Thinking back to the summer heatwave in the UK when everyone was “Our houses aren’t built for the heat, they’re designed to keep warm in winter”, and now everyone is “Our houses aren’t built for this cold”. Maybe time to admit that the UK has just been building homes for 100 years that are shit at *everything* aside from extracting rent from the poor.
@Polypompholyx Yeah, it's bizarre. A well-insulated house keeps heat in AND out.
The only point they have is large south-facing windows for a greenhouse effect - good when it's cold, bad when it's hot. (But in my experience British houses aren't usually built to exploit the greenhouse effect.)
@charlottekl @Polypompholyx Utilising the sunlight for heating in winter but keeping it out in summer is surprisingly straightforward as well. Either by shading the higher standing sun (low tech) or by coating the windows to reflect the IR light at certain angles (higher tech, but I first saw this in windows installed in 1981).
@ChrisWilms23 @charlottekl Yeah, we have a south facing conservatory. It’s basically a crematorium for plants unless the doors are open 9 months of the year, but it’s a useful free radiator in spring and autumn.