plenty of people in Prague living on that income without car, I would really like to see how is suburban America quality of life incredibly higher than Prague LOL
enjoy your museums, hospitals, free schools and playgrounds in walking distance, almost free public transport, tons of supermarkets in walking distance, etc. in suburban America
It's quite simple really. In a place where $5,000+ monthly incomes are common, people can afford more things, and this generally means a higher quality of life. Granted, many necessities like housing are also more expensive in high income areas, but keep in mind that American homes are generally much larger than in Europe. And things like AC and clothes dryers are taken for granted.
> And things like AC and clothes dryers are taken for granted.
Not sure where you get your impression of Europe, but if you feel amenities like these are not standard, it’s a few decades out of date.
North Europeans traditionally didn’t need AC, but everywhere where it gets hot - which is everywhere now - they got them installed. Very few buildings with integrated HVAC systems for the entire buildings tho, mostly independent units.
yeah it's funny, actually in poor Bulgaria pretty much every apartment has AC, so AC is certainly not anything to brag about, even the poorest people have it
clothes dryers are just plain stupid waste of space, consume lot of energy/money, I've had washing machine with dryer, pretty much never used dryer after seeing how long it takes to dry the clothes while wasting electricity, new washing machine I bought without dryer
got it - for you quality of life = house full of useless things
for other people it's usually - lots of green, clean air, museums, cultural events, activities, accessible healthcare, accessible education, playgrounds/supermarkets/schools in walking distance, great public transport, no need to drive everywhere in empty metal box, etc.
I wonder why European cities are winning always charts of best places to live and not some generic US suburb??
what's the point in posting scan (?) of paper online instead of just publishing it normal way, so people can adjust font and actually read it? especially since you are anyway at computer and posting it on website and bsky
Going from 8 ft to 9 ft ceilings adds 12.5% more volume. For an 1,800 square foot house, in a 30x60 ft form factor, that increases the surface area exposed to outside air by 5.55%. This would create a small increase in the heating and cooling price per square foot, but a similar decrease in the cost per cubic foot.
You missed something important: many people are moving from a much older house with poor insulation. They can double their surface area and yet see their HVAC bills go down by a lot because modern houses are so much better.
construction cost maybe, heating/cool expenses difference won't be so tiny, quite the opposite and it's not only about expenses, lower ceiling is also faster to cool/heat, so you have to wait shorter time
I can really understand high ceiling (in new residential buildings) only for people who use fake built-in second floor (dunno the word in English, maybe mezzanine by my quick research) for like bed or something, but what's the point then and why not build proper separated 2nd floor if you are building new house
The larger use of energy in HVAC is recovery from losses from convection, conduction, radiation, and air leaks. The one time heating or cooling is small.
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