Very much agree. There is no 'right' to have a centrally heated house at 20C in the depth of winter, nor really is there a need. Almost no-one had more than the room with the cooking fire at much more than outside average temp, and perhaps the front room on special occasions  heated, until the 1970s, to light a fire in the bedroom meant you were very ill.
The problem is that folk forget very quickly and have become used to a very soft existence.
M.

Very much agree. There is no 'right' to have a centrally heated house at 20C in the depth of winter, nor really is there a need. Almost no-one had more than the room with the cooking fire at much more than outside average temp, and perhaps the front room on special occasions  heated, until the 1970s, to light a fire in the bedroom meant you were very ill.
The problem is that folk forget very quickly and have become used to a very soft existence.
M.

That said (and I was brought up in a house without central heating or double glazing) we also need to remember that life expectancy is rather longer now than when "we were tough"...

I, like expect many posters here, am still lucky enough and "young" enough to have good circulation, any one here with elderly parents - and the experience of sitting a a sweltering living room with them - will know exactly what I mean.

Totally agree we should be making houses MUCH more energy conserving though. It's tough with the old housing stock we have in the UK though.

Can a put in a shout for solar water heating. My in-laws last house had it, and from early spring to late autumn spent no money on water heating whatsoever. Sadly despite our house having three slopes to its roof none of them are south facing...

Thanks,

Andy

Agree, but not all of that rise in lifespan is down to domestic heating - some of it is better cancer treatments, better blood pressure tablets, and societal factors like less smoking and exposure to certain types of pollutant at home and at work.  Going back into the 1800s it will also be diet and  high infant mortality prior to running water and modern sanitation. But even there  has to be some loss of a few years from the peak it is not going to make the human race extinct in the apocalyptic way that some folk imagine to be coming. 

But I agree on aged parents and running the house like a sauna - I was  pleasantly surprised to find that my folks had actually turned the boiler off during the most recent heatwave, as normally whenever I visit we end up turning the rads off where we will be sleeping. In years past of course the old folk were in the chairs nearest the fireplace.
Mike

Andy Millar said:

Can a put in a shout for solar water heating.

You certainly can Andy! We've been thinking of installing solar water heating in our house out in France. We have a huge due south facing roof that is perfect for some pipes.

While we were putting up some of the blockwork we left a black hosepipe on the ground one afternoon and the water that was coming out of it was red hot! It's certainly something we're seriously considering. For our French residence anyways....