Cold Truths - Physics, storytelling, and forgetting hard-fought wisdom.
Posted by freedomforall 5 hours, 6 minutes ago to Politics
Excerpt:
"It is broadly accepted that humans maintain thermal comfort when the ambient temperature is between 67°F and 82°F and the humidity is between 30% and 60%. It should come as no surprise that the developed world invests a staggering amount of energy in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to create such favorable settings. The US Department of Energy estimates that 40 percent of the country’s carbon emissions can be traced to thermal comfort needs, accounting for significantly more energy than the transportation sector.
...
Thermal comfort also helps explain why the proposed elixirs to global warming—photovoltaic solar panels and giant wind turbines—are woefully inadequate. Both technologies have a way of going dormant just when they are needed most: in the dead of winter.
There is a direct, causal relationship between the ever-increasing difficulty of achieving thermal comfort in Britain and the unpopularity of its current ruling class, currently embodied by the much-maligned and politically tone-deaf Sir Keir Starmer.
This analysis at the individual and dwelling levels also integrates up to society as a whole, where it quickly becomes clear why the pursuit of developable energy resources is a core strategic imperative for nation-states. Countries blessed with abundant energy assets and the technical capacity to both extract them and defend them from invasion tend to flourish, while those lacking either are easily conquered or gradually fade from prominence. Every war ever fought was, at its core, an energy war—whether the participants realized it or not."
"It is broadly accepted that humans maintain thermal comfort when the ambient temperature is between 67°F and 82°F and the humidity is between 30% and 60%. It should come as no surprise that the developed world invests a staggering amount of energy in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to create such favorable settings. The US Department of Energy estimates that 40 percent of the country’s carbon emissions can be traced to thermal comfort needs, accounting for significantly more energy than the transportation sector.
...
Thermal comfort also helps explain why the proposed elixirs to global warming—photovoltaic solar panels and giant wind turbines—are woefully inadequate. Both technologies have a way of going dormant just when they are needed most: in the dead of winter.
There is a direct, causal relationship between the ever-increasing difficulty of achieving thermal comfort in Britain and the unpopularity of its current ruling class, currently embodied by the much-maligned and politically tone-deaf Sir Keir Starmer.
This analysis at the individual and dwelling levels also integrates up to society as a whole, where it quickly becomes clear why the pursuit of developable energy resources is a core strategic imperative for nation-states. Countries blessed with abundant energy assets and the technical capacity to both extract them and defend them from invasion tend to flourish, while those lacking either are easily conquered or gradually fade from prominence. Every war ever fought was, at its core, an energy war—whether the participants realized it or not."
SOURCE URL: https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/cold-truths
Jack London, a great story teller. Even the dogs in his stories are all great characters.
“To Build a Fire” I remember well, it starts out with the man very confident. Then things go wrong, after a really tough set of adventures, -Doomberg has a good interpretation of how nature's rules are rigid and always apply- the man gets to the coast and is fortunate to find a ship able to rescue him.