Re: [DIYbio] More efficient house heating or engineereing human body?

I have my thermostat set on 12.77 degrees C right now, if I threw a wool hat on I'd get quite warm at this temp.

There is definitely waste heat produced by metabolism, and I bet 37 C is above the waste level, to account for extra heat produced by muscles. So if I'm sitting reading in a chair, I bet my body has a heater turned on, but when I'm outside cleaning the yard my body turns off extra heating because my muscles are now generating more heat. If the enzymes were optimized for the waste heat level (likely lower than 37 at steady state) then if we started using muscles we'd be above the optimal temp for the enzymes, with no heater to turn down to make up the difference.

Short story, I agree most people probably have their home too warm during cold months. My father prefers very warm home temperatures to the point where you're comfortable in short sleeves, probably in the mid 20's C... much too warm for me.  

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 10:49 AM, Mega <masterstorm123@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

Some time ago, I read a blog post with one doing the maths that people could save a LOT of energy by turning their thermostats to 15°C, which should be quite bearable for mammals that have been evolving for millions of years and more.
AFAI Remember, he tried it out himself and wants to continue doing so.

Of course, he puts on warm clothes and had a heating lamp that heats just the spot where he sits ("why should I heat my books and my walls?")


At the end he gives a thought on this: Why shouldn't we engineer the human body to be able to withstand colder temperatures instead of heating? That could save a giant ammount of gas burnt and slow down climate change.





I don't want to discuss the ethical aspects of this, but as anyone ever thought about this? What would we need to change the human body to withstand colder temperatures?

I assume it's just the enzymes that don't work at lower temperatures? So, basically, one would have to study all enzymes of the human body, identify the ones that don't work below 37°C,  and find homologous proteins in cold-tolerating bacteria / etc. and add this to the human genome?

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-Nathan

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