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Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist
sciencehabit writes: If you're constantly bundling up against your office building's air conditioning, blame Povl Ole Fanger. In the 1960s, this Danish scientist developed a model, still used in many office buildings around the world, which predicts comfortable indoor temperatures for the average worker. The problem? The average office worker in the 1960s was a 40-year-old man sporting a three-piece suit. But fear not, those for whom the 'work sweater' has become a mandatory addition to office attire: Researchers say they have built a better model.
Fortunately I have an office for myself. 15 no less, still comfortable until it reaches 19. When I do visit the communal areas, at 25 I cannot really stay there for long.
As many have said, part of the problem is the acceptable business attire differences for men and women. The women where I work typically wear a thin shirt and a pair of shorts or skirt. Footwear is a pair of sandals.
For men acceptable attire is a shirt, over a T-shirt (I even got hassled because I was wearing a tank-top under my shirt one day), and a tie. The tie mandates that the shirt is buttoned up to the top. Then add long pants and full coverage shoes and socks. To top that off, we are "encouraged" to wear a coat when not engaged in physical activities.
It should come as no surprise that the men want the building a lot cooler; or allow the fashion to change so the men can wear lighter clothing.
Not to mention that there's ample research suggesting that people are more active, alert, and productive at cooler temperatures compared to warmer.
Finally, while they certainly had electric typewriters, I doubt that the 1960s office had anywhere near the 'typical' warming-load of multiple 100+W heaters (computer, monitor, maybe printer, etc) at nearly every desk.
-Styopa
the other practicality is that if its set too warm, there will be more post-lunch snoozing than there would be if you keep the place frosty.
Forget comfort, its all about productivity!
Those women can add clothes to solve being too cold.
Clothes doesn't help after a point. If it's too cold, one's fingers can get cold, stiff and uncoordinated and that makes it harder to type. Ignoring the fact that women have lower peripheral circulation than men on average exacerbating the problem, I personally find that at my ideal comfortable temperature for working in indoor winter clothes (i.e. long trousers, t-shirt) it's in fact too cold for me to type with 100% comfort. I find that I'm something like the woman in this one: http://dilbert.com/strip/2005-...
But yes, it makes sense to go for the coldest temperature that people can tolerate given normal office attire. Sadly for me, fingerless gloves aren't normal office attire, so that temperature is above my ideal level.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
I think this illustrates the absurdity of the situation. We blast the AC down to the point where people are wearing gloves in order to function normally.
The amount of energy wasted to make that happen as opposed to floating the temperature up from 68 to 70 must be staggering. The counter "can only strip off so much clothing" argument seems to assume that people would be completely nude at 70 or 71 degrees, which seems like a stretch. IIRC, the productivity research seems to indicate that 71 is about the sweet spot.
An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"