Q&A: "We're Running the Risk of Unstoppable Climate Change"
CR: We need to shift to a no-growth society. Our resources are largely depleted and are being used unsustainably so it makes sense to recycle and reuse what resources we have and redesign our lives and economies on this basis. For instance, with the proper insulation and ventilation our bodies alone could heat our homes. But rather than investing in research and development that could make this possible and affordable, governments are subsiding the use of fossil fuels. If solar energy was subsidised in the same way, solar panels would be far cheaper and better.
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2 comments:
Huh?
Evidently you've never taken a course in physics nor apparently even made a measurement with a thermometer
I'm not sure where you live -- but in a lot of places in the world it gets cold in the winter and that means to keep the pipes from freezing you need to have heat.
Now if your definition of insulation and ventilation includes making rigid "clothing" that functions as a thermos bottle and just using your house to keep the snow off of yourself (with no liquid water in the winter) -- then I suppose your statement is almost believable.
Heat will flow away from a body whenever the temperature of the environment is below the temperature of the body. For the case of the human body at rest -- he is lost to the environment whenever the environment is at or below about 30 C with the rate of cooling increasing as the "sink" temperature is lowered.
Similarly, the rate that heat will flow from the building to the external environment is determined by the external temperature of the building and its surface area. Increased insulation thickness or "R-value" in the building wall increases the "effective" thermal resistance and therefore the ability to have a warmer interior for a given heat flow rate or reduced heat flow for a given temperature.
So I guess if you want to make people live in large communal spheres with thick walls and highly effective insulation with a lot of people inside them then you can probably keep the temperature at acceptable levels just based on people heat. More practically there are number of large office buildings that air condition even in mid winter due to the internal heat generated by people, lights and office equipment.
Westy
I live in Minnesota; my post headline was sarcastic.
Tom
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