and a political reboot.

Even if all humans on the planet went to zero emissions tomorrow it is too late. We are now inside a feedback loop that will push temperature rise to +20c and sea levels up 200m or more within 200 years. Photosynthesis drops off to zero long before then. Geoengineering is the only way we don’t go extinct along with most animals.

Dear doomsayer: Citation needed.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#110

Post by G3rn0ti » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 10:57 AM UTC

K0balt wrote: post #104

jokoon wrote: post #50

And here in the western world, people still don't like using public transport and their bikes (when they can). It's difficult to be optimistic, but it seems there is nothing that will truly limit fossil fuel consumption. Maybe some oil producing countries could get in some sort of alliance, and artificially limit the amount of oil they extract, in return for subsidies? Those countries could also put a tariff on oil.…

It doesn’t matter. We are now in a feedback loop that will take us to +20c regardless . Geoengineering is our only hope.

Citation needed.