The Heat Wave Scenario That Keeps Climate Scientists Up at Night
The Heat Wave Scenario That Keeps Climate Scientists Up at Night
The hotter it gets, the more difficult it is for our bodies to cope.
Building smaller homes should be in that list of things to do to reduce energy demand. None of these giant, leaky McMansions like they build in Texas housing tracts.
Tldr: build a hobbit hole
One of my friends grew up in a house his dad's company built.
It has a super tiny, almost bungalow-sized building on the surface that's basically a glorified sitting room for entertaining a few guests, and one bedroom.
Then behind door #2 is a staircase leading to the actual house, mostly underground.
If you look behind the fence that surrounds what appears to be a back yard, it's about 3ft of roof sticking out of the ground.
I'm not an architect or engineer, so I just assumed there were technical reasons he didn't want the house completely underground, cause that seems to me like it would be better to have it completely buried if you're going for energy efficiency and things like that. Although now that I say that, I imagine you'd want some natural lighting. Maybe a good compromise? No idea.
Too bad we lost touch, because I'd love to ask his dad more questions about how it was designed and built. I remember the few times I was there it was always cool, but never cold in winter and never hot in summer.
Nice idea, but in my area for example this wouldn't be a good solution. I live in a flood prone area.
Luckily there are many different solutions. What I find quite interesting are simple techs that also don't require electricity, like a heat chimney, or a air supply from underground, air-flow designs in general.
Also, with already built houses there are even simple possibilities. What I've done successfully is letting a tree grow on the south west side, now in the evenings my walls and with that the inside area is much cooler.
To do that, we'd first have to fix capitalism.
I wonder if building houses like deep freezers would be viable. Doors, windows all at about 2.5m so the cold air is trapped in the living space and any air loss is the hotter upper part when people leave the house.
Look at passive solar, it's probably the easiest method for decreasing energy use. It often does call for thick walls and roofs with radiant barriers, but the underlying principle is taking advantage of the sun's position changing throughout the year (provided you aren't on the equator).
My guy, 13,000 people dying in a single acute event localized to one city that can be mitigated with some careful foresighted thinking is not what keeps climate scientists up at night.
If anything, such an event would create more demand for government actions that mitigate climate change.
If it keeps them up at night, I sure as shit don't want to know about it