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Post Info TOPIC: Air conditioning temperatures are based on the preferences of a middle-aged male
Lady Gaga Snerd


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Air conditioning temperatures are based on the preferences of a middle-aged male
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Is this why women wear their coats in the office? Air conditioning temperatures are based on the preferences of a middle-aged male

  • Current air conditioning standards are the result of research from 1960s 
  • It used standard ‘metabolic rate’ to work out a comfortable temperature
  • Now, researchers say that women do indeed prefer warmer temperatures
  • They favour a room of 25C (77F) compared with 22C (72F) for men

By Colin Fernandez, Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 17:49 EST, 3 August 2015 | Updated: 05:21 EST, 4 August 2015

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

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.

The study authors have now called for standard settings to be altered to take gender differences into account.

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.

 
Female employee wears GLOVES due to very cold office
 
2B1647E500000578-0-image-a-11_1438677053915.jpg
 
Current air conditioning standards are the result of research from the 1960s, based on the values for a 40-year-old man. File photo
 
+2

Current air conditioning standards are the result of research from the 1960s, based on the values for a 40-year-old man. File photo

‘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 recalibrated 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



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3184429/Is-women-wear-coats-office-Air-conditioning-temperatures-office-based-preferences-middle-aged-male.html#ixzz3hrCQ4xl2
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huskerbb


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Middle aged men rule the world. Get over it.  wink



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Lexxy


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Menopausal women prefer the room colder. I keep my house at 70 in the summer. I'd keep it cooler if I could but with the solar load on the sunroom windows late in the afternoon my A/C runs like crazy & can't get it any colder. If it gets too warm I go sit in the basement where it is cold enough to hang meat. I like it at 64 in the winter.

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lilyofcourse


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At 77, I'm smothering and sweating.

I like it colder. Even 72 is too warm when really working.

Of course sitting at a desk may mean 72 is ok. But still, I like it at 70. Sometimes 68.



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Charley Harper
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I keep mine around 77 upstairs and 78 downstairs. If I'm moving around a lot or working inside, I'll turn it to 77 or 76 downstairs. But I dress lightly inside.

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lilyofcourse


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I wear shorts and tank tops in the house.



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ed11563


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This is interesting.

Heat or cool so the women are comfortable (77 degrees) and the men can strip naked,

or to 72 degrees and the women will be wearing sweaters.

 

Tough choice.

 



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huskerbb


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76 summer
66 winter

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Lawyerlady


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huskerbb wrote:

76 summer
66 winter

 I can't do that cold. 

 

76 summer

70-72 winter



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Ohfour


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72 summer
68 winter

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lilyofcourse


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We keep it about 68-70 year round.

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Lawyerlady wrote:
huskerbb wrote:

76 summer
66 winter

 I can't do that cold. 

 

76 summer

70-72 winter

 I'd die at 76 in the summer.



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I've been doing 76 or 77 this summer. Plus the ceiling fans on.

In the winter we do 68 or 69.

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ed11563


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70 - 72 all year.



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Tangerine


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I would die, maybe literally, if the air was set to 77.
It's 70 here at work because we pay electric in a bundle with the rent.
74 at home during the day, 72 at night. In winter I try to turn it down to 65, but husband complains and puts it to 67.
I'm hot blooded.

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chef


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We keep our AC at 75. We tend to turn it to 70 when we have a lot of people over since the influx of bodies makes the apartment hot.

Before meeting DH, I rarely ran the AC and was fine with ceiling fans. But, DH isn't as acclimated to the desert heat as I am in spite of being here over 20 years compared to my 8.

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huskerbb


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Tangerine wrote:

I would die, maybe literally, if the air was set to 77.
It's 70 here at work because we pay electric in a bundle with the rent.
74 at home during the day, 72 at night. In winter I try to turn it down to 65, but husband complains and puts it to 67.
I'm hot blooded.

 Meh, just go outside for 10 minutes and come back in and it will feel pretty good.



-- Edited by huskerbb on Tuesday 4th of August 2015 02:55:53 PM

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just Czech


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It's a constant war at our house.

Summer, I want 76, DH wants 72.

Winter, I want 76, DH wants 67.

I'm surprised we are still married.

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We must be completely nuts. 28 in the daytime (Celcius) and 25 at night. Humidity at 40%. The last week it has been 35 in the daytime outside and 26 at night. Having a heat wave.

 

And Husker has a really good point.   Just go outside for a few minutes and it will seem really cool inside...



-- Edited by karl271 on Wednesday 5th of August 2015 01:34:34 AM

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Lady Gaga Snerd


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I really hate air conditioning. You might be outside on a beautiful summer day. Then you want to stop and grab a bite to eat and every restaurant is so freaking cold. I now carry a sweater with me all the time. I wait all winter for warm days and I want to enjoy them. Geez!

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Southern_Belle


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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

I really hate air conditioning. You might be outside on a beautiful summer day. Then you want to stop and grab a bite to eat and every restaurant is so freaking cold. I now carry a sweater with me all the time. I wait all winter for warm days and I want to enjoy them. Geez!

 I have stopped going to wing stop because they keep it painfully cold. A sweater doesn't even help. Management says they do that because the kitchen is too hot otherwise. 



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Lady Gaga Snerd


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Yes, I often just don't bother either. But, why does those "too hot" always get to decide for everyone else what the temp "should" be? It is like they are right and if you are too cold, then something is wrong with you. I mean, in an office, I get that men have to wear suits and of course that would be hotter. I think it is interesting, you watch like ESPN or some news show and there are men in suits and women in tiny little dresses. And, all I can think of is that she must be freaking cold sitting there! If women dressed likewise, maybe it wouldn't be so much of an issue in an office.


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ed11563


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Southern_Belle wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:

I really hate air conditioning. You might be outside on a beautiful summer day. Then you want to stop and grab a bite to eat and every restaurant is so freaking cold. I now carry a sweater with me all the time. I wait all winter for warm days and I want to enjoy them. Geez!

 I have stopped going to wing stop because they keep it painfully cold. A sweater doesn't even help. Management says they do that because the kitchen is too hot otherwise. 

They need to have fans blowing the hot air out of the kitchen. 



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lilyofcourse


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Ok. Those kitchens have to comply to health codes. Which means no fans. If the exhaust is not working properly, you burn up.

I have been in air conditioned restaurant kitchens that reach over 110 degrees.

Those up working are hot. And they generally don't have anywhere to go cool off.



-- Edited by lilyofcourse on Wednesday 5th of August 2015 12:28:33 PM

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