• ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 days ago

    I can give you an anecdote to answer your question, but it’s in the inverse: I recently moved from a 2-storey apartment in a sprawling city block 10 minutes from downtown to an 8-storey building near a farm in the same city.

    The level of ambient summer heat that I deal with now is drastically lower in comparison (probably close to 3-5°C) because of the increase in airflow and that helps to reduce thermal loading and urban heat trapping, which result from the effects of convection and radiation on the buildings in the area.

    For some background, thermal load is basically the amount of heat energy present in a given area or object and urban heat trapping is essentially when a high thermal load in an urban area has an overall warming effect.

    • octobob@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      I guess I have the best of both worlds in a way. I’m in city limits but surrounded by the woods, tons of trees and wildlife. I have like one neighbor 200 feet away and I live right on the river, I can see it from my front stoop. Also our bedroom is on the first floor and the whole first story is surrounded by retaining walls over a story tall since the house is built into the hillside. It’s like being in the basement kind of.

      There’s still a lot of city noise because I’m right next to a bridge and big trucks and stuff go by all day, plus the trains honk all the time down below me for a road crossing. But I still love it. It’s definitely a lot cooler temperature than where I used to live in the city that was all row houses with AC units making tons of heat outside all day. I haven’t even had air conditioning for the 11 years I’ve lived in the city.

      I’m in Pittsburgh PA

        • octobob@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          I love it! I grew up here and settled down and bought this old house from the 1800s with my fiance and am currently renovating it. Pay rates aren’t the best in this part of the country, but I do pretty well as an industrial electrician