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So how ready is the UK housing stock for this...


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1 hour ago, daiking said:

 

If this prediction comes true, the UK will already have become one of the most populous nations in Europe and there will be tens of millions of climate refugees. 

 

I’m not sure that ‘moving north a bit’ is going to cut it.

 

It's not all bad news - all the costa del sol pensioners can come home and settle on the south coast, enjoy the same sunshine, egg & chips diet and speaking english at the locals. 

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Well, wouldn't this be a good news though? 

As winter temperatures rise, much less energy is going to be spent on heating, making expensive upgrades of the existing housing stock unnecessary. 

Summer cooling is easily dealt with as pointed out before. 

We are going to grow much more fruit locally, again, saving on transportation of strawberries and cherries. And obviously better growing everything will be consuming much more CO2 - win-win. 

Can't wait. 

But something tells me it's just a dream. 

 

I'll get my coat (c) 

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I saw this article and thought it was pretty much what I posted about somewhat tongue in cheek the other day. Looking forward to the Costa Del North Berwick!

 

We were in our house last summer and this year does not seem any warmer but for some reason it is hotter in the house. It may be that I turned down the MVHR which was running flat out when it was first installed or it may be that it has not been getting as cold during the night, but looking at my Heatmiser app every room in the house is sitting at between 23 and 26C with the outside temperature in Edinburgh at 19C.

 

For the moment it seems like I can fix this by opening windows.

 

In London at the moment it is 26C in my apartment and showing 27C outsize. The trouble in London is that the air temperature is higher and the traffic noise and fumes are bad so opening a window doesn't really help. I can see AC becoming more prevalent here. If I could get it I would have it already.

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On 11/07/2019 at 21:00, ProDave said:

14 degrees here today and sunny at 60 degrees North.  Felt very pleasant.

 

It will be a while everyone needs AC up here.

 

They just need to pump the cold air down south with the water - will be like North Sea Oil all over again...

 

Edited by Bitpipe
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2 hours ago, AliG said:

I saw this article and thought it was pretty much what I posted about somewhat tongue in cheek the other day. Looking forward to the Costa Del North Berwick!

 

We were in our house last summer and this year does not seem any warmer but for some reason it is hotter in the house. It may be that I turned down the MVHR which was running flat out when it was first installed or it may be that it has not been getting as cold during the night, but looking at my Heatmiser app every room in the house is sitting at between 23 and 26C with the outside temperature in Edinburgh at 19C.

 

For the moment it seems like I can fix this by opening windows.

 

In London at the moment it is 26C in my apartment and showing 27C outsize. The trouble in London is that the air temperature is higher and the traffic noise and fumes are bad so opening a window doesn't really help. I can see AC becoming more prevalent here. If I could get it I would have it already.

 

I can see electric cars being compulsory when it becomes practical.

 

And Buxton (or Bradford) will be to London as Shimla was to New Delhi.

 

F

Edited by Ferdinand
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The biggest problem will be climate refugees, by 2050 parts of the world will be abandoned due to either extreme heat or flooding. 

 

Im left wondering, could the UK power grid cope with all this extra cooling requirement?

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The UN estimates that 26m people a year have been displaced due to weather and climate related events between 2008 and 2015.

 

They estimate 200m people will be displaced by 2050, less than 10m a year.

 

10m a year is a number the world could quite comfortably cope with, it already is.

 

Europe, China and Japan are all heading towards flat or declining populations, and even growth is slowing in the US, so this can offset it. It actually may be less disruptive than it has been as immigration has been into already growing economies historically.

 

Offsetting this many countries will see development which means better living conditions and job opportunities. They may be able to internally offset the climate issues or they may offer a more attractive economy to stay in.

 

Within 75 years all regions of the world except Africa will see flat to falling population and i suspect that almost certainly people will move to falling population as the new crisis.

 

I also seriously doubt that the fertility rate in Africa will stay as high as forecast, as other areas have got richer fertility rates have fallen much faster than expected.

 

UN predictions below.

 

image.png.7c2f04c83b237dfbc2081ab8423c3eeb.png

Edited by AliG
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8 hours ago, Triassic said:

 

Im left wondering, could the UK power grid cope with all this extra cooling requirement?

 

It'd probably be fine, given the growth in renewable generation and the number of solar farms being built.  Also, it doesn't take much solar panel area to provide enough power to offset the use of air conditioning.  The air con unit I'm part-way through installing has more capacity than I think we need (~2.5 kW output) but only draws about 800 W maximum from the grid.  A pretty small array of around 6 panels on the roof would be more than enough to offset this.  Also, fitting solar panels on the roof reduces solar gain a bit, by around 16% to 18% for the area covered by the panels, maybe more if the panels are spaced above the roof, like the way the Land Rover Safari roof works (always thought this was a great idea for cars).  Any power generated by the panels means less heat available to be conducted through the roof into the house.

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2 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said:

 

At Harris Towers?

 

 

Yes, it's a small Toshiba unit, to make the bedroom a bit cooler, as the heat pump in the MVHR isn't that effective at cooling upstairs, even with an increased flow rate to the bedroom.  Downstairs is fine, rarely gets over 22°C, thanks to the floor cooling from the ASHP.  I really wish I'd thought about this earlier, and made provision for fitting the thing, as it's a PITA trying to run pipes etc around now the house is finished and being lived in.  This afternoon's job is to rig up a hoist to get the outdoor unit (weighs 23kg) up high on to the rear wall of the house (well above head height, as it's over a path).  I feel the need to get my climbing ropes and kit out yet again...

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4 hours ago, JSHarris said:

This afternoon's job is to rig up a hoist to get the outdoor unit (weighs 23kg) up high on to the rear wall of the house (well above head height, as it's over a path). 

Why not have the outdoor unit sitting on the path and have longer pipes fitted behind the cladding?

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2 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

Why not have the outdoor unit sitting on the path and have longer pipes fitted behind the cladding?

 

 

I'd really love to do this, but the front of the unit ends up about 18" away from the wall (it needs an air flow space behind it), and the path is only about 3ft wide (can't easily make it wider because of the retaining wall and stuff on it).  With hindsight I should have arranged things differently and not had the path so close to the house, but it would be a major exercise now to change the path and other stuff. 

 

Having said that, I've just come in for a cold drink, after my second (failed) go at hoisting the thing up.  I can lift it OK, just can't get it hooked on to the wall brackets.  I need a bit of thinking time to work out a way to get it into place.  I reckon I need to make a lifting bar or frame to help hold the thing level as I hoist it, as it's heavier at one end than the other. so wants to tilt and then that seems to make it want to twist.  I'll get there in the end...

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49 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

Having said that, I've just come in for a cold drink, after my second (failed) go at hoisting the thing up.  I can lift it OK, just can't get it hooked on to the wall brackets.  I need a bit of thinking time to work out a way to get it into place.  I reckon I need to make a lifting bar or frame to help hold the thing level as I hoist it, as it's heavier at one end than the other. so wants to tilt and then that seems to make it want to twist.  I'll get there in the end...

This is where a scaffold platform would be handy, and why I kept some of my Kwikstage.

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2 minutes ago, ProDave said:

This is where a scaffold platform would be handy, and why I kept some of my Kwikstage.

 

 

Yes, it would.  With a platform that was just set so that the thing could be picked up and lifted to below waist height to hook it on to the fixing rail the job would be pretty easy.  I sold my platform to our plasterers, after we'd finished decorating, as it was taking up too much space in the garage and I didn't think I'd need it again...

 

I think I've cracked how to do this now, using two ladders and a rope either end of the unit, so that I can lift each end separately.  That should stop it twisting and allow me to lift each end up to hook the the thing into the rail that's screwed to the wall.  It just hooks on to this rail, so needs to be lifted about half an inch higher, one end at a time, hooked on, then lowered slightly, repeating this for the hook at the other end.

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