I have always liked room temperature to be higher than most everyone else. So I was pleased to see this new research announced in “Nature Climate Change” 3 Aug 2015.
In the 1960s, Danish scientist Povl Ole Fanger developed a model to predict a comfortable indoor office temperature for an average worker. Fanger used heat balance equations and studies about skin temperature to define ‘comfort’. He concluded that an office at 22°C (71.6°F) would be the most comfortable.
The problem with his method is the average office worker in the 1960s was a middle-aged man who wore a cotton long-sleeve shirt, a fitted vest accompanied by a blazer, long pants, topped off with socks and loafers.
The results of the new study included women and showed that, in addition to preferring warmer temperatures, women are often smaller, have more body fat than men and also tend to have slower metabolic rates. So, the 1960s standard office temperature is too cold for most women – not surprisingly – who prefer an office temperature of about 25°C (77°F).
They also noted that “gender-discriminating bias in thermal comfort” would set building temperatures at slightly warmer levels, conserve energy and even help combat global warming.
So, to help save the planet, turn the thermostat up a bit!