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by throwup238 901 days ago
I’d wager that 52 room castle is cheaper than the average 4 bedroom stick framed house here in Southern California. They’re prohibitively expensive to maintain so no one really wants them. European governments have a maze of financial incentives to keep them from falling into complete disrepair.
1 comments
fnorder 901 days ago
Imagine the heating bill.
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shagie 901 days ago
HDD 16 (Degree (°C) days) for Tuscany in 2020 was 1310 (from https://www.iea.org/articles/italy-climate-resilience-policy... )

That's a 60° F HDD. Unfortunately, the HDD for the US tend to be based on 65° F. San Francisco has a mean of close enough to 3000 over 1948 - 2013 (it's probably lower now).

As these are temperature degrees, to convert from HDD 16 to HDD 65 (and ignoring that its 60 vs 65), that's 1310 * 9/5 that's 2358.

Ballpark, it needs less heating than San Francisco... though there's the "it's a castle and not well insulated" and "that's a large volume". However, it's not as big of an undertaking as one would imagine (to heat a castle) in a mediterranean climate.

I'd compare it to heating a church in San Francisco. Again, ballpark estimates put this in $1.00 - $1.50 per square foot.

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fnorder 900 days ago
Yeah but consider you're likely heating the entire building with wood fires.
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shagie 900 days ago
Today, you'd likely do it with an under rug heater. https://cozywinters.com/shop/rug-heat.html for example.

Though, the "heating a room with a fireplace" wasn't the way it was done then.

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/restoring-the-old-...

Also https://youtu.be/inzamhtroO0

> Kettle Moraine Heating & Air Conditioning installed solar panels designed to work with the brand-new Lennox systems and appliances used throughout the house. Now the owner—who bought the 10,000-square-foot historic home and updated the property with a 5,000-square-foot addition with help from Kettle Moraine—is saving a whopping $3,000 in electricity costs per year thanks to solar energy. And they’re pleased with the whole HVAC overhaul and new installation.

https://www.buildingmycastle.com/an-energy-efficient-castle/

Consider the equivalent question of "how do you heat Filoli Mansion?" When it was built, it was fireplaces and a diesel boiler.

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