Home › Forums › Ancient Civilizations › Romans and their "eco-friendly" housing
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November 7, 2010 at 5:01 pm #2478
Phidippides
KeymasterHere's an article which refers to the “eco-friendly” nature of Roman housing:
The Romans used public baths - a more efficient way of keeping clean. Their water was kept hot with a 'testudo' - a bronze, semi-cylinder with an open end which linked to the hot pool and was placed close to the furnace of the underfloor heating system.This effectively re-heated the water with the same air going into the underfloor system.Modern homes usually shut the hot water tank away in an airing cupboard where it fails to heat the rest of the house.Prof Wilson said: ?This prompts the question, if the Romans used the same heat source to heat both their water and the room, why don?t we??
Romans 'were first to invent the eco-friendly house'I find the "eco-friendly" label here somewhat humorous. The Romans obviously weren't doing this in order to "save the planet", but to maximize the efficiency of their manpower. So I think that any insinuations that they were "green", while technically true, is a projection of modern-day values to a historic civilization that is misleading. After all, pretty much any civilization prior to the Industrial Revolution was unintentionally "green" in one form or another.
November 7, 2010 at 9:13 pm #23026skiguy
ModeratorModern homes usually shut the hot water tank away in an airing cupboard where it fails to heat the rest of the house.Prof Wilson said: ?This prompts the question, if the Romans used the same heat source to heat both their water and the room, why don?t we??
Because we have more advanced technology now. ::)
November 8, 2010 at 2:52 pm #23027scout1067
ParticipantI dont know what to say other than decry the misuse of archaeological findings in pursuit of some political goal.
November 8, 2010 at 6:25 pm #23028Aetheling
ParticipantI dont know what to say other than decry the misuse of archaeological findings in pursuit of some political goal.
Some did...
November 9, 2010 at 9:40 am #23029scout1067
ParticipantI love that poster although they should have added an Arab keffiyah as that is pretty high fashion in Europe and most of the retards that wear it dont know what it is. I like to point out to people that they are wearing PLO or Hamas colors on their keffiyah's whereupon they tend to get offended and I laugh.I dont usually point to Blogs and especially not LGF but they have a pretty good post about the keffiyah with quite a few links.
November 16, 2010 at 9:09 pm #23030Athelstan
ParticipantWell I don?t know what part of the UK Prof Wilson lives in but here in Southern England we certainly use the same heat source to heat our rooms and hot water. I suppose if you?re lucky enough to have your own villa then you can place your windows where you want, first clearing out any unfortunate locals. The thing about Roman dwellings is that basically the Romans lived in the chimney. The products of combustion were all around them. Any crack in the wall or floor could have led to death by Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Soot has been found in the flue ways so incomplete combustion must have taken place. Also Roman baths had no filter system so the water in Public Baths wasn?t particularly clean. They also used a lot of lead in their water systems. The Roman boiler had a bronze bottom with a lead top and had to be changed at regular intervals, so not very cost effective.
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