Heat properly insulated spaces. I don’t want to walk around with piles of movement limiting and suffocating clothing inside my own living room. The problem is not what you heat up, it’s how well you insulate it from losing its heat. In Australia where I live, insulation is non-existent in the average home/apartment. Even simple things like tinted windows (for hot days), double pane windows and floating floor is missing. On the top of that, you have archaic HVAC systems that cool and heat from one vent and have useless thermostat feedback loops. A $30 hand rolled thermostats I put together for my fairly expensive apartment unit is infinitely superior to what came with the unit.
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This times 1000. The reason that central heating systems are so popular is because they are a million times better (from the human's perspective, not necessarily the environment's) than old "point heating" systems.
Last year when the electrical grid in Texas failed, we could heat ourselves by our gas fireplace, but our central heating was out. It was fucking miserable. Similar to what the article pointed out, basically any part of my body was either too hot or too cold, so I was constantly turning like a spit roaster trying to keep a "nice even bake" on all sides.
The solution to poor energy efficiency of heating is not for us to all invest in hooded chairs, it's to ensure homes are appropriately insulated.
I also think that drastically lowering the temperature in unmodified buildings will create other problems like mold because you move the dew point so the moisture generated by residents will condensate in problematic places, e.g. inside insulation.
Windows. Even nice double pane windows ice heavily in your bedroom overnight if it's 58F in the house & you've drawn the curtains.
Later, the ice slowly melts. Drip, drip.
We have triple-glazed windows and they condensate on the outside. The inside is always bone dry.
I forgot to add that happens when the outdoor temperature is below maybe 10F. We deal with it by leaving curtains open.
What kind of outdoor temps do you have? Maybe I’m newly interested in triple glaze.
> I don’t want to walk around with piles of movement limiting and suffocating clothing inside my own living room.
That is a strawperson - People wear a sweater all the time - they are pretty popular, believe it or not - without wearing "piles", having their movement limited, or even suffocating. If you find yourself suffocating when wearing sweaters, see a doctor!
Holy cow, the burden of wearing a sweater is just incredible in some of these comments!
> People wear a sweater all the time
I never do because I feel suffocated.
> see a doctor
Thanks for the unsolicited advice. I in fact have and have been told not to wear clothing that makes me feel suffocated.
> the burden of wearing a sweater is just incredible in some of these comments
Your lack of sympathy is equally incredible
Your comment gives of the same vibes as people not wearing a mask because it "suffocates" them.
I suffer from hyperventilation syndrome and anything that brings my attention to my breathing (including wearing a mask) sets it off. I feel suffocated wearing a mask. I can get out of breath, have tachycardia, dizziness, chest pain if I wear it for a long time. And yet I wear my mask everywhere I'm asked to.
There is a big difference between feeling suffocated in your own home where no one else is involved vs. among people you could potentially be putting at risk.
Doesn't seem like your opinion on sweaters makes for generally applicable advice, given your health condition.
Prefacing every bit of advice with, but if you have a serious medical condition then please modify this advice to suit, will get pretty tedious after a while.
In general, many people could stand to lower their thermostats in cold climates by 2⁰ or so by wearing appropriate clothing.
I realize reading this comment that I should not have responded to your other comment either.
This is so uninformed and rude that it feels like low-effort bait. Which worked like that given how many replies it got.