Wearing a sweater in the office in JulyThe personal and environmental perils of too much air conditioning. iStock Victoria Hawks-Ladds has a routine for when she gets to work. She spends her mornings commuting from Boston to Hartford, Connecticut, settles in at her office, and immediately puts on a sweater. She does some work—or tries to—but she says her hands will inevitably start shaking because her work space feels more like Siberia than an office building. If her fingers grow numb from the cold, which they inevitably will, she makes a cup of tea, hoping the warmth will heat her up from the inside out. It doesn’t work, so she puts on another sweater. Even playing the double-sweater game doesn’t help in Siberia, so she’ll heat up more tea, often keeping her hands cupped around the mug as her body shivers. At the end of the day, she’ll peel off her sweaters, walk outside, and defrost in the light of the setting sun. It is July, after all. “It’s cold enough to hang meat in the office.” Hawks-Ladds isn’t the only one who walks out of work feeling like she just survived a mini Ice Age. Many workers around the nation are shivering in their swivel chairs because their offices are over-chilled during the summer months. And the deep chill can cause productivity and environmental problems. The constant cold can make workers miserable. A 2009 survey from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) showed the most common office worker complaint is that the office is too cold. Many employers reported hearing their employees lament that “it’s cold enough to hang meat in the office.” What gives? Ellen Foley, a spokesperson for ISO New England, which operates the region’s electric system, said electric grid usage in the area now peaks in the summer. But it wasn’t always that way. Up until the ’80s, New England peaked in the winter, when people were using more energy to heat their homes. “Then people started installing air conditioners in their homes and businesses,” she said. “So we see the highest consumer demand in the summer, or from June 1 to the end of September, which is directly related to the air conditioner use.” So why do the building managers crank up the A/C? Grey Lee, executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said there’s a large gap between an individual’s experience and what’s called mechanical control. In other words, you’re talking to your cubiclemates about buying a space heater because you can’t feel your legs, but the building manager is concerned about cost efficiency. As a result, the temperature is set to ice-box degrees Fahrenheit because the manager perceives it as being the most cost efficient. People also perceive temperature differently. Sue might shiver while wearing three sweaters but Joe could be perfectly comfortable in short-sleeves. Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, said her company has also found that people are more comfortable at the same temperature if they have a control over the setting. “I know of at least one company that installed fake thermostats and saw job satisfaction go up,” she said. On the other hand, if a building manager is blasting the A/C all day, his company probably lacks the policy or tools to monitor and manage cooling, said Fielder Hiss, vice president of marketing and product management for EnerNOC, which helps companies better control their energy costs. He said it’s not at all cheaper for companies to keep the air cranked up. “When it’s really hot, the building’s working really hard like an athlete pushed to his limits,” he said. “You’re dealing with extremes on super hot days, and that’s when energy is the most expensive.” “I know of at least one company that installed fake thermostats and saw job satisfaction go up.” Not only is it more expensive, it’s not good for the environment. Hiss said there’s a linear correlation between energy use and emissions, though it’s hard to quantify the exact environmental impact without looking at individual companies. Lister said most people function best between 70 degrees and 73 degrees Fahrenheit. She said that above or below those temperatures, we’re around 4 to 10 percent less productive, which costs the company money. So what’s a building manager to do? For starters, don’t blast the A/C all day, according to Hiss. And develop a plan to best optimize temperatures for when employees are in the office while still being cost effective. “It doesn’t have to be that everyone in the office is wearing a fleece vest on the hottest day of the year,” Hiss said. Related: It could be worse. You could be wearing your coat outside. Here’s a gallery of severe local weather throughout the years. |
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