Crack-Up Leaves Russians In Cold

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-9-2003 | Julius Strauss

[blam]

Crack-up leaves Russians in cold

By Julius Strauss in Moscow
(Filed: 09/01/2003)

Tens of thousands of Russians were facing temperatures below -22F yesterday without any heating, as the coldest weather for 15 years cracked hot-water pipes across the country.

Early evening in Moscow's Red Square, January 5th In central Moscow, temperatures dropped to -26F while in Siberia and the far north some villages registered around -58F.

The Emergencies Ministry said 23,000 Russians were left with no heating as hot-water systems, which are meant to heat entire towns, buckled under the strain.

Television stations showed residents shivering in fur coats next to broken radiators covered in layers of ice.

Records show that the first week in January was the coldest since 1987.

In Moscow six people died overnight and around 25 were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. More than 230 Muscovites have frozen to death since the first snow fell in October. Doctors asked the capital's residents to dress in their warmest clothes and refrain from using make-up, which can block the pores and cause frostbite.

In the north-western town of Vladay, 250 miles from Moscow, 3,100 people were left without heating after the hot water system gave up.

Officials blamed the collapse on ageing pipes and a decision to boost heating during the Christmas holiday, which ended with Orthodox Christmas on Tuesday.

[blam]

...and in southern England. (Global warming?)

[Dog Gone]

I thought it was a little chilly today, so I wore a long sleeved shirt.

How antique and inefficient is it to try to heat a city by piping hot water around, anyhow?

[blam]

"How antique and inefficient is it to try to heat a city by piping hot water around, anyhow?"

Yup. We had those in my 1-3 grades in grade school. (a long time ago)

[Dog Gone]

But did it come from central boiler a mile or two away? It seems to me that you'd lose a lot of heat long before you got to some of the buildings to be heated.

And in a place like Russia where it gets this cold, it seems almost futile.

[blam]

"But did it come from central boiler a mile or two away?"

From a coal fired boiler across the street, operated by Mr. Opp. (Mr. Opp did everything.)

[SamAdams76]

If you live east of the Rockies, get ready. Some of this arctic air is heading your way. While some places in the midwest had record high temperatures today (Topeka Kansas hit 74), temperatures will be at least 50-60 degrees colder by the weekend. The East Coast and Deep South are going to get nailed with some cold too (relative to averages).

[blam]

"The East Coast and Deep South are going to get nailed with some cold too (relative to averages)."

Yup, we've been warned. It could even freeze. (I'll have to turn my greehouse heater on for the second time this year.)

[DManA]

The first sentence blames the weather but I believe the last sentance:

Officials blamed the collapse on ageing pipes and a decision to boost heating during the Christmas holiday, which ended with Orthodox Christmas on Tuesday.

[BfloGuy]

How antique and inefficient is it to try to heat a city by piping hot water around, anyhow?

Well, I, for one, am shocked. Don't you know about "district heating"? This is the latest and the greatest idea in energy-efficiency currently sweeping the stylish circles of the northeast.

I kid you not. The theory is that one big old boiler downtown can heat dozens and dozens of buildings so much more efficiently than our nasty old system of a furnace in each. Why, it's the next best thing to eliminating the car and urban sprawl.

Calling Dr. Lomborg, calling Dr. Lomborg.

[texas booster]

I understand that district heating systems have been used forever, starting with geothermal forced water systems. Idaho has used district heating for government buildings, and I think that many universities use it also. We recognize it mostly in eastern apartment buildings where the heat is either "on" or "off".

The Russians built many of their cities on master plans that would use waste heat from manufacturing to heat the rest of the city. The systems were not built with efficiency in mind, and can use a lot of upgrading. Entire cities such as Omsk (couple of million people) use district heating. With the closing of many factories, this source of heat has become very problematic for them.

[Dog Gone]

I can see that it would work for a single building, or even a complex or campus, although the drawbacks are fairly obvious. The concept I am wrestling with is how efficient it is to try to do it on a city-wide basis.

I'm sure it appealed to central planners, especially in the old Soviet system where everyone shares in the common plan, and there may have been no better alternative.

But it certainly causes problems when the system breaks, as we can see.

[texas booster]

It would make sense for cities where huge steel plants or other heat sources exist. It can be viewed as capturing waste heat and saving money.

In googling "district heat", I find a mixture of modern companies selling it (very European) and discussions on teh failure of district heating. The more northerly the city, the more likely to use it.

The main criticism of district heating was in the lack of maintenance, which led to even greater ineffiency. Because the Soviets (and most governments) subsidized district heating, when communism collapsed the citizens suddenly had to pay market rates for power. It was only then that people looked at ways to provide greater residential heating at lower cost per home.

Somewhere in the saga of how people keep warm in cold climes is a thesis to be written. If approached from a capitalist vs. socialist basis, the results could be very illuminating.

[Dog Gone]

I think that's a thesis I'd be more interested in reading than writing. Tell me when you finish it! ;-)

[BfloGuy]

There is nothing inherently wrong with district heating. It's only the economic development claims up here in deeply depressed upstate New York that I mean to disparage.

Spending to build the infrastructure creates a few short-term construction jobs.

Perhaps it could yet turn out to be worthwhile. There is certainly waste heat that isn't being harnessed. Proponents of district heating might change their tactics. Economic salvation does not seem to be a side-benefit.

[crystalk]

Dirty little secret: So called global warming, warms mostly countries like USA whose warmth derives from direct insolation, sunlight received...

while Europe, whose heat comes second hand from the USA by way of the Gulf Stream, is turned into an ice box by the weakening or even feared total HALT, of the Gulf Stream...could give England the climate of Siberia...no wonder they hate Americans.

But they have been preparing for this with a zero birthrate, they know subliminally their countries will soon be too cold to support life, while USA will be better and more productive than ever, with a climate in Omaha like what Memphis has now.

Or maybe there IS a God after all.