Reduce Energy Use with clothing

This is common sense stuff, but I found it interesting that they gave values to layers of clothing to show how much energy vs how many layers of clothing to remain comfortable. Saving 30%-40% of your heating energy just by wearing some thermal underwear is an interesting concept, especially if heating fuel is scarce.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/02/body-insulation-thermal-underwear.html

It works great for me.  We heat with wood and not very much at that, so in the winter our house is in the high 50s - mid 60s.  I wear long undies during the winter, as well as up to three shirts (t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt) in the house, and a hat.  I can't stand the cold, so this enables me to be comfortable.  In the summer we don't generally use AC so we keep comfortable by wearing the minimum of clothing, which for me is shorts and a sports bra.  My husband is very modest so he always wears a shirt. 

We're all about sweaters and slippers here in winter and next to nothing attire in summer too. But being cold isn't very encouraging for yoga or working out and that's an issue for me. I Hate being cold. Like, really hate it. I tolerate it but it doesn't make me very happy.

wrists and ankles. Wear wool socks. When the socks get holes in them, cut the foot off of them and use the cuff for your wrist.... A short sleeve shirt and "wrist socks" is warmer than a long sleeve shirt... When you cut the foot off of the sock, you can leave one half longer to cover the back of your hand... cut a hole to go over your middle finger to keep it there. The only problem with the flap over the hand back is the need to remove it to pee, wash hands etc. The normal ones can just be pushed up the arm.

If you look at the article, they give values for different types of clothing.  The unit is a "clo".  Each piece of clothing adds a different value of clo, which then can be figured for how comfortable you'll be in a certain temperature.

If it were up to me, I would allow the house to cool quite a bit at night, but we have a baby, and I have a wife : ) so I get up to stoke the fire.
All of my wood is free, so I actually burn quite a bit.  I love the heat from a fire, and I'm a bit spoiled by it, especially when I visit city people with their houses at 68 degrees. 
None the less, I wear long-johns from October to April here in Canada, I don't think I could do my city job without them!

velacreations wrote:
If you look at the article, they give values for different types of clothing.  The unit is a "clo".  Each piece of clothing adds a different value of clo, which then can be figured for how comfortable you'll be in a certain temperature.

I guess I was saying that I disagree. The idea of regulating the core temp with clothing makes sense.... however, It does not seem to work in practice. At least not on it's own. There are some parts of the body that are much more sensitive to hot and cool than others. For most people, wrists and ankles are the most bang for staying warm or cool. Keeping those areas warm in a cool place makes for more comfort than clothing elsewhere. In the summer, some ice on the wrist will make you feel cool all over.

What these things do to the core temp, I am not sure. The blood vessels happen to be close to the skin in both places. I work outside and have found warm wrists allow me to use my fingers without them getting cold even below freezing... gloves can actually make things worse... more so now that all the stores seem to think one size fits all in gloves. I need XLs just so the blood can flow. I use fingerless gloves with the fingers cut off below the first knuckle so that there is no excess material cutting off blood flow.

This article supposes that it doesn't much matter what part of the body stays the warmest... I think it matters a great deal if you want comfort as well as a warm core. I also think radiated heat can make for comfort with a lower air temp. At 6C shorts are fine in the sun.... not in the shade... I normally start wearing shorts at 10C, but I am always moving.

I get coldest at the lower back, I often wrap a scarf around my lower torso when feeling chilled. Plus the sweater and slippers. Different parts of the body feel the temp in their own way for sure.

As long as my feet are dry and my arms are covered I can wear shorts in a blizzard.