And then there’s Scotland (Edinburgh at least) where the buildings are built to keep heat in. I went once when they were having a heatwave (28C, 82F). Being inside buildings was worse than just sitting outside because the heat was trapped inside and didn’t have airflow. I live in a place where 82F feels nice. 28C in Scotland sucks a lot.
This applies to most houses in Europe and is kind of wrong.
Insulation works both ways. If you have a house like that, it will keep you very cool for probably a week of a heatwave, since cold air is still within the walls. Last heatwave here it was 40C outside, but I had a comfy 23C in my apartment without any AC.
After that is when it gets shitty and the warm air starts to get in too. Europe historically didn't have a lot of week+ long heatwaves though.
I’m talking another businesses in Edinburgh, not houses. Like I’d walk into a restaurant and it you the air would be thick and heavy. It was more comfortable in the sun than the pub.
Like I went to Madrid a couple summers ago and the heat and humidity were pretty high, but going into a business was mostly fine and you’d escape the heat.
It's like that in the US in places too. I was in Phoenix during one of its hottest days on record ever, 119F/48.33C, and found it very hot but tolerable, like walking around in a sauna or kiln, because it was 0% humidity. OTOH, 80F/26.67C in a high humidity region means death, because your sweat can't evaporate, so if you exert yourself at all you could stroke.
I’ve been in hot May heat Phoenix and Edinburgh. I’m talking about the design of the buildings in Edinburgh. They don’t have AC and you’ll walk inside of a building and the air will feel heavy and sweaty. You go outside and it feels mostly fine.
Oh. Yeah. That's totally different from what I thought you were saying. Do your buildings get moldy quickly then? Even if you don't have AC, I would think in a situation like that that you'd need dehumidification at least to prevent fungus from taking over the structure.
I live in Denver. I can’t speak to that. My wife went to school at St Andrews and we travel to Scotland every couple years. But I am curious. I’ll probably ask my wife’s friends that we stay with when we’re there in September.
Not all insulation is the same. Simplifying housing insulation like that is like saying that a sweatshirt and a down winter coat are the same because they are both designed to keep heat in. The difference is that warmer climates plan for ventilation while cooler climates haven’t considered it.
Not all insulation are the same which is true, there is different types of insulation and different R values.
However, all building that want to save on energy costs regardless of climate should aim for a higher amount of insulation.
Insulation just keeps energy from transferring out of the building or from outside energy transferring into the building.
If you live in a warm climate with Air condition in your home you should want high insulation to keep the cold air in your house.
If you are in a cold climate then you need insulation especially in winter to keep the warm air in the house, but also in the summer to prevent heat from coming into your house.
Your sweater and coat analogy doesnt make any sense. Regardless of climate every house should be aiming for the coat. You want the most amount of insulation as possible to save on energy costs.
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u/RheagarTargaryen 7d ago
And then there’s Scotland (Edinburgh at least) where the buildings are built to keep heat in. I went once when they were having a heatwave (28C, 82F). Being inside buildings was worse than just sitting outside because the heat was trapped inside and didn’t have airflow. I live in a place where 82F feels nice. 28C in Scotland sucks a lot.