If you had to leave som approaches behind at the stroke of midnight this New Year's Eve, what would they be?
As in so many avenues of life, the 20th century has witnessed more advances in hydronic heating technology than all previously recorded history. In their day, the gravity-driven hot water heating systems of the early 1900s were a huge improvement over the standard of tending separate fires in every room. Despite the fact that their efficiency and control characteristics pale in comparison to those available today, these systems and the people who designed them deserve immense respect. They harnessed natural forces using the best tools available at the time to deliver something that greatly improved the quality of life. Perhaps some of you have older relatives who can remember the lavishness associated with having "central" heating systems in the early part of this century.
Today most of these systems, if they still exist, are little more than historical artifacts. Their elegance and utility succumbed to the same incessant market forces that replaced the icebox with the refrigerator, the phonograph with the CD player and the typewriter with the word processor.