<10%2d ago

I mean she’s not wrong, it’s the SUV solution to road safety all over again.
But the short term problem is real.
Sure we can insist on using rooftop solar - which is just local energy transfer - but surely this isn’t viable in cities.

https://www.channel4.com/news/uk-cannot-air-con-its-way-out-of-this-heatwave-says-professor

#aircon
#climate
#pv

UK cannot ‘air con its way’ out of this heatwave says Professor

Is the UK built for these high temperatures? We asked Lucelia Rodrigues, Professor of Sustainable and Resilient Cities at the University of Nottingham.

Channel 4 News
Show threadBecca

@OneInterestingFact yall across the pond have -got- to insulate your homes

it blows my mind as an american that people live in uninsulated homes by choice in 2026

i dont even use an AC in summer, because opening and closing the windows at dusk and dawn keeps the place livable

heat in winter? it's cheaper if the heat stays in the building

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2024-to-2025-home-insulation-fact-sheet/english-housing-survey-2024-to-2025-home-insulation-fact-sheet

only half?! basically every single building in the US is insulated

#ClimateChange

English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: home insulation - fact sheet

GOV.UK
Jun 24 at 12:48pmWeb
Show thread<10%1d ago
@bweller The Americas have quite a range of climates...
Show threadBecca1d ago

@OneInterestingFact and all of them have insulation, from Alaska to Arizona to New England to Florida.

the lack of insulation thing is the single most shocking thing to me about the UK and friends, and it's old news to me. i just dont get why people choose to live that way and my feed is full of people complaining in summer and bragging about suffering in winter. thats not a virtue! thats failure to accept physics.

its up there for shock value with the rejection of medicine. shelter is a basic

Show thread<10%1d ago
@bweller
Perhaps you’re unaware that the UK’s average summer temperature is (was) 16C or 61F. Until quite recently we didn’t usually need to bother about heat. And even then it would be for maybe three days a year. Cold, sure. But not proper cold. Just below freezing for maybe a month or six weeks. Rain is seen as much greater problem.
A small archipelago off the west coast of Europe with a temperate climate, warmed by the Gulf Stream.
You can see where the complacency originates.
Show threadbouriquet1d ago
@bweller Older masonry houses built postwar. People heated with coal in AGA cookers in the kitchen (on all day long) and little coal fireplaces in living rooms etc. I lived in the UK for a few months in the mid-1980s when 20-30% of the houses didn’t have central heating. (Locals were amazed we kept the house so warm at 68F)
No screens on windows: a climate that rarely went above 70 F. Now there’s red/yellow/green ratings on houses for energy use (maybe that is only for heating)