Cold is objectively better than heat. There are many cheap and easy ways to heat yourself up that can be applied in most situations, compared to cooling yourself down where you're basically down to an AC or a fan.
Yeah, I live in the southern US where it gets proper hot, and I definitely prefer the cold. You can always put more layers on. Generating heat is extremely easy from an engineering standpoint. There are even ways to do it chemically for things like reusable hand warmers.
But holy hell, when it’s hot hot, there are only so many things you can do to avoid it. Unlike the cold, there is a limit to how many layers you can take off. And if you’re in the sun, taking off layers may actually make you hotter in the long term.
Sounds like "the plan" is working then. The poors die of heat stroke, dehydration, or other ill effects of climate change so the rich have a smaller population to subdue.
A/C for everyone is not a need. I live in a considerably warmer place than England, never had an A/C and never desired one. I live just fine and don't feel the need for an extra appliance cluttering my home. Most people around here do just fine without A/C.
Houses are built according to the needs of the place where they are built.
This is indeed a problem happening right now, this is a good temporary solution. I do believe a better structural solution to this problem may be required, but I don't think that would be to add A/C to all houses.
As an Aussie visiting Europe that regularly deals with these temperatures... This is so much more uncomfortable than an Aussie summer. But it's an easy fix: make AC a standard measure (the amount of shops and restaurants here that are high 30s INSIDE is something I've never seen before), make free drinking water a legal requirement, and make public toilets a thing too (so people don't need to worry about hydrating!)
Most places where I lived in Europe do have drinking fountains spread around and public toilets.
Regarding A/C... I have never seen it as something required, a bit of a luxury to me. And I did live in places over 50°C without A/C.
Always wonder what would have happened if the government put the energy it put into arresting people for demanding better insulation, into better insulation instead of arresting them.
You can book a cheap premier inn for about £45 a night in the UK.
Sure it’s still expensive, but the occasional splurge to get a comfortable nights sleep seems more cost effective than buying and running your own air con
I mean, I'm not saying that a hotel room is unreasonable as a last minute thing --- like, it's a heatwave and I want to be in a cool environment within the hour --- but in all seriousness, an air conditioner is gonna pay for itself pretty quickly if all you want is a cool room to sleep in and not the other things a hotel provides.
That style probably won't fit in a window throughout much of Europe. Portable A/Cs can be used with a window adapter, but I think they're usually more expensive. Also the efficiency tanks.
Stories like this make me wish I knew how to make people care as much about things that actually matter as they do about whatever mean thing a politician said the other day.
Window unit ACs work well when your windows open by sliding. Most US windows are that way, but UK windows are almost always hinged at the sides or tops which makes mounting a window unit effectively impossible.
So either you have to get an expensive fully plumbed-in unit, or a portable unit that stays inside the room and has vent hoses going out your window. Which are not ideal either.
It's been the case to now that extreme heat has been rare enough and short enough in duration that everyone has simply dealt with it. When it's 5 days in a year then you suffer a bit but quickly forget about it afterwards.
But times are changing, and we will have to soon change the way our homes are designed too.
Sounds like it’s simply an engineering issue that nobody has bothered to solve. You could 100% design a window unit that would fit a hinged window. But no company has bothered to do so.
You could always do a heat pump mini-split system instead. Those only require a single hole drilled to the exterior, which then gets used to run hoses into the house from the head unit. The whole thing can usually be installed in a few hours, because it’s basically “drill hole, bolt everything down where it needs to go, run hoses and power, seal hole with expanding foam”
You don't need to. In Spain you can buy air source heat pumps split units that cost less than the installation, and that will heat in the winter for 1/3-1/4 the cost of any other heating method.
Don't worry everyone, this heatwave will scare people into walking more and eating less beef and the global temperatures will start falling. In a year or two it will be back to normal.
As a native Floridian, it blew my mind that AC was not the default everywhere. I did know that the only legal requirement for a home was heat and water, but when does your heat source not also cool the home?
That’s a mini-split, which is technically a heat pump instead of an air conditioner. They can be extremely energy efficient for heating (they can easily reach above 100% efficiency in terms of power usage vs heat production) because you’re not actually generating heat, you’re just moving it around. If you want to cool a room, you pump it outside. And if you want to heat a room, you pump heat in from outside. You can even bury the heat lines if you have the yard for it, and (as long as you bury deeper than the local frost line) you’ll be able to use geothermal to get efficient heating even when it’s frigid outside.
Yeah that sounds right. I'm not totally sure about the UK but in Spain, Italy, and Ireland they have those mini splits instead of air conditioners in a lot of places. I know because it was something I specifically verified they had in all hotels I stayed in as a wimpy American that needs his cold air!
I also owned a condo in Spain for a bit, (lost it in it in a divorce) and we had one installed along with a dryer since those are fairly uncommon in Spain. It's like a skinny ass thing towards the top of usually high sealing with a small duct installed behind it and much less powerful than your run of the mill window AC in the US. It did the trick when it was around 85 degrees F outside but just barely.
You guys need an engineer to install a basic wall mounted AC with a small duct or even better one that doesn't require a duct at all and is just mountable? Or better yet, the various portable AC units you can buy that come on wheels and follow you into every room.... I get the availability factor I guess.
This comment is hilarious because a heat pump and mini-split system can be installed by basically anyone in a few hours. It only requires a single hole drilled through an exterior wall, to reach the outside where your heat pump goes. After that, it’s just a matter of running hoses to the various mini-splits that are bolted to the walls in your various rooms. And if you really want to be economical, you can strategically cool certain rooms (like the bedrooms and office) while leaving the rest of the house hot. That way you’re not needing to cool the entire house, you’re just creating a few safe havens where you’ll spend most of your time.
And plumbing, also since this post is about the UK you are probably not allowed to do half the things w/o license and the building you're living on is historical so doesn't allow external unit
a window unit can be installed in less than 5 minutes, no engineer necessary and because its a window unit it's easily removed so you shouldn't need planning permission
At this point just buy a portable AC if you want it so badly. Yes they are mostly single hose units which are less efficient. But so what? The extra power bill is nothing to hotel tickets.
True to a degree that is an issue too. I really need to get a window net so I can open the windows without letting the cat out. A powerful fan might also be useful as my current fan is getting old and a bit shit, bearings are probably a bit fucked.
I recommend getting some window restrictors rather than messing about with netting. There is a company called Beego that makes them, they are meant for kids but are perfect for cats too. I use them and recommended them to my friends with house cats, they use them now and it's so much more convenient than using netting.
It may seem that way from a picture that it's enough space for a cat to get out, but I'm telling you from experience it isn't! Purely a recommendation based on myself having two house cats and using these on 6 different windows in my house, and a variety of friends having used them with their cats too.
Not sure about the UK but in mainland Europe our windows can already be put into "tilt", though usually horizontally. But it's still not save for cats.
They're not really a thing where I've lived in the UK, at least I've not seen them in the 35+ years I've lived in the country! I wonder if climate change will affect that eventually?
in eastern europe we take measures to keep them out. they don't spread malaria here but they cause small mosquito bites, which are itching and if you scratch them the itch becomes worse. I thought mosquitos do that everywhere.
I bought mine in February for the purpose of heating my apartment without gas. It was installed by March.
Now I can count myself lucky that I have at least some relief from the heatwave in my office. (I'm only cooling the office during the day and the bedroom at night in order to save on electricity at the moment. There is no need to cool rooms which I'm not using)
Sure, if you’re somewhere like the US which has heavily subsidised energy bills, but electricity is twice the cost in Britain. Then you’d need to replace your windows to accommodate the AC. You’d have to find somewhere that sells them too.
Sure AC units are largely out of stock, this week. Buy one when they are available again over the following months. If you are only cooling a single room instead of an entire house (similar applies to heating tbh) the costs are not that high either.
well, you still have to deal with the emergency here, I don't know what you're supposed to do against heat, punch it in the face?
Otherwise yeah, there's a lot of things in general to do, but it's depressing when you see around you that a big proportion of people don't care and a lot of them are the one that could change things faster
80 Comments
thepig@lemmy.zip · 57 pts · 58d
myrmidex@belgae.social · 26 pts · 58d
Same!
I also hate the term 'lovely weather' for such hot days. Lovely and people dieing from heat exhaustion is an awkward combo.
thepig@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 58d
Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 57d
This guy has obviously never seen my hat with a built in fan.
S/ obviously we are all going to cook as these heatwaves get more common.
MrKoyun@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 57d
Cold is objectively better than heat. There are many cheap and easy ways to heat yourself up that can be applied in most situations, compared to cooling yourself down where you're basically down to an AC or a fan.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 57d
Yeah, I live in the southern US where it gets proper hot, and I definitely prefer the cold. You can always put more layers on. Generating heat is extremely easy from an engineering standpoint. There are even ways to do it chemically for things like reusable hand warmers.
But holy hell, when it’s hot hot, there are only so many things you can do to avoid it. Unlike the cold, there is a limit to how many layers you can take off. And if you’re in the sun, taking off layers may actually make you hotter in the long term.
MrKoyun@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 57d
And SWEAT!!!!!
theacharnian@lemmy.ca · 31 pts · 58d
This means that safety from extreme heat is a privilege not a right.
Access to A/C for everyone is a progressive measure.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 58d
Sounds like "the plan" is working then. The poors die of heat stroke, dehydration, or other ill effects of climate change so the rich have a smaller population to subdue.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 57d
Ventilation shutdown - not just for chickens and pigs anymore
ranzispa@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 55d
A/C for everyone is not a need. I live in a considerably warmer place than England, never had an A/C and never desired one. I live just fine and don't feel the need for an extra appliance cluttering my home. Most people around here do just fine without A/C.
Houses are built according to the needs of the place where they are built.
This is indeed a problem happening right now, this is a good temporary solution. I do believe a better structural solution to this problem may be required, but I don't think that would be to add A/C to all houses.
theacharnian@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 55d
ziltoid101@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 58d
As an Aussie visiting Europe that regularly deals with these temperatures... This is so much more uncomfortable than an Aussie summer. But it's an easy fix: make AC a standard measure (the amount of shops and restaurants here that are high 30s INSIDE is something I've never seen before), make free drinking water a legal requirement, and make public toilets a thing too (so people don't need to worry about hydrating!)
ranzispa@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 55d
Most places where I lived in Europe do have drinking fountains spread around and public toilets. Regarding A/C... I have never seen it as something required, a bit of a luxury to me. And I did live in places over 50°C without A/C.
RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 57d
Always wonder what would have happened if the government put the energy it put into arresting people for demanding better insulation, into better insulation instead of arresting them.
YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 57d
That's commie talk, son.
Lor@mander.xyz · 17 pts · 58d
just wait until data centers 1. take all the electricity 2. cause heat islands 3. make utility bill go up 4x
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 58d
American Southerner, here, and I feel for y'all. Be safe.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 58d
And people wonder why the birth rate is falling. You gotta spend extra money just to keep your children from overheating from global warming.
baines@lemmy.cafe · 3 pts · 57d
no one is wondering
it’s all corporate fud trying to keep the plates spinning
Tabula_stercore@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 58d
*Rich parents
valkyre09@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 58d
You can book a cheap premier inn for about £45 a night in the UK.
Sure it’s still expensive, but the occasional splurge to get a comfortable nights sleep seems more cost effective than buying and running your own air con
tal@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 58d
A small window air conditioner is something like $200 here in the US.
hits Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FHWC063TC1-Conditioner-Electronic-Controls/dp/B0CFYG2511
I mean, I'm not saying that a hotel room is unreasonable as a last minute thing --- like, it's a heatwave and I want to be in a cool environment within the hour --- but in all seriousness, an air conditioner is gonna pay for itself pretty quickly if all you want is a cool room to sleep in and not the other things a hotel provides.
ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyz · 12 pts · 58d
That style probably won't fit in a window throughout much of Europe. Portable A/Cs can be used with a window adapter, but I think they're usually more expensive. Also the efficiency tanks.
vaionko@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 58d
And when it's your child's well being in play, you may spend a bit more than you otherwise would
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 58d
Stories like this make me wish I knew how to make people care as much about things that actually matter as they do about whatever mean thing a politician said the other day.
Prior_Industry@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 57d
TBF the mean politicians are often climate change deniers as well.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 58d
Does the UK not even sell window unit acs? Or are they like super expensive over there? In the states you can buy a small one for like $200.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 58d
Window unit ACs work well when your windows open by sliding. Most US windows are that way, but UK windows are almost always hinged at the sides or tops which makes mounting a window unit effectively impossible.
So either you have to get an expensive fully plumbed-in unit, or a portable unit that stays inside the room and has vent hoses going out your window. Which are not ideal either.
It's been the case to now that extreme heat has been rare enough and short enough in duration that everyone has simply dealt with it. When it's 5 days in a year then you suffer a bit but quickly forget about it afterwards.
But times are changing, and we will have to soon change the way our homes are designed too.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 58d
I know homes were built to hold in heat over there. I never thought about their being a different style of window.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 57d
Sounds like it’s simply an engineering issue that nobody has bothered to solve. You could 100% design a window unit that would fit a hinged window. But no company has bothered to do so.
You could always do a heat pump mini-split system instead. Those only require a single hole drilled to the exterior, which then gets used to run hoses into the house from the head unit. The whole thing can usually be installed in a few hours, because it’s basically “drill hole, bolt everything down where it needs to go, run hoses and power, seal hole with expanding foam”
redsand@infosec.pub · 6 pts · 57d
SUBSIDIZE HEATPUMPS!
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 57d
You don't need to. In Spain you can buy air source heat pumps split units that cost less than the installation, and that will heat in the winter for 1/3-1/4 the cost of any other heating method.
https://www.leroymerlin.es/productos/calefaccion-y-climatizacion/aire-acondicionado/aire-acondicionado-split-inverter/aire-acondicionado-a/
snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 57d
What's Spain got to do with it though?
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 57d
Costs should be in the same range. Also, in the UK, heat pumps have an immense advantage in the UK. They can double as a dehumidifier.
Nautalax@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 58d
The WHO regional director for Europe stated that over 200000 people died from heat (and mostly preventably) in the last four years.
tylersloeper@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 57d
Well sleeping babies have a dramatically higher chance of sudden death above a certain temperature. So yeah, keep your newborns cool.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net · 5 pts · 58d
Don't worry everyone, this heatwave will scare people into walking more and eating less beef and the global temperatures will start falling. In a year or two it will be back to normal.
Prior_Industry@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 57d
Big industry is what needs to change though.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 56d
Neoliberalism at its peak
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 56d
hot enough to cook eggs in the heat.
Serinus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 58d
https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service/cooling-centers
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 57d
I don't follow. This article is about the UK.
Serinus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 57d
It's precautions we take to deal with this kind of thing. The UK would be wise to imitate what works here.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 57d
There already are cooling centres though…
multifariace@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 57d
As a native Floridian, it blew my mind that AC was not the default everywhere. I did know that the only legal requirement for a home was heat and water, but when does your heat source not also cool the home?
titanicx@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 56d
There are homes in Florida that don't have ac. We get stories all the time of old folks dying there in heat waves.
lenocolomo@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 57d
You floridians have AC's as a standard? So you can wrestle alligators and tame lions (before jumping from a plane ofc) in the cold? Nice.
BeUnique@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 57d
Wouldn't buying an air conditioner be cheaper?
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 57d
So get planning consent, find someone who has a conditioner in stock, find an engineer to install it, all in a few hours?
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 57d
I'm guessing window units are not common then? Or you have different windows.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 57d
We have windows that open out.
BeUnique@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 57d
Nah, they have these skinny ones that are mounted on walls near the ceiling.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 57d
That’s a mini-split, which is technically a heat pump instead of an air conditioner. They can be extremely energy efficient for heating (they can easily reach above 100% efficiency in terms of power usage vs heat production) because you’re not actually generating heat, you’re just moving it around. If you want to cool a room, you pump it outside. And if you want to heat a room, you pump heat in from outside. You can even bury the heat lines if you have the yard for it, and (as long as you bury deeper than the local frost line) you’ll be able to use geothermal to get efficient heating even when it’s frigid outside.
BeUnique@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 56d
Yeah that sounds right. I'm not totally sure about the UK but in Spain, Italy, and Ireland they have those mini splits instead of air conditioners in a lot of places. I know because it was something I specifically verified they had in all hotels I stayed in as a wimpy American that needs his cold air!
I also owned a condo in Spain for a bit, (lost it in it in a divorce) and we had one installed along with a dryer since those are fairly uncommon in Spain. It's like a skinny ass thing towards the top of usually high sealing with a small duct installed behind it and much less powerful than your run of the mill window AC in the US. It did the trick when it was around 85 degrees F outside but just barely.
BeUnique@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 57d
You guys need an engineer to install a basic wall mounted AC with a small duct or even better one that doesn't require a duct at all and is just mountable? Or better yet, the various portable AC units you can buy that come on wheels and follow you into every room.... I get the availability factor I guess.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 57d
This comment is hilarious because a heat pump and mini-split system can be installed by basically anyone in a few hours. It only requires a single hole drilled through an exterior wall, to reach the outside where your heat pump goes. After that, it’s just a matter of running hoses to the various mini-splits that are bolted to the walls in your various rooms. And if you really want to be economical, you can strategically cool certain rooms (like the bedrooms and office) while leaving the rest of the house hot. That way you’re not needing to cool the entire house, you’re just creating a few safe havens where you’ll spend most of your time.
Benaaasaaas@group.lt · 3 pts · 57d
And plumbing, also since this post is about the UK you are probably not allowed to do half the things w/o license and the building you're living on is historical so doesn't allow external unit
NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml · 0 pts · 57d
a window unit can be installed in less than 5 minutes, no engineer necessary and because its a window unit it's easily removed so you shouldn't need planning permission
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 57d
Few houses have compatible windows.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · -3 pts · 58d
At this point just buy a portable AC if you want it so badly. Yes they are mostly single hose units which are less efficient. But so what? The extra power bill is nothing to hotel tickets.
Humanius@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 58d
I don't know how it is in the UK currently, but here in the NL there aren't any ACs in stock anywhere. They're all sold out.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 58d
True to a degree that is an issue too. I really need to get a window net so I can open the windows without letting the cat out. A powerful fan might also be useful as my current fan is getting old and a bit shit, bearings are probably a bit fucked.
Schal330@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 58d
I recommend getting some window restrictors rather than messing about with netting. There is a company called Beego that makes them, they are meant for kids but are perfect for cats too. I use them and recommended them to my friends with house cats, they use them now and it's so much more convenient than using netting.
They look like this:
remon@ani.social · 13 pts · 58d
That seems like more enough space for a cat to get out. And if you make the opening even smaller you might as well keep the window closed.
Schal330@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 58d
It may seem that way from a picture that it's enough space for a cat to get out, but I'm telling you from experience it isn't! Purely a recommendation based on myself having two house cats and using these on 6 different windows in my house, and a variety of friends having used them with their cats too.
remon@ani.social · 2 pts · 58d
Not sure about the UK but in mainland Europe our windows can already be put into "tilt", though usually horizontally. But it's still not save for cats.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 57d
PSA: If they tilt from the bottom (such that the top opens up), this is actually very dangerous for cats.
https://animalaxy.co.uk/the-silent-killer-in-your-home-how-tilted-windows-suffocate-cats-in-minutes/
Schal330@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 58d
Ah that's fair! Yeah in the UK a lot of homes have casement windows where these things work great.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 57d
don't you need nets for mosquitos anyway?
Schal330@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 57d
They're not really a thing where I've lived in the UK, at least I've not seen them in the 35+ years I've lived in the country! I wonder if climate change will affect that eventually?
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 57d
We have them, they just don’t carry lethal diseases so people aren’t vigilant. You probably don’t notice them.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 57d
We have mosquitoes, but have eradicated malaria so it’s not a standard thing to have nets.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 57d
in eastern europe we take measures to keep them out. they don't spread malaria here but they cause small mosquito bites, which are itching and if you scratch them the itch becomes worse. I thought mosquitos do that everywhere.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 58d
Best time to buy ac is in winter.
Humanius@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 58d
I bought mine in February for the purpose of heating my apartment without gas. It was installed by March.
Now I can count myself lucky that I have at least some relief from the heatwave in my office. (I'm only cooling the office during the day and the bedroom at night in order to save on electricity at the moment. There is no need to cool rooms which I'm not using)
Tagger@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 58d
I suppose if you haven't planned for the heat, and then ac units are all sold out everywhere, a hotel is an option
Corn@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 58d
If you have nobody in your community with AC who will help. Holy shit this is bleak.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 57d
AC hasn’t been a thing here.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 57d
Sure, if you’re somewhere like the US which has heavily subsidised energy bills, but electricity is twice the cost in Britain. Then you’d need to replace your windows to accommodate the AC. You’d have to find somewhere that sells them too.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 57d
Sure AC units are largely out of stock, this week. Buy one when they are available again over the following months. If you are only cooling a single room instead of an entire house (similar applies to heating tbh) the costs are not that high either.
hoohoohoot@fedinsfw.app · -5 pts · 58d
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 58d
well, you still have to deal with the emergency here, I don't know what you're supposed to do against heat, punch it in the face?
Otherwise yeah, there's a lot of things in general to do, but it's depressing when you see around you that a big proportion of people don't care and a lot of them are the one that could change things faster
hoohoohoot@fedinsfw.app · 3 pts · 58d
gedfromgont@piefed.ca · 10 pts · 58d
True, those babies should really work on climate change instead.
hoohoohoot@fedinsfw.app · 2 pts · 58d