Climate-friendly buildings

Summer 2025 by many has been perceived as cool and wet. Sadly, when such observations were shared in public, they fuelled claims global warming is a hoax, despite numerous figures giving lie to flat-earth believers and other wackos. In fact, in Warsaw this summer was thermally normal and dry (benchmark period: 1991 – 2020).

June 2025 with mean temperature of +18.5C and total precipitation of 47.7 millimetres was slightly warmer and drier than long-term average (respectively: +17.7C and 63.9 millimetres).

July 2025 with mean temperature of ++20.0C and total precipitation of 53.8 millimetres was normal and markedly drier than long-term average (respectively: +19.7C and 82.2 millimetres).

August 2025 with mean temperature of +19.3C and total precipitation of 9.2 millimetres was slightly warmer and extremely dry in comparison to long-term average (respectively: +17.7C and 60.6 millimetres).

The first week of September brought temperatures a few degrees above long-term averages and little rainfall. The summer-like weather is foreseen to continue at least for the next two weeks.

The total number of hot days (defined as those with maximum temperature above +30C) has reached 11 so far (the last one on Friday, 5 September) and in line with weather forecasts it stands a little chance to still go up. It is conceivable, as in the past the capital of Poland saw three incidences of heat in second decades of September in Warsaw: 14 September 1951, 11 September 2012 and 13 September 2023. On top we have had so far 8 days with highs between +28C and +30C, which formally do not meet the definition of a "hot day".

Not everyone is fond of such weather. I belong to those whose bodies don't feel well in high summer and hence I have highly appreciated moderate weather, milder than in recent years.

Hot summers in Poland are still colder than what residents of southern Europe had to endure decades ago, when air-conditioning was not widespread. Since central heating was also a missing installation in most dwellings, walls were thick and windows were tiny. Window shutters gave shelter both from the heat and the cold. Roofed terraces did not let sunrays reach windows in when the sun was shining high. The price to pay were dark interiors.

I last recalled how old-style architecture protected from heat, when I entered a several-century old monastery in Święty Krzyż. With +29C and full sunshine outside, the edifice gave great shelter from heat, despite no air-condition inside.

On Friday I strolled around the centre of Warsaw and stared at modern skyscrapers. They all had walls made entirely from glass, with each storey having windows from floor to ceiling. I realise window panes these days need to meet stringent energy efficiency requirements, but glass will never be as energy-efficient as a 40-centimetre-thick brick wall. All those modern buildings can boast of fancy eco-certificates, while their architecture boosts their energy demand. The same applies to modern premium properties, with large windows being a housing equivalent of SUVs in motoring.

No energy is fully green. Generating electricity from solar panels involves carbon footprint 95% lower than from burning black coal, while for wind turbines it is 99% lower. The calculations take into account total life cycle of specific installations (source: ChatGPT).

In the office building where I work, radiators blowing in hot air and air-conditioning blowing in cold air were working at full blast all summer round. No matter how green the energy is, such waste of energy in a building which boasts of being energy-efficient is unacceptable. Same as a defunct fire alarm which has failed to inform of two small fires in the underground garage this year...

Old, energy-inefficient buildings are torn down and new, energy-efficient ones are constructed on the same plots. Has anyone calculated how many years of lower energy usage it takes to make up for carbon footprint in the demolition and subsequent construction? ChatGPT needed 4 minutes to come up with an answer: 30 years for a typical energy-efficient building, 15 years for an ultra-energy-efficient building. I have not verified it, but if it is true, business and money matters much more than actual care for environment. Much better for the planet would be to modernise existing buildings.

No matter how green the electricity that powers air-conditioning is, detrimental effects of prevalent aircon in city centres persist. Masses if hot air are blown outside several buildings and along with excessive concrete areas, exacerbate the urban heat island effect, making living conditions in city centres unbearable, especially for elderly residents.

The place where I belong, episode 2025, vol. 2

Making up for the July trip thus keeping my promise to deliver some missing photos of one of the most adorable cycling trip destinations in the vicinity.

All snaps dated 22 August 2025. The late Friday afternoon was cooler than usual at this time of year and lacked sunshine, which took the gloss off the scenery.

An hour or so before sunset, the path running parallel to the Natolin nature reservoir’s eastern fence was already plunging into darkness. With trees and shrubs on its both sides not pruned, the place seemed creepy.

As one approaches the spot where the path turns west towards Kabaty, one can stare at the fields and meadows of southern Wilanów. Far in the distance are the developments of Powsin.

Not much closer to Kabaty one can come across this allotment, nearly in the middle of nowhere, yet with electricity connection, water from a well, not reachable by motor vehicles. I wonder if its users (it definitely is not forsaken) have a legal title for it. As I take the picture, a CCTV camera keeps an eye on.

Heading towards Kabaty, I pass by a cabbage field, no idea if reachable by a tractor. Sunflowers from a nearby field are gone. In the distance - fenced off Natolin nature reservoir. Trespassing strictly forbidden.

Neo Natolin is an estate of fancy detached houses. Construction started in early 2023, so first dwellers have already moved in. Asking prices in late 2022 ranged from PLN 2.3 million to I don't remember how much, meaning a fully furnished house involved an expense of at least PLN 3 million. I wonder who had hatched the idea of putting up a billboard advertising the estate in the middle of nowhere.

Are we at the back of beyond in provincial Poland? Nope. We are in rural Wilanów, one mile from Metro Kabaty. The outpost has been closed for a while, but looks like a typical rural grocery shop. Only a bench for local drunk addicts was missing.

Clouds roll by as I am back in Ursynów, near entrance to Warsaw underground depot. Yellow leaves on trees are not a pure signal of imminent autumn, but indicate a drought. Trees devoid of water offload a burden, shedding leaves. Note a disparity in size of a 25-year-old Renault Clio and an ugly SUV, both basically serving the same purpose of moving around.

A man's search for meaning

I have recently drastically ramped up the number of books read, with my pipeline being compiled from recommendations in the media or from friends. With the two sources being at times insufficient, AI turns out to be a (not flawless) source of inspiration.

Not a long ago, prompted by recurring thoughts on how to arrange my life, if the fate does not bring a chance to raise a family, I asked chatGPT to recommended readings on searching for a sense in life. The item which popped up as a first non-philosophical book was the one by Victor E. Frankl.

The author was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, but above all, a concentration camp survivor. He wrote the first version of his work in 1946, as the memories of shirking annihilation were still fresh. As he quotes the statistics, ex-post odds to come out alive of a concentration camp, were 1 to 28. Those who survived until "liberation" (whatever evil you may say of the Soviet army, prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were saved from death by them) were not lucky, nor of extraordinary stamina, nor had much lust for life. As Mr Frankl pointed out, they kept seeing deeper sense of their suffering and chased dignity in places where it was downtrodden.

The experience of concentration camp survival laid foundations for logotherapy, a therapeutic approach which is uncommon these days. Note the book, though augmented twice, the last time in 1984, might appear outdated today, as human life and relationships have been deeply reshaped over the last decades. The second chapter of the book, written sometime between 1946 and 1984, concisely and approachably summarises basics of logotherapy, which I dare to interpret below.

According to the author, the basic driver of a sense of meaning in life is a pursuit of a mission being accomplished. Be it inventing a cure for cancer, raising a family, constructing bridges or helping orphans as a volunteer - life must a have a defined goal, which either is chased indefinitely or offers deep self-fulfilment when achieved.

The mission pursued lifts a human out of two states into which humans inevitably plunge and between which they then swing - boredom and despair. In early industrial times, when physical labour was took up 50 - 60 hours a week and running a house and a raising a multi-child family occupied most of the time, little time was left for boredom, so the despair prevailed. In post-industrial era, with shorter working hours and several appliances taking mundane duties off people in developed countries, boredom takes over. Although life seems easier now, lifting oneself from boredom is more problematic than overcoming despair a century ago. Despair comes up when life overwhelms you. Boredom creeps up when you lack resources to fill the void.

The meaning of life has three dimensions:
1) work or action - either as part of your vocational duties or voluntarily you create something, which brings you some benefits or prompts positive feelings,
2) relationships and experiencing - draw on the concept no man as an island and interactions with fellow humans add much value to our lives, however taking pleasure in nature, art or exploring new places to bring delight to our senses also may be a goal to be pursued,
3) suffering - is not a compulsory element of searching the meaning, but once life confronts you with illness, pain, bereavement or loss of wealth, it gives you a chance to be reborn and to redefine your dignity.

Upon reading the book I am pretty sure the fate has a plan for each of us. I also approach the future, no matter how not bright it might be, with more humility and faith things will shape up.

Góry Świętokrzyskie for a weekend

Spent the last weekend away, yet not far away from Warsaw in Góry Świętokrzyskie, a hilly area closest to Warsaw, which does not deserved be named mountains. Ventured there with almost the same circle of friends, all current or former volunteers in Szlachetna Paczka with whom I took a trip to Sardinia three years ago.

The quite short time spent in a group of seven people reminded me I had got used to travelling on my own or in a couple. Or maybe it just highlighted divergencies between my friends and me (where the six of them are quite similar to one another). Travelling with my girlfriends, optionally also with their friends seems a whole lot easier.

With my friends for a long time I have noticed two major moot points. Firstly - sleeping habits. I am the only early bird in this group, while others prefer to sit up late (which I don't mind, but get up early next morning anyway). Secondly - eating. I am the one who eats to live, not the other way round and do not take delight in dining. Besides, I eat a large breakfast and a proper lunch and then take up little until going to sleep. They in turn all adore tasty food and a dinner is their main meal over the day. I like their company, but each time I am surrounded by them for more than a few hours, I repeat to myself I am not marrying them, hence my frustrations are useless.

Now a few snaps from the trip. On Saturday we climbed a short trail to Święty Krzyż church. Had I travelled on my own, I would have reached the peak by 10:00 a.m. With my friends we got there in full heat at 1:00 p.m.

The church has a viewing tower (entrance charge: PLN 10), which lets visitors behold splendid panoramas of nearby hilly landscapes. I am fond of looking at the world from above, hence joyfully forked out a tenner to take delight in it.

On Sunday we scrambled up Łysica, the highest hill around, mere 612 metres above sea level. We marched up just past a rainfall, so the ascent, though short, was a bit of nasty. Predictably, droves of tourists on rocks on top.

Later on we drove to Zagnańsk to pass by apparently the oldest tree in Poland, oak Bartek, whose age is estimated at between 700 and 1,000 years. The very tree needs to be fenced off and solidly propped up to retain its monumental nature 

The area is abundant in several tourist attractions and we could have seen more of them, had it not been an overly lazy weekend ;-)