Slashdot Mirror
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.
Sounds more like "slashdot is shilling for clickbait." In other news, users continue to flee slashdot in droves, DICE perplexed as to why site is becoming massively unprofitable.
Om, nomnomnom...
Since TFS doesn't say, the old model says 21C is the best, while the "new" model says 24C is the best. The problem is, of course, that one can wear a sweater in colder temperatures, but it's difficult (or inappropriate) to cope with higher temperature.
As a young fat (by European standards, not American) male in a job with no format attire requirement, I usually wear a t-shirt and shorts in the summer, so there's not much left to take off. I'm still more comfortable at lower temperatures (22-23). I actually like wearing a hoodie, but I never do at the office because it's too hot there.
And no, opening a window (as suggested in TFA) is not a solution when there's 30 degrees outside.
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
Even for a 40+-year-old male offices are too cold most of the time. And in southern Arizona the settings meant you hit a literally 40F+ wall walking out the building door. That isn't healthy. Although if you have to err it's better to have it set on the cool side, people can always add a sweater to stay warmer but you usually can't legally take clothing off if it's too warm.
Saving money? Guess it depends on locale.
9 months of the year here, you're heating at night. 7 months of the year, you're heating 24x7. Much of the rest of the year, A/C isn't a biggie.
Saving here means cooler, not hotter. Likely the same for the Northern 1/2 of the US too.
In most offices it is very warm in winter, and very cold in summer. In winter, the heater is turned up too high, and in summer, the airco makes it way too cold. For the environment it's better to make the office just a little bit cooler than outside, and in winter, just warm enough to be comfortable. That will save a lot of energy, and prevent global warming. Which makes me think: is global warming sexist? Does global warming favor women?
no, I don't have a sig
because they turn off A/C over weekends and whatnot to "save money" where it's probably cheaper to just maintain the temperature rather than start having to cool everything again.
My apartment is rarely cool enough either because it's from the 60's and has shitty insulation and we've had it break consistently every year for the last 3 years. The complex is run by a corporate office out of another state and local management has changed 12 times in 7 years, so rather than replacing anything it limps along with duck tape and prayers. My electric bill was $190 last month, 960 sq feet should be easier to cool.
I'm a real man. I work outside doing manly work. All you pussies in your offices need to grow a pair and come outdoors.
Whining about how your little cubicle isn't just how you like it is not MANLY !
Come outdoors and meet the men's men !
I work in southern europe, and normally here people like it warm - so I am lucky I have an office mostly for myself. For me the comfortable settings in summer time are somewhere between 15 and 19. When I do get to go myself to communal areas, it is disgraceful, they like to run it at 25-26, and when someone is there alone and puts it colder, they passively-aggressively set the temperature to +30 afterwards when no one is looking.
Anyway, at temperatures below 28 deg c, simple fans can make people feel a couple of degrees cooler. Most offices do not permit space heaters, but I find people sneaking it in anyway, but small personal fans are usually permitted. I have always depended on these personal fans to control the micro climate of my personal work space. Can be used to deflect the air from the vent away sometimes, towards me other times, towards the office door to encourage circulation...
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This article is implying that women need different temperatures. It is sexist.
Article implying that someone wearing a wool coat over a woolen vest over a long sleeve shirt over an undershirt prefers a lower temperature than someone wearing a thigh-length skirt and bare shoulders seems to be articulating basic thermodynamics. Clearly the solution is to popularize "basketball uniform" as masculine business costume, so we can all be comfortable at 24 oC.
Clearly the solution is to popularize "basketball uniform" as masculine business costume, so we can all be comfortable at 24 oC.
At 24C I'm not even comfortable naked and I'm pretty sure that nobody else would be comfortable with me being naked either.
"His name was James Damore."
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.
What does the cool air teach their nipples?
Taut, you ignorant shitbox. TAUT.
I of course could strip down to my Mankini. The women would be distracted I am sure.
You know, as a man, I can confirm that it is very distracting to have one's eyes start to bleed.
I'm not allowed to be naked ... I tried.
You say that, but SCO (when it was cool, before the name got bought by vampires) had to introduce a dress code of "clothing must be worn during business hours" after a particular incident involving some visiting investors after hours.
http://www.antipope.org/charli...
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Basically rehashes the Washington Post article from last week. Consensus: always possible to add clothes. Only so many clothes can be taken off, and it's not just men in 3-piece suits who sweat. Can buy personal heaters. Can't buy personal air conditioners. Deal with it.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
PLEASE stop with this "everything in the world is sexist against women" horseshit. You're just making yourselves look like a bunch of jackasses.
"Stuff that matters", indeed.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
23.5C (~74F) is the absolute maximum temperature for me to be comfortable...and it's not even the temperature that gets me. Here in Georgia (USA), when the thermostat is set to 23.5 the timing of the compressor is just shy of perfect. At just the moment when the humidity reaches the level where the sweat isn't being wicked away, the compressor will kick in and drop the dew point in the room below 50% humidity. I think if we ran dehumidifiers instead of AC around here, we could probably save a considerable bit on energy costs by setting the cooling system to 26-27C (78-80F roughly) and letting the dehumidifier keep the humidity 50%. Hell, use a clean enough system in the dehumidifying process and you'll get a decent supply of good distilled potable water out of it too.