<story><title>Is it stealing to read by the light of your neighbour’s lamp?</title><url>https://mymisanthropicmusings.org.uk/is-it-stealing-to-read-by-the-light-of-your-neighbours-lamp/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>elliekelly</author><text>My first apartment in Boston was like this. I was on the top floor and I’d have to leave the windows open all winter because it was so unbearably hot from the heat being cranked up in the units below me. I remember nearly sweating to death during a major snowstorm because I had closed the windows to keep the snow out but keeping the snow out meant I kept all of the hot air in!</text></item><item><author>aflag</author><text>I think that&amp;#x27;s a stronger example than the one proposed. But the outcome is similar. The neighbors are forcibly giving you heat. It just happens that you are ok with 19C. However, if you wanted your home to be cooler than that, to be the same as outside, you&amp;#x27;d then have to pay for an AC to do that because your neighbors are making the environment around them hotter. I think stealing is not only taking something that&amp;#x27;s not yours, but taking something that&amp;#x27;s not yours without permission. As soon as they start irradiating the heat all over the place, they are effectively giving everyone permission to use it. It&amp;#x27;s not like you can somehow easily stop or give them back the heat. If they didn&amp;#x27;t want the heat to escape, then they need to invest in better insulation.</text></item><item><author>kmm</author><text>I have the thermostat in my apartment turned to about 19°, which is a bit lower than is usual here, to save money and the environment, and I&amp;#x27;m still perfectly comfortable at that temperature. At some point, after I had rented it for a bit, I had to be gone for a few weeks, so I turned the thermostat and all the radiators completely off. The outside temperature was about 5-10°, which I what expected to find on my return. Yet when I came back, it was still at 19.5°. I have only rarely had to turn on my radiators since, even during Winter.&lt;p&gt;Of course, the place can&amp;#x27;t be that well-isolated, and I regularly open the windows to let in fresh air, so that energy must be coming from somewhere. I assume it&amp;#x27;s heat leaking in from my upstairs, downstairs, left and right neighbors. They probably have their thermostats set to a balmy 21-22°, and the heat flux through my walls must be enough to keep the place at around 19°.&lt;p&gt;I often wonder whether this constitutes stealing. It&amp;#x27;s not exactly parallel to the light of my neighbor&amp;#x27;s lamp, since due to the temperature differential their thermostats are working harder than they would be if I heated my place to 22°. In effect, they&amp;#x27;re all paying for the energy to keep my place at 19°, and I&amp;#x27;m presumably paying only a pittance for heat. But on the other hand, I have no need for a higher temperature, nor do I want to pay or incur the environmental cost for unnecessary heating. Nineteen degrees seems like a perfectly reasonable temperature to me, and it&amp;#x27;s their choice (again, I&amp;#x27;m assuming, but where else can it come from?) to keep it a few degrees hotter.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mensetmanusman</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;945136599&amp;#x2F;how-spanish-flu-pandemic-changed-home-heat-radiators&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.npr.org&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;945136599&amp;#x2F;how-spanish-flu-pan...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was actually designed for this, so you could have fresh air during a pandemic in the winter :)</text></comment>
<story><title>Is it stealing to read by the light of your neighbour’s lamp?</title><url>https://mymisanthropicmusings.org.uk/is-it-stealing-to-read-by-the-light-of-your-neighbours-lamp/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>elliekelly</author><text>My first apartment in Boston was like this. I was on the top floor and I’d have to leave the windows open all winter because it was so unbearably hot from the heat being cranked up in the units below me. I remember nearly sweating to death during a major snowstorm because I had closed the windows to keep the snow out but keeping the snow out meant I kept all of the hot air in!</text></item><item><author>aflag</author><text>I think that&amp;#x27;s a stronger example than the one proposed. But the outcome is similar. The neighbors are forcibly giving you heat. It just happens that you are ok with 19C. However, if you wanted your home to be cooler than that, to be the same as outside, you&amp;#x27;d then have to pay for an AC to do that because your neighbors are making the environment around them hotter. I think stealing is not only taking something that&amp;#x27;s not yours, but taking something that&amp;#x27;s not yours without permission. As soon as they start irradiating the heat all over the place, they are effectively giving everyone permission to use it. It&amp;#x27;s not like you can somehow easily stop or give them back the heat. If they didn&amp;#x27;t want the heat to escape, then they need to invest in better insulation.</text></item><item><author>kmm</author><text>I have the thermostat in my apartment turned to about 19°, which is a bit lower than is usual here, to save money and the environment, and I&amp;#x27;m still perfectly comfortable at that temperature. At some point, after I had rented it for a bit, I had to be gone for a few weeks, so I turned the thermostat and all the radiators completely off. The outside temperature was about 5-10°, which I what expected to find on my return. Yet when I came back, it was still at 19.5°. I have only rarely had to turn on my radiators since, even during Winter.&lt;p&gt;Of course, the place can&amp;#x27;t be that well-isolated, and I regularly open the windows to let in fresh air, so that energy must be coming from somewhere. I assume it&amp;#x27;s heat leaking in from my upstairs, downstairs, left and right neighbors. They probably have their thermostats set to a balmy 21-22°, and the heat flux through my walls must be enough to keep the place at around 19°.&lt;p&gt;I often wonder whether this constitutes stealing. It&amp;#x27;s not exactly parallel to the light of my neighbor&amp;#x27;s lamp, since due to the temperature differential their thermostats are working harder than they would be if I heated my place to 22°. In effect, they&amp;#x27;re all paying for the energy to keep my place at 19°, and I&amp;#x27;m presumably paying only a pittance for heat. But on the other hand, I have no need for a higher temperature, nor do I want to pay or incur the environmental cost for unnecessary heating. Nineteen degrees seems like a perfectly reasonable temperature to me, and it&amp;#x27;s their choice (again, I&amp;#x27;m assuming, but where else can it come from?) to keep it a few degrees hotter.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>101008</author><text>My God, I think I was crazy. It happened to me in several hotels in USA and Europe, I had to leave window open in winter because it was unbereable to be in the hotel room, even with the heating turned off. Glad I am not the only one!</text></comment>