He Who Lives in a Luxury Glass House Shouldn't When the Apocalypse Arrives Because He Will Melt or...

He Who Lives in a Luxury Glass House Shouldn’t When the Apocalypse Arrives Because He Will Melt or Freeze to Death

How would the city’s housing stock respond, though, to a weather “event” in the near future, before we all installed triple-glazed windows — something like Hurricane Sandy or approximating it, causing power failures — during a period not of moderate temperatures, but of extreme cold or heat? What if electrical supplies had shut down during a week like this one? … But the luxury glass towers proliferating in Manhattan would also do terribly — reaching just slightly above freezing by the fourth day. During a summer blackout, glass towers, because of the intensity with which glass conducts heat, would be rough places to live; indoor temperature would get into the high 80s and beyond by Day 3. (Of course, it is the ultimate science fiction to imagine that anyone living in a $50 million apartment with wall-to-wall views would be in New York in August in the first place.)

Ever so occasionally, nature reminds us that it prefers balance.