Comments on: America,

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:59:21 +0000

ginsberg!

By: Dominic

Dominic — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:49:59 +0000

So true. Never inhabited those old heated buildings myself, but everyone I know who did complains of those freezing grannies.

Also, though this is just a guess since I’m in no way an expert in American construction standards, the houses are probably less well-isolated than in northern countries.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:04:14 +0000

Really should proof before posting. The average New Yorker emits one third the carbon dioxide of the average American.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:02:40 +0000

Jesper: You were almost certainly renting an apartment in a building heated by an early 20th-century steam heating system with cast-iron radiators. The valves on the radiators can be adjusted to increase or decrease the amount of heat they put out, but since the same steam runs through all the pipes in the building. Also, you typically have to heat the building to keep the “worst case” warm — that is, the 90 year-old woman in the ground-floor apartment (heat rises so higher ones are hotter, and older people feel the chill more). Consequently much of the rest of the building roasts, even with the radiator valves closed.

Thermostats alone wouldn’t solve the problem; you’d have to rip out the whole heating system and put something more modern in, which isn’t cheap.

As for Darius X: The average New Yorker emits, over the course of a year, about one-third of the average American. Inefficient heating systems notwithstanding.

By: Darius K.

Darius K. — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:12:36 +0000

That’s really more of a Northeast thing. Once you get to warmer climes, like VA or FL or TX or other places, everything is nicely climate controlled everywhere.