Comments by "Werpu" (@werpu12) on "Why Japan Doesn't Heat Homes with Central Heating in Winter" video.

Proper insulation is the trick for both situations to keep the cold/warmth...
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Amen to that... from Europe.. we know why we build our houses exactly like you did... energy is expensive here, and it saves a ton of energy!
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@ofsen2497 Until you have a war somewhere which skryrockets your energy cost (aka happened to Europe with the Russian Ukraine War going on) Better be prepared, it is worth it alone for the comfort of having a central heating being a no brainer while still saving on energy costs.
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I wonder how they deal with the plumbing living like this. Hokkaido for instance has a climate similar to northern europe, not heating means pipes break all the time, you have to keep them above the frost barrier if filled! If you do not have central heating you probably have pipe damages every year. Do they simply live with it (btw. some Texans learned that the hard way a few years ago when they were hit by a blizzard)
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@BeDoHave-so8nr Hot water basically there is a huge insulated container which the heat pump heats up and then the hot water is pumped into pipes under the floor wich are in the bottom concrete heating it up. This is needed because heat pumps do not generated high heats (usually the water is around 40c instead of 70c with gas) so you need insulation and lots of heating space to spread the heat properly and keep it in. If everything is done well then it is working really well (I have two appartments heated here one with permanent 21.5 another one with 23c) and compared to other systems in the operating costs relatively cheap!
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@veganpotterthevegan Yes mold can be a problem in both climates... but generally in a cold outside condition it normally gets less moldy in hot rooms the reason is the cold condensates the water so you get some humid air in, temperatures fall the condensation happens on the walls because they are colder than the ambient temperature and then -> mold. Hot weather means in swampy areas humid weather... also mold, same problem different angle!
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@duudsuufd Actually if done properly you do not get hot feet, I live in central europe in a house and we have a heatpump outside with central floor heating, the feet are warm like cozily warm but not hot. Btw. our ambient temperature is 21.5 all year round thanks to proper isolation and heating and cooling via heatpump technologies (heatpump/ac) but the cooling is necessary has yet to settle in the demented brains of the people living here!
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you can ask that the people in the US as well :-( one of the big game changers to keep heat in in winter and cold in in summer, is proper insulation and the funny thing is, proper insulation is not even that expensive to do actually it is one of the cheapest parts of building a house! I love the insulated houses we have here in central europe, they are a game changer when it comes to cozyness and kleeping the cost down! I have the feeling the Japanese try to save money here on the wrong end by not insulating the rooms/walls (yes you can do that on room level as well) but then only to heat up certain areas and freeze half the time. Sames goes for the USA where they simply try to "slay the dragon" by pumping more energy into the house which then goes straight out of the wooden walls and wooden roofs which have something smeared on top!
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@ML-cc7gj Fun fact is that mold develops in winter in cold+damp situations if you keep the inner rooms warm then it wont develop because with the warmth the humidity is driven out and the walls are dried, but for that you need constant warm inner temperatures! The best way probably with modern techniques to tackle the problem is proper insulation and AC/Heatpump systems and keep it at around 21.5-22c all year round! In summer the AC takes care of the mold in winter you need to occasionally open the windows (like we do here in central europe to make provide the occasional air exchange, the heating takes care of driving the humidity out)
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@amakasan2083 Well you even can do that in an non insulated home, you just have to throw more energy at it... I did not say it does not exist, but I have been in several us homes actually the last ones this summer, and from the wooden single glass windows to the non existent insulation this was very common scheme. As I said not all homes are like this, but a ton are actually most of them (maybe less so further north of the new york NJ area)
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Well the USA slowly is learning the worth of having proper insulation, but most homes dont, the usa way to deal with all of this is to throw enourmous amounts of energy into such a problem instead of trying to find ways to keep it warm without having to throw enourmous amounts of energy into the problem. I remember getting a weird stare from someone from the US when I said, that I was having a heatpump for heating, just like how is this supposed to work, on the other hand the USA is tackling the same problem on the other hand and has for decades by throwing ACs against heat. But in both situations you can cut down 60-80% of the energy consumption if you make a proper european style insulation with proper double glassed or triple glassed windows and proper 12-20cm outer wall and ceiling insulation (which lets face it is dirt cheap) So instead of just heating one room you basically can heat the entire building with around the same amount of energy if you start properly to begin with, add a heatpump to the mix and you basically generated 4-5 times as much heat per KWH as you do with direct energy to heating solutions! Either way just dropping more energy onto a problem is a luxury Japan does not have very likely (as most of the world does not), so they kept the old way of only heating the areas which needed heating most (we did that in central europe as well until sets say the 1950s) Japan also has a ton of thermal energy which can be tapped for heating, and probably some areas do... imagine getting the hot water you can pump into the pipes basically for free.... Thats probably a huge untapped or semi untapped potential japan is sitting on, also they could use the thermal energy they have for electricity production (bascially pump water down get steam back, roll in the energy)
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It probably was a major source of mold as well, given the walls were mostly wood and constantly damp! (same here in Europe with their clay walls 300 years ago, they suck floor moisture in like sponges)
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Look into proper building insulation, it can go miles to get out of this situation. The way the houses in the US are built are like wooden frames and walls with some garbage plastered on top, that neither can keep heat in nor cold outside you basically live in a "wooden tent"
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Welcome to central european style of how we build houses.... What is seen here as base requirement/standard is luxury in other regions of the world!
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We have had that in central europe for many centuries, but modern techniques like insulation and heatpumps basically made it obsolete, add on top that wood burning stoves basically are a pestillence in itself by blowing all the ash exhausts micro particles etc... you get from wood burning into the air. I have neighbours who constantly burn wood on xmas one of them did it so excessively in conjunction with bad wind directions keeping the fumes down that the entire area of 500 meters around their house basically had such a bad air, that it was better to mask up!
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@kiyoponnn Mhh modern ACs can heat really well, and every japanese home has them, diesel heater pfeeew... There is nothing a kerosene heater can provide which a modern ac cannot and more efficiently!
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Well every country has its specialities, the USA also has to figure out many things regarding residential building which europe for instance has figured out decades ago! There are historical differences and shortcomings which are hard to get over, like for instance people here in central europe almost have an aversion against ACs for whatever reason (pure stupidity in my opinion) and that takes a long time to overcome while literally every car here without ac is unsellable even used but no matter what ACs in buildings are evil (for many not all)
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There are several factors why we use central heating in Europe. A) It prevents mold, b) it prevents pipe damage (frost kills pipes) c) it is cozy d) We have stone walls and outer insulation which means the walls become heat storage once the walls are heated up they basically "bake" into the night which can become a burden in summer but in winter it is ideal! Letting them go cold would mean more energy to heat them up again! But mold and pipe damage prevention are the two biggest reasons why we do it!
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