<story><title>Europe drastically cut its energy consumption this winter</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/04/05/europe-drastically-cut-its-energy-consumption-this-winter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Etheryte</author><text>Not some of the heat, all of the heat save for what your body generates and such was from neighbors. In most reasonably managed apartment buildings what you did is forbidden because it means your neighbors just have to heat more since their walls will leak heat to you. In total it rarely ends up being an energy save because the losses are bigger this way than if everyone kept a uniform temperature.</text></item><item><author>dvh</author><text>Not to brag but this winter I didn&amp;#x27;t turn on radiator once. The temperature never dropped below 20°C inside (I live in a flat that few years ago had 10cm of isolation added to it). Yes I know, some of the heat was probably from neighbors but I can&amp;#x27;t do anything about that. I also shortened hot showers to minimum and wore warm underwear and sweater. The winter was quite warm [1], coldest was around -5°C&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shmu.sk&amp;#x2F;sk&amp;#x2F;?page=1&amp;amp;id=klimat_operativneudaje1&amp;amp;identif=11968&amp;amp;rok=2023&amp;amp;obdobie=1991-2020&amp;amp;sub=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shmu.sk&amp;#x2F;sk&amp;#x2F;?page=1&amp;amp;id=klimat_operativneudaje1&amp;amp;id...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tfourb</author><text>I have been a renter for most of my adult life and I own several apartments that I would argue are &amp;quot;reasonably managed&amp;quot; and I am not aware that a landlord (in Germany) can prevent tenants from &amp;quot;leeching&amp;quot; heat from neighboring apartments. A renter usually has to guarantee a reasonable minimum temperature in the apartment, as well as regular fresh air, both to prevent mold. But the level of heating required for this is way below 20°C.&lt;p&gt;Also: I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure that in most reasonable scenarios not heating one apartment in a house that has a decent outer layer of insulation would overall reduce energy input, because the overall average temperature would decline and heat would propagate more efficiently between apartments than to the outside. But I&amp;#x27;m no expert so what do I know.</text></comment>
<story><title>Europe drastically cut its energy consumption this winter</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/04/05/europe-drastically-cut-its-energy-consumption-this-winter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Etheryte</author><text>Not some of the heat, all of the heat save for what your body generates and such was from neighbors. In most reasonably managed apartment buildings what you did is forbidden because it means your neighbors just have to heat more since their walls will leak heat to you. In total it rarely ends up being an energy save because the losses are bigger this way than if everyone kept a uniform temperature.</text></item><item><author>dvh</author><text>Not to brag but this winter I didn&amp;#x27;t turn on radiator once. The temperature never dropped below 20°C inside (I live in a flat that few years ago had 10cm of isolation added to it). Yes I know, some of the heat was probably from neighbors but I can&amp;#x27;t do anything about that. I also shortened hot showers to minimum and wore warm underwear and sweater. The winter was quite warm [1], coldest was around -5°C&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shmu.sk&amp;#x2F;sk&amp;#x2F;?page=1&amp;amp;id=klimat_operativneudaje1&amp;amp;identif=11968&amp;amp;rok=2023&amp;amp;obdobie=1991-2020&amp;amp;sub=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.shmu.sk&amp;#x2F;sk&amp;#x2F;?page=1&amp;amp;id=klimat_operativneudaje1&amp;amp;id...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ericpauley</author><text>&amp;gt; In total it rarely ends up being an energy save because the losses are bigger this way than if everyone kept a uniform temperature.&lt;p&gt;Really? GP is effectively acting as an apartment-size layer of insulation between neighbors and the outside. Put another way, if everyone did what GP did (for instance, lower thermostat to 20C) the entire building would be cooler and use less energy. Perhaps GP’s behavior even encouraged others to lower their thermostat because of higher electric bills!</text></comment>