Absolutely yes to all that. I don't actually think people need to move to places that are *cold* in winter, and temperature isn't the only factor either, but incentivizing growth in places with higher and higher summer temperatures + already not enough water seems less than ideal.
Yeah. We just don’t have a lot of mostly temperate, mostly wet places, but the US Southeast and central south are climactically somewhat wiser, but socially unattractive, while the winter colder places tend to be socially more attractive. Or… More ground source heat pumps would help.
For sure. There's a kind of complacency in colder parts of the country that we've always heated our spaces in these inefficient ways (and the thrifty habit of wearing lots of layers indoors in winter are kind of fading), but we'd get a better efficiency boost w/heat pumps + insulation in cold areas.
Yup.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this when I lived in old housing stock in Japan, because those buildings aren't insulated at all so's you notice, but people get through the winter with layers + tables with a heating element underneath + a big table skirt that hits the floor.
Yup! Spot heating is a smart way to handle it — if you can keep the rooms that aren’t occupied at 55 so the pipes are fine, and warm the places you are or on an as needed basis, it can be SO much more efficient.
We didn't have money when I was little, so 55 was where the thermostat lived all winter (except at night, when it was lower) so that's probably where I get my "cold, you can adapt to" winter preference. Heat makes me want to die immediately, but God made hats and fingerless gloves for a reason.
Indeed. (Though having lived through too many frozen and burst pipes, and knowing how much more expensive that is than a few more kilowatt hours, I would not be able to consider dropping the thermostat at night. That’s just playing russian roulette with your pipes.)
I'll see if mom remembers, but I think the night temp was 50.
And the SNUGGIE is positively luxurious. Reminds me a lot of the kotatsu in other ways, in that it means you kind of pick a spot and stay in it most of the time. If I wanted to truly live the life of riley I'd look into that other essential Japanese invention. the heated toilet seat. :D
That kind of thinking seems great and doesn't require so much retrofitting. Cultural shifts are every bit as hard, but living that kotatsu lifestyle is definitely less resource-intensive than building a new house. I miss my kotatsu every winter (but have largely replaced it with a heated snuggie).
(preferring cold to hot is my personal preference, not my prescription for the country)