I wondered about posting on the Meter Readings thread, but thought maybe it's better to start a new one.
Clearly keeping warm might be something of concern this winter, and it is something which concerns me personally as I now live in a sometimes colder part of the UK, and do feel the cold from time to time, and also am aware of the costs of heating.
I have lived in the UK, but also in hot countries and cold ones.
In Sweden there were phrases like "cotton kills" - particularly for people who wanted to go out in very cold weather or ski.
The point there was that cotton underwear was nowhere near as effective for heat retention as some other material - some wool for example, and could also attract moisture which could add to problems for anyone out in the snow.
We also had very thick padded jackets - supposedly good for down to -30 or -40 degrees C.
Rather than pay more for fuel, we are now trying to cut back by reducing the temperatures inside our house, and fortunately we now have more control over that than in previous years due to a newly installed control system.
Questions now remain though. For example, how much oil can you buy for the price of a thermal vest? [Current approximate answer - about 17 litres - though prices for oil vary from day to day - it might only be 14-15 litres today.
How many thermal vests do you need to keep warm - well one obviously - but one might suppose that one needs more than one to keep a supply to wear each day. Also, should thermal vests have sleeves? Sleeved vests can be significantly warmer. Let's choose 7 as the number to buy. So now a supply of thermal vests might equate to 105 litres of oil.
Next question - how much energy is used keeping those clothes clean for use each week? Probably not too much if those can be washed with other clothes - so probably the equivalent of 1-2 litres of oil/week.
Similar considerations can be made for other clothing - such as pullovers. Again wool pullovers will tend to be much warmer than synthetic ones, though may wear out faster or become untidy.
For some families they will be caught in a poverty trap - not able to afford heating, food or clothes, or even to be able to wash their clothes cheaply or easily.
I am reminded also of a holiday we had once to Sardinia in January. To our surprise the hotel staff all wore fairly thick padded jackets inside the hotel, which had minimal heating. During the days it was quite warm - but at night the temperature dropped.
It is possible to keep fairly warm and comfortable with "appropriate" clothing - but how many of us these days are prepared to turn off the central heating and wear outdoor clothes indoors instead?
Clearly keeping warm might be something of concern this winter, and it is something which concerns me personally as I now live in a sometimes colder part of the UK, and do feel the cold from time to time, and also am aware of the costs of heating.
I have lived in the UK, but also in hot countries and cold ones.
In Sweden there were phrases like "cotton kills" - particularly for people who wanted to go out in very cold weather or ski.
The point there was that cotton underwear was nowhere near as effective for heat retention as some other material - some wool for example, and could also attract moisture which could add to problems for anyone out in the snow.
We also had very thick padded jackets - supposedly good for down to -30 or -40 degrees C.
Rather than pay more for fuel, we are now trying to cut back by reducing the temperatures inside our house, and fortunately we now have more control over that than in previous years due to a newly installed control system.
Questions now remain though. For example, how much oil can you buy for the price of a thermal vest? [Current approximate answer - about 17 litres - though prices for oil vary from day to day - it might only be 14-15 litres today.
How many thermal vests do you need to keep warm - well one obviously - but one might suppose that one needs more than one to keep a supply to wear each day. Also, should thermal vests have sleeves? Sleeved vests can be significantly warmer. Let's choose 7 as the number to buy. So now a supply of thermal vests might equate to 105 litres of oil.
Next question - how much energy is used keeping those clothes clean for use each week? Probably not too much if those can be washed with other clothes - so probably the equivalent of 1-2 litres of oil/week.
Similar considerations can be made for other clothing - such as pullovers. Again wool pullovers will tend to be much warmer than synthetic ones, though may wear out faster or become untidy.
For some families they will be caught in a poverty trap - not able to afford heating, food or clothes, or even to be able to wash their clothes cheaply or easily.
I am reminded also of a holiday we had once to Sardinia in January. To our surprise the hotel staff all wore fairly thick padded jackets inside the hotel, which had minimal heating. During the days it was quite warm - but at night the temperature dropped.
It is possible to keep fairly warm and comfortable with "appropriate" clothing - but how many of us these days are prepared to turn off the central heating and wear outdoor clothes indoors instead?
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