• Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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      3 days ago

      Yeah, nah, I’m on the side of the government paying for utilities. Human right to electricity. Figure out a system to prevent overuse, but everyone deserves to have heating and cooling when needed.

      That said, definitely wear a sweater in the winter if you can. Acclimate to the season and you’ll hate going outside a lot less, and need less heating in the winter. I typically don’t heat most of my home in the winter (I don’t have central heating). I just use a space heater in whatever room I’m in, and move it to the next room with me, and wear warm clothes. I’m in Tennessee, which routinely gets well below freezing in the winter. Not ideal, but it works

      • renzev@lemmy.worldOP
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        3 days ago

        Figure out a system to prevent overuse

        If we’re going down the “government should pay for it” route, then a good solution would be subsidizing thermal insulation. It’s a big investment upfront, but will save a lot of money for both homeowners and the government in the future. Not to mention the obvious ecological benefits.

        • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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          3 days ago

          Absolutely. We should be subsidizing anything and everything that helps decrease energy usage, especially in ways that mean we don’t have to make big changes to lifestyle. Though that’s a whole other discussion. :/ But utilities in general, electricity, water, Internet, gas (though if possible move that shit to electric) should be public and no cost at the point of use, imho

        • JordanZ@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I feel like it already is. Just not always from the government. I put three pallets worth of insulation into my attic(~$1500) and between the rebates from the gas and power company it ended up costing me like $350. I did have to front that cost though and the paperwork was kind of a pain. Had to draw a scaled picture of my house with the part of the living area covered with insulation on graph paper. They don’t pay for over the garage.

          Just looked at what I bought again and insulation has gone way up in price. It’s close to $2500 now. No idea if the rebates also went up but I kind of doubt it.

        • Emi@ani.social
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          3 days ago

          That would require them to think long term and logically , Also i assume lots of companies would not like that they won’t be able to get as much profit.

          Don’t get me wrong I definitely agree but there’s just so much things that would work better, be cheaper more efficient and better for the environment but that would cost money and not make much profit. Sometimes I have hope people will get fed up with this BS and change happens but mostly I’m skeptical.

      • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        What temp is freezing in F? Is it still defined by the temp water freezes at, like in C, or do you guys have a different scale for this too?

        • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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          3 days ago

          32f is the same as 0c, and they’re both freezing. 0c is the temp at which brine freezes, but nobody really knows/cares about that. Where I live it down to -25f/-31c at least a few times a year, and normally you can expect at least a few weeks to a month below 32f/0c, but the last few years have been mild

          • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            0c is the temp at which brine freezes

            I looked that bit up as it didn’t seem right, you mixed up ‘f’ and ‘c’.

            Water freezes at 0c and brine freezes at 0f.

            That’s a good fact though about 0f being the freeze point of brine, it’s helping me visualise the scale of f a bit better. Thank you!

              • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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                1 day ago

                Also, gotta say, I love Lemmy, but it still weirds me out being recognized across multiple communities. Like, noticing the same users in one subreddit over and over, or being recognized in the sub is one thing. But on Lemmy I notice the same names pop up in multiple communities, and have had people continue conversations from one community in another because they recognize the username. It’s a weird experience. I feel like I’m in Mayberry. Lol

              • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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                1 day ago

                Made several because instances were going down left and right at one point. Lol. Finally settled on slrpnk, and only ever use this one when I accidently log into it without paying attention.

    • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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      3 days ago

      Pets? One of my cats found a nice solution for that: recruit some dumb human as her heating pillow. (The “dumb human” is me, by the way.) And when I’m not on the bed she sleeps inside a blanket folded in the shape of a pocket.

      …although winter here rarely goes below 0°C, subtropical region and all that shit. If I was a bit souther I’d probably have some heaters in the bedrooms, and that’s it - there’s no reason to heat the whole house.