Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at house. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread.
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There’s a lot of talk about getting the right insulation for your house so that you have to use less energy to heat it, but I think that, especially with global warming in mind, focussing on keeping the heat out in the summer should also be a priority. The past week we had a heat wave over here. It was ‘only’ 32 degrees but when you live in a swamp area the humidity is enough to completely wreck you. The city I live in is notorious for having 1) bad insulated houses and 2) having almost no green spaces to cool down in outside. Most squares are concrete slabs die to the concrete lobby having connections in the government. It is one of the hottest places in the country because of this, with a four degree difference in some areas. My bedroom has been at 31.5 C at night for the past week. I have a rash on my skin caused by the heat. Most people live in appartments without AC and without a garden to chill in. Green spaces outside and better housing conditions are a must, imo.
Anyway, new week, new left wing struggle. I sometimes feel as if I completely lose the plot of living a life because of politics. I’m at a point where I get envious if I see other people living life and just enjoying the mundane, regular life things. I wonder if taking a step back and touching some grass for a while is a good thing to do right now.
Wouldn’t good insulation also assist in keeping the heat out? Like a thermos
Yes good insulation helps with that. But something as easy as planting more trees in a street helps as well. Or getting people with gardens to remove tiles and swap them for greenery. I think we should also think about how designing the public spaces can help with conserving energy, cooling down a city, etc. Luckily more orgs are aware of this right now.
Time to live in caves again, best natural insulation
For some off grid climate leftists that seems to be an actual option lol
I’m also wondering what’s going to happen with heating in general. In Germany for example heat pumps are all but required now for all new heating systems in homes. But why do we need to have one heater per home? District heating can be done far more efficiently than individual buildings, but it’s almost never considered. Of course companies can make a lot more money selling hundreds of thousands of gest pumps than they can building a few district heating systems. And those would again most likely be powered by fossil fuels, as existing ones outside of China and Russia are.
Anyway, I’ve just been thinking that there are alternatives, but instead profits and “individual responsibility” must be prioritized rather than the climate emergency.