Energy and comfort

Energy and comfort 

Energy remains a popular subject at my place of work. Many researchers and even more students have ideas that could turn buildings from inefficient and wasteful into net producers of energy. This could change everything and solve all our problems. 

There is nothing wrong with these ambitions until you realise that they could be serving as an alibi for spending increasing amounts of energy. This is evident in the lifestyles these designs serve. Through the naked window panes of Dutch houses a passerby cannot help catching a glimpse of the inhabitants and their attire: light, essentially summer clothes, with short sleeves, while the temperature outside is close to zero. Are these people so tough or are they used to high temperatures indoors? 

Could it be that the solution to energy problems lies not in new technologies but in lowering the thermostat from twenty-plus degrees to eighteen and putting a jumper on? Unfortunately, that's a rhetorical question of the type only old farts ask, so we have to avoid it. Let's remind ourselves that there's nothing wrong with our current levels of comfort or raising them even further. After all, they keep us healthy, just like frequent air travel allows us to see the wonders of the world. Economising is an outdated idea, out of tune with the circular patterns of consumption that drive the economy today.