The best temperature for your workplace

I keep room temperature at between 18 and 22degC (measured). Anything above and I become very sluggish.
 
Suspect99 said:
I think for aircon temp race plays a huge factor. White guys at my workplace always wanted the temps at 18 or below. Whereas the black guys wanted it at 26 or above. Or even the heater on.
Caused huge fights over the remote.
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I've been wondering about that. Some of the guys are covered with blankets/warm clothes while I prefer it to be around 21 degrees.
 
Nothing as bad as sweating the whole day in the office because some like it hot. Makes me love winter.
 
SweetFennyAdams said:
Air-conditioning and heating was an unnecessary cost to business in the production side of my business. Some staff complained and even threatened to leave because it was either too hot or cold. They even brought labour inspectors one day but they could do nothing. Air-conditioning and heating at work is not some right, but a privilege. We did however, offer Air-conditioning and heating in the admin section in inclement weather only. A single office aircon unit costs about R1000 a month to heat a room in winter and to cool it off in summer. My prudent cost-saving measures saved me a small fortune over the years. It probably covered a foreign vacation for me and my family now and then.
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What's air quality like when aircon isn't running? Do the offices have proper natural air circulation? How often do you measure air quality?
 
McT said:
Not 18. Not 19. But 18.5? Would you notice it if it weren't? :p

OT, this thread reminds me of the struggle of open plan office I used to work in where the temps were usually > 24C. It was unbearable. I had the means at my desk to monitor it. It got up around 26.5C. Just cannot concentrate like that. The irony was that if I moved a few metres either way, the temps dropped to around 18-20C.

My current spot (new company) has its moments of polar freeze. It'll be an optimal 21-22C elsewhere, but my spot in the corner seems to love being mid-teens. Middle of summer, sweltering outside, and I sit in my nook with a long sleeve track top :o TBH, rather too cold than too hot.
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I'm OCD so if it's 18 or 19 my brain tells me there is a difference and doesn't rest until I click it :crylaugh:
 
If your office is a constant battle ground over the air conditioning, scientists may have worked out why.

Workplaces could be too cold for women because temperature levels are based on the preferences of a middle-aged male.

It means many women could be working in conditions several degrees cooler than they would like – and could explain why so many end up wearing their coats at their desk.

Current air conditioning standards are the result of research from the 1960s, which used a standard ‘metabolic rate’ to work out a comfortable working temperature.

Metabolic rate is the speed at which our bodies burn energy, and is key to how much heat we generate.

But the study was based on the values for a 40-year-old man – whereas women have a rate that is typically 35 per cent lower.

And now researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands say that women do indeed prefer warmer working temperatures, favouring a room of 25C (77F) compared with 22C (72F) for men.

They analysed 16 young women performing light office work, and found they required considerably less cooling than current air conditioning guidelines suggest.

Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, Dr Boris Kingma and Professor Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt said: ‘Thermal comfort models need to adjust the current metabolic standard by including the actual values for females.’

They added that metabolic rate also lowers with age, meaning older employees could equally be feeling the chill.

‘Therefore current indoor climate standards may intrinsically misrepresent thermal demand of the female and senior populations,’ the scientists said.

‘Comfort models need either to be re-calibrated or enhanced using a biophysical approach.’

A commentary piece in the journal said the results could impact future evaluations of temperature settings.

It said: ‘These findings could be significant for the revision of thermal standards because of opportunities to improve the office workers’ comfort.’
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ffice-based-preferences-middle-aged-male.html
 
To anyone who’s ever had an argument about what temperature to set the thermostat — you were probably wrong.

Across the world, office buildings, hotels, cinemas and shopping centres are fixed at 22 degrees, plus or minus half a degree, and it’s been that way since the 1950s.

The problem is that temperature is completely arbitrary, says Tony Crabb, national head of research at real estate services firm Savills Australia.

“The built environment is heated and cooled to a fixed 22 degrees regardless of the temperature outside,” he said during a recent TEDx presentation, Life Out Of Balance.

“It turns out, that’s the thermal comfort level of a 44-year-old man. It was decided by the Americans in the 1950s, and it’s been that way ever since.”

While human beings adapt to heat or cold by wearing more or less clothes, we “don’t ask our buildings to adapt”.

“The [22-degree setting] is so embedded in the psyche of the world that it’s legally written into leases,” he said.

“But why? The thermal comfort level of a human being depends on whether they’re male or female, what age they are, whether they’re tall, short, fat or skinny. There isn’t one-size-fits-all.”

That set-and-forget temperature setting is costing the economy billions of dollars and pumping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unnecessary carbon into the atmosphere, he argues.

By shifting to a “19 to 25 world” — no higher that 19 degrees in winter, and no lower than 25 degrees in summer — Australian businesses could save $100 million and 300,000 tonnes of carbon every year.

He told news.com.au he first started thinking about the problem when he noticed his receptionist wearing a scarf one day.

“I thought, this is ridiculous,” he said. “Clearly it’s gone too far. I started asking our engineers and facility managers, what would happen if we changed the thermostat? And they said, oh yeah, we’d save lots.”

Mr Crabb worked with engineer Craig Roussac, founder of energy efficiency consultancy Buildings Alive, to come to the $100 million figure by matching years worth of data on individual buildings with Savills’ figures on commercial property space.

“The savings differ around the country,” he said. “In the tropics where it’s 30 degrees all the time it will be different to Melbourne, for example.

“But on average, that’s a nice round figure. The thing that strikes me is we’re all sitting here trying to find ways to [reduce emissions], but most of it costs money.

“This doesn’t cost a cent — it just requires a change of attitude.”

Buildings consume 39 per cent of all energy in the economy, more than industry (33 per cent) and transportation (28 per cent). Residential buildings consume 21 per cent while commercial buildings consume 18 per cent.

And in both residential and commercial buildings, heating and air conditioning are the single biggest sources of energy consumption at 39 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

“An outrageous amount of energy is used to heat and cool buildings, shopping centres, hotels, office buildings, your house,” he said.

“And it’s not just for a couple of months, but for eight months of the year.”

Currently, if a company rents office space, the landlord is required to maintain the building at the temperature stated in the lease agreement.

Mr Crabb says the law should be changed to say tenants cannot prescribe the temperature.

“It’s pretty simple — all we need to do is change the law,” he said. “In other words, the landlord [should have] complete discretion.”

He’s calling on employees to “demand change at your workplace”. Just make sure you bring a jumper.
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http://www.news.com.au/finance/mone...s/news-story/4f485a2a3915927b56bf173263279575
 
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you can put more clothes on if you are cold.

you cannot take all your clothes off if you are too hot.

also the brain works better if the head is cooled.
 
access said:
you can put more clothes on if you are cold.

you cannot take all your clothes off if you are too hot.

also the brain works better if the head is cooled.
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This seems to be a concept that is hard to understand by all these people always moaning about the AC being too cold.
 
werfie said:
This seems to be a concept that is hard to understand by all these people always moaning about the AC being too cold.
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when visited offices, ive often asked the lady why they dont put their jersey or top on to get warmer or keep a blanket for the legs or just do something about it, instead of just sit in cold and moan.

the responses are usually like, no F them, or dont feel like it, or then its too hot, or its a condition, or just some random k*k. all i could do is laugh and say, then suffer.

very few times, ive come across someone with a real low blood flow condition that could cause it, 99% of the time its just being stubborn. its just a fight to get it warmer because others want it colder.
 
access said:
all i could do is laugh and say, then suffer.
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+1000

If someone has a genuine medical reason, they should be seated in the office accordingly and as far away from the vents as possible.
 
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