Rant Summer is hell!!!

[tblaxland]

Let me guess, you live inside one of these buildings, which act as thermal energy concentrators during the summer, and which are just barely tolerable with A/C?

Nothing beats thick stone walls in the summer... cool in the day and warm in the night.

At least our buildings are getting better, thanks to better building regulations as well as market driven "voluntary" schemes like Greenstar and Australian Building Greenhouse Rating. Europe and US have similar schemes, I believe.

 

[Andy44]

No, building codes have made buildings worse in the US, because the builders crank out cookie-cutter POS houses that just barely meet the code. Building a house out of stone is almost out fo the question, anyway, it's so expensive.

 

[tblaxland]

No, building codes have made buildings worse in the US, because the builders crank out cookie-cutter POS houses that just barely meet the code.

Which is why our governments put energy efficiency requirements into the codes, starting a couple of years back IIRC. You typically require all sorts of good stuff, like well insulated walls and roofs, natural gas/solar hot water, good glazing, clotheslines, etc, to get compliance. It is also a boon for consulting engineers like us because people need advice on the most cost effective ways of complying.

Building a house out of stone is almost out fo the question, anyway, it's so expensive.

Agreed, and it is not neccesarily the most practical option. Climes that need heating in winter actually benefit from glazing by letting the heat in. By far a more sensible solution around the mid-latitudes is concrete floors and large-ish eves. The eves shade the floor in summer, keeping it cool, but let the low sun heat the floor in winter, giving warmth to the interior. Couple that with some good insulation and air tightness and you have a pretty good performer for not much extra cost. Most estimates put the cost of complying with BASIX Energy (what we use here in New South Wales) at less than $5,000 on a typical $300,000 home. Can even look nice too:

 

[unussapiens]

I've been away for the past week on the surf coast of victoria (I was just near Lorne, for those who care) and we got up to temperatures of around 45*C for 3 days, a fair amount of that without power, but with a hot wind. Not much fun, even in the water (unless you go Scuba diving).

I'm quite tempted to move to europe when I'm older, as I love the cold.

 

[T.Neo]

No, building codes have made buildings worse in the US, because the builders crank out cookie-cutter POS houses that just barely meet the code. Building a house out of stone is almost out fo the question, anyway, it's so expensive.

On my first trip to the U.S., in my early childhood, I was amazed how the houses were made of wood. Here in SA, most houses, if people have them, are made of brick. Everything just felt so... temporary.

Every time I see an image of a town destroyed by a tornado in the U.S., I wonder how much better our brick houses would fare.

 

[Notebook]

2" of snow, UK siezes up!


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/IMGP1030.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

N.

 

[T.Neo]

I heard about the snow in the UK.
Must be global warming .
Reminds me of the movie The Day After Tomorrow.

 

[SiberianTiger]

The entire topic isn't telling the full truth. The last time I looked, it was a bit snowy on the Northern coasts of Australia:

 

[Urwumpe]

At least our buildings are getting better, thanks to better building regulations as well as market driven "voluntary" schemes like Greenstar and Australian Building Greenhouse Rating. Europe and US have similar schemes, I believe.

We have different rulings, mostly for making sure that the old buildings are not required to be demolished. Just like mentioned, we have different building styles than the US, with full wooden houses being extremely rare and considered "temporary". The typical house here is made of brick, in northern Germany, you also still have many half-timbered houses, which are either centuries old, or sometimes newly build.

Wood is just slightly more expensive than brick here.

We have some basic building regulations, also you need to create an energy certificate for new buildings.

Looks like that:

And is practically useless as it only measures very soft values.

 

[agentgonzo]

2" of snow, UK siezes up!


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/IMGP1030.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

N.

It really makes me laugh when there's a tiny amount of snow and the entire country shuts down. There's probably about 2" of snow on the south coast (as Notebook mentioned) here, all the major roads are gritted and salted and so there's no lying snow on any roads except basically small streets. Still, there were warnings on the radio this morning to not go out unless it's 'absolutely necessary' and the office is half empty here with people 'unable to get into work'. I drove in absolutely fine. All I did differently was take a little more care on one of the two roads where there was snow and marvel at how empty the motorway was. It really is quite pathetic

 

[Urwumpe]

30 years ago, we had one of the worst winters in Germany... my parents still tell many stories about meter high snow dunes, and the TV history documentations now show: They tell the truth.

But usually. even a small bit of snow is enough for causing a snow chaos in Germany.

 

[Notebook]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7864546.stm

Cyprus Airways, they wouldn't be used to snow, would they?

N.

 

[Andy44]

Since I am old enough to remember seeing Star Wars in the theatre, it stand to reason that I should remember the Blizzard of '77, which I do. That would have been the same winter that produced your meter-high drifts, Urwumpe. Near me there was 3 to 5 feet of snow in places.

About wooden houses: houses in North America have been made of wood since colonial times, and some of them have lasted quite a long time. George Washington's mansion is, surprisingly, made of wood, since it started out as a farm house and he kept adding on to it as he got wealthier. It has a facade of fake stone blocks which are actually wood panels painted with sand in the mix, I think it's called "rustification" or some such. The walls are very thick and insulated, and the house was a private residence well into the 1900s when a private group bought it, restored it, and it's now a privately-run museum.

 

[Suzy]

46.4°C in Melbourne today!! :suicide: Cool change coming through now, thankfully!

 

[Urwumpe]

46.4°C in Melbourne today!! :suicide: Cool change coming through now, thankfully!

Cool change also expected here from tomorrow on... but we start with 44.4 K less. :hunter:

 

[Linguofreak]

2" of snow, UK siezes up!


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/IMGP1030.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

N.

Ha! We've got you beat here in Dallas. We haven't seen a flake of snow this winter, yet some minor icing last week shut my school down for two days. Not. One. Bit. Of. Snow.

 

[Notebook]

Don't know where I'd rather be, not too fond of hot weather, I like it a bit balmy.
UK is now importing bulk rock-salt, surrounded by seawater,we've run out of salt!

Its started snowing again.

N.

 

[Suzy]

Saturday's hot weather (46.4°C) proved deadly - resulted in Victoria's worst bushfires ever! A lot were deliberately lit. 108 dead, so far. (Photo gallery)

 

[tblaxland]

Saturday's hot weather (46.4°C) proved deadly - resulted in Victoria's worst bushfires ever! A lot were deliberately lit. 108 dead, so far. (Photo gallery)

Those pictures of the burnt out cars are the worst to see, especially after the lessons of Ash Wednesday. My sympathies go out to our southern neighbours.

 

[Graham2001]

Saturday's hot weather (46.4°C) proved deadly - resulted in Victoria's worst bushfires ever! A lot were deliberately lit. 108 dead, so far. (Photo gallery)

From here in Perth, you have my sympathies. Lets hope they catch some of the, well I'm not sure what to call the person who would deliberately set a fire in this weather, and throw the book at them.

I can remember Ash Wednesday, I never expected to see it happen again in my lifetime.