Meteorological History and the Space-Heating Machine

Abstract

During the past forty years, the cost of heat energy and of labour has risen, accurate methods of automatic temperature control have been devised, the standard of thermal comfort demanded in dwellings, offices, factories, etc., has increased ( vide the Factories Act of 1937) and, for many purposes, electricity, gas, and oil are used in preference to coal and coke. The rate of consumption of these more modern forms of potential heat energy can be readily measured by means of meters, and these developments all tend to concentrate attention on the quantitative aspects of space-heating technique, including the capacity of the installation to carry relatively heavy overloads during periods of severe weather. Warmed buildings should no longer be regarded as receptacles for unknown quantities of valuable heat energy, even in its crudest form. Conversely, their space-heating installations should be considered as energy converters, possessing a thermal efficiency which can be accurately assessed, when the hour-to-hour and day-to-day thermal potential (expressed in terms of degree-days), and certain other factors are known. The Royal Meteorological Society recently published two important papers covering the October–May heating season back to 1881, and the three winter months (December–February) back to 1783 respectively. The statistical data, thus made conveniently available, suggested to the author that the time had arrived when an attempt should be made, not only to make a broad (eight-month) but also a long (160-year) review of the space-heating aspect of meteorological history, based not only on averages or means of the monthly or seasonal temperature (energy consumption), but also on the extreme maximum and minimum values of daily temperatures (heating power).