One thing I will never forget from my short time living in London is how un-insulated the homes there were. Single or thin double-glazed windows, full-brick homes without a hint of thermal insulation. Sure there were exceptions but not many. At the time in Central Europe the movement to heavily insulated, nearly-passive homes was already in full swing. Many central European countries were much poorer than the UK, not even mentioning London, and energy prices were lower, so, naively I thought, everyone with an old house in the UK should be busy insulating it. It would pay off in a few years. Why didn't they?
And I think one of the reasons is that the governments, indeed the ruling class as a whole, just didn't care that the commoners are paying over their heads for energy and are freezing in moldy houses, because the class divide is just so big. It would be interesting to live in an alternate universe where Karl Marx would live in a different country - perhaps his theory would place a smaller emphasis on social class.
As I understand it from a couple of my British friends talking about insulation, the old homes were built to breathe, so you can't just seal them up and put insulation in, because you'll end up with humidity problems.
I think Karl Marx only serves as an expensive lesson in what destructive ideas look like. Everywhere that has implemented any version of it has ended up impoverished, unfree, and frequently with millions killed. China's success came only after they junked Marxism, and Xi Jinping's quasi return to it has seen Chinese prosperity slowly drop.
Yes, but there are ways to handle that. Even the insulation can let water vapor through, of course you can't in that case use the cheapest styropor.
> I think Karl Marx only serves as an expensive lesson in what destructive ideas look like.
I fully agree implementing his dumb ideas mostly from the Communist Manifest led to huge tragedies, but they were implemented partly because he was a hugely influential philosopher and that was not some random success. His critique of capitalism is worth reading, or at least reading about.
One thing I will never forget from my short time living in London is how un-insulated the homes there were. Single or thin double-glazed windows, full-brick homes without a hint of thermal insulation. Sure there were exceptions but not many. At the time in Central Europe the movement to heavily insulated, nearly-passive homes was already in full swing. Many central European countries were much poorer than the UK, not even mentioning London, and energy prices were lower, so, naively I thought, everyone with an old house in the UK should be busy insulating it. It would pay off in a few years. Why didn't they?
And I think one of the reasons is that the governments, indeed the ruling class as a whole, just didn't care that the commoners are paying over their heads for energy and are freezing in moldy houses, because the class divide is just so big. It would be interesting to live in an alternate universe where Karl Marx would live in a different country - perhaps his theory would place a smaller emphasis on social class.