Hacker News Reader

Comment by lm28469 | Hacker News Reader

I've stopped using heating altogether since I moved out of my hometown (it was -20c or less in winter). When I'm cold I just add an extra layer of cloth or do a few squats or push/pull ups, heating XXX cubic meters of air is a pure waste of energy if you're healthy

That being said your flat/home insulation plays a huge role. I'm living in Germany for a few years now, when it's 0c outside it's still 18c+ indoor even without any heating in my flat. When I was in California if it was 13 outside it would be 14 indoor, you could feel the air going through the doors'/windows' joints.

edit: to all the people saying I can thanks my neighbours, I pay my share of the heating since it's averaged. I only have one shared wall so I doubt it changes much

View on HN

> it's still 18c+ indoor even without any heating in my flat

You can thank your neighbours.

When I lived in Berlin, on the second floor, the pipes for the Radiators were not insulated. Never turned up the heat in kitchen or bathroom.

But on the yearly utilities bill you usually pay 50:50 or 70:30 usage : area. So all of the energy cost of the house is taken and even if your neighbors heat for you, you pay for it.

> I've stopped using heating altogether

> heating XXX cubic meters of air is a pure waste of energy

Tell me how you feel about that when the water in your pipes freezes. Because that is sure as hell not a good time.

Of course if you _have to_ heat then do it, as I said when I was going through -20c degrees winter you can't really escape it. I'd argue most people can live perfectly fine without heating. (not living up north / at high altitude / in cold micro climate).

People don't heat their flats/offices to 25c in Berlin or London to avoid frozen pipes. Unless you live in a 1800s house there is no way your pipe would freeze here

I just looked up the yearly average high / lows for Berlin and London. I never realized they were both so temperate.

They are both 10 degrees of latitude further North than me here in Iowa, yet they both look to rarely dip much below freezing.

I knew London's temperature was buffered by being so close to the ocean, but I always thought Berlin was far enough inland to not have that benefit.

And then on top of that they both have milder summers than here.

That's all very interesting to me.

It's due to the Gulf Stream, not the jetstream :-) as the sibling comment says. Basically the Gulf Stream sucks all the heat from the West side of the Atlantic and brings it to Europe.

Bucharest, Romania is at the same latitude as Montreal, Canada but I'm quite sure it doesn't get as much snow as Montreal :-)

I read somewhere that the *gulf stream (orig jet stream, thanks!) makes similar latitudes more temperate in Britain/Europe than Canada/America. whether it's attributable to the jet stream or other effects, it seems to be true for many locations. Much of the UK lines up with Hudson bay in Canada, or Scandinavia vs northern Canada/mid Alaska. It's telling that most European colonizers moved south as they crossed the Atlantic.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com