To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
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@radioclash @Remittancegirl @svenscholz what kind of "experience" you mean? "LoL" vs data?
UK has literally 20GW of installed solar capacity which produced some 6.5% of total electricty in 2025. Sure, it works better in more sunny places, still not "LoL".
@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz - direct experience of watching the import prices of my green supplier and noting when the solar and wind is on and I get free or very cheap electricity yes.
Do you do that every day for UK green electricty prices? I do.
Pretty sure you don't....
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz do you make a habit of talking over direct experience of those who ACTUALLY live in these places, like a pedantic green ink sealion - or this a recent occurence?
@radioclash Hey, let's not get that way. There is meterological theory and climate science and it has its place. I get that. I know the principle of the point at which heat and humidity kind of crash into each other. But actually, just after a short rain during monsoon season in HCMC, it can be both 38 and that incredibly humid. It doesn't last all day. But your walls drip for a reason.
@vriesk @svenscholz -
@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz - direct experience of watching the import prices of my green supplier and noting when the solar and wind is on and I get free or very cheap electricity yes.
Do you do that every day for UK green electricty prices? I do.
Pretty sure you don't....
@radioclash @vriesk @svenscholz
I'm going to beg you all to be civil. Because what does it achieve not to be?
What I know for sure is that we have worthy common enemies that are better targets for our anger.
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@radioclash Hey, let's not get that way. There is meterological theory and climate science and it has its place. I get that. I know the principle of the point at which heat and humidity kind of crash into each other. But actually, just after a short rain during monsoon season in HCMC, it can be both 38 and that incredibly humid. It doesn't last all day. But your walls drip for a reason.
@vriesk @svenscholz@Remittancegirl @radioclash @svenscholz Must say this is viscerally scary.
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@Remittancegirl @radioclash @svenscholz Must say this is viscerally scary.
@vriesk @radioclash @svenscholz
What I find even scarier is that most governments and most of the financial world still will not truly acknowledge climate change enough to stop burning fossil fuel. Even when it would be absolutely feasible to do it.
That IS scarier.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl Thank you for sharing what you've learned from experience, Madeleine. It's much appreciated in this punishing heat.
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@Remittancegirl Thank you for sharing what you've learned from experience, Madeleine. It's much appreciated in this punishing heat.
@ApostateEnglishman
I'm just so sorry to see people having to go through this. Because I know how utterly unprepared most Northern Europeans are, and the infrastructure isn't built for it either.I do worry - especially for older people and children. They are very vulnerable.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
I was on a zoom reading meeting and my friend in Singapore also reminded me - rightly so - to pass on that high levels of heat are not just physically draining. They can be psychologically draining too.
So, if you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, please know that you can indeed breathe and you aren't dying - that feeling of panic will pass if you just sit quietly, sip some water, and breathe evenly.
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@ApostateEnglishman
I'm just so sorry to see people having to go through this. Because I know how utterly unprepared most Northern Europeans are, and the infrastructure isn't built for it either.I do worry - especially for older people and children. They are very vulnerable.
@Remittancegirl Yeah. Those accustomed to these conditions forget that acclimatisation doesn't happen overnight. Europeans aren't being wimps when they say they're suffering; thousands of heat-related deaths aren't folks spontaneously expiring from lack of stoicism!
A sudden temperature spike is dangerous for nearly all animals and plants. Also, UK homes in particular are literal heat traps by design, and have no air conditioning.
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@Remittancegirl Yeah. Those accustomed to these conditions forget that acclimatisation doesn't happen overnight. Europeans aren't being wimps when they say they're suffering; thousands of heat-related deaths aren't folks spontaneously expiring from lack of stoicism!
A sudden temperature spike is dangerous for nearly all animals and plants. Also, UK homes in particular are literal heat traps by design, and have no air conditioning.
️@ApostateEnglishman Exactly this.
I remember getting more than a few expat employees through their first month or so. It's really hard on the body, but also, mentally hard.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl relevant to 1: deep slow breathing.
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz
It's shit for the environment anyway. That's the thing the AC freaks pass by. You're just making everyone else hotter.
Open a fucking window, build your houses for heat and with water features, keep the shutters closed, and drink cold drinks!
Islamic countries know how to do this, it's an ancient art.
@radioclash @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz I remember when I was in Egypt and Jordan, "American-style" AC blasting straight arctic temperatures was super common there over ten years ago. Not everyone there lives in a historic building (most people in Cairo live in 20th century built high rises), and climate change has made it so that the historic buildings' passive heating systems are often overwhelmed
The good news is that heat pump ACs are actually reasonably environmentally friendly.
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz 'on sunny days' is doing some heavy lifting here.
Do you know how many those there are in the UK? Not a lot. More nowadays, but most of the year, it's dull and grey.
@radioclash @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz The point is that sunny days are when folks need the AC the most.
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@vriesk Actually, I think the combination of AC and a fan is really quite important. Because the cool air tends to hover at floor level, and a fan helps move it around a bit. @svenscholz
@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz When I used to live in NYC we had a whole complex jury-rigged system with both box fans and oscillating fans to maximize the effectiveness of our window AC unit. Definitely gotta have fans and air movement, always
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@Remittancegirl @svenscholz Which makes me really wonder why on Earth the floor-mounted internal AC units are so popular in the US.
@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz Sadly, I think those are mostly "popular" because people's landlords won't let them use the more efficient window units
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@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz When I used to live in NYC we had a whole complex jury-rigged system with both box fans and oscillating fans to maximize the effectiveness of our window AC unit. Definitely gotta have fans and air movement, always
@sidereal It also saves quite a bit of electricity, because you can put the AC on at a higher temp, since you're distributing the cooling more efficiently. @vriesk @svenscholz
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz also we don't have AC in Europe.
Not going to get into a big argument about why, because some entitled Yanks think their wars for oil are a good trade off for subsidised energy/oil costs.
We have really high energy costs, so even if the AC is cheap to install (it isn't but not the highest cost) then the energy cost will burn you, even if you're cool.
Also...most of our building were built before A/C was a thing, so hard to adapt, more expense.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl Thanks! Is this (finally) the explanation for why I crave very spicy food on hot days? The sweat triggering?
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@fietsria @Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
Yeah, the point is that keeping yourself wet enough for the fan to help is something you have to actively think about at those temperatures
@gbargoud @fietsria @Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
Living in the American Southwest in the 90s, they began to put misting fans on restaurant patios. It made a 100*F (37.7C) day so much more bearable. Moisture and a fan could drop the ambient air temperature enough to make it comfortable.
They became available at reasonable prices for home use too. The simple systems are just an atomizing watering ring in front of a fan.
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@vriesk I know, right? Do they not understand that hot air rises?@svenscholz
@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
You find those floor vents in older houses built before AC was a thing. They are stupid. They make it impossible to put your furniture where you want it. They collect dust like crazy too.
Even after AC was a thing aome builders kept putting them in the floor because it was cheaper than adding enough duct work to put them in the ceilings. It really seems to be a regional problem in the US.
