

How America Fell in Love with Crazy Amounts of Air Conditioning - esparantogod
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/08/03/how-america-fell-in-love-with-crazy-amounts-of-air-conditioning/?tid=sm_fb

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jhwhite
I felt that article was a little one sided. It's not just that men are
deciding to wear the same thing all year long. It's expected of us. I worked
in a government office where we were required to wear a suit and tie every
day. And this was in FL. I would have loved to worn shorts or something
lighter.

I've also never understood why women just don't dress for the indoor climate.
If men are expected to dress like that then why can't the women put on another
layer.

There's only so many layers I can take off and stay in the dress code.

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urda
Cooler offices is always better. You can bundle up when it's cold, but you
can't really strip down much in an office when it's too hot.

My vote is always for the cold.

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pc2g4d
I work in an office where almost nobody wears a suit but the A/C is still way
too cold. Even the men sometimes bring extra layers to keep warm with.

I think at this point this low temperature has less to do with patriarchy and
more to do with tradition---the thermostat is set to 68 because that's what
thermostats are set to. Maybe a few well-articulated complaints to the
facilities people could make a difference? Who doesn't want to be able to
claim they saved the company $X million in energy costs?

Of course, the reverse is often an issue in the winter: the heat is up way too
high. We've essentially reversed the seasons inside our buildings!

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PhantomGremlin
Article doesn't discuss the awful energy efficiency of modern office
buildings. I've experienced it first hand. Roof is uninsulated, AC return thru
ceiling, poorly insulated fresh air ducts, few thermostats, no ability to have
different zones.

In summer anything near windows is sweltering, but the core of the building is
too cool. In winter the poorly insulated fresh air ducts blast residual cold
air when the heating kicks on, and the areas near windows are hard to keep
warm.

Bah. Climate control is primitive, in both offices and houses. I dunno, maybe
LEED is a solution, but I have no first-hand experience with it.

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saeranv
Agree totally. LEED is probably a step in the right direction, I don't know
much about it myself, but it seems like it'll help since indoor comfort and
energy efficiency goes hand in hand.

Personally I'm interested in looking at ways to integrate mechanical energy
systems, environmental sensors, monitors with passive energy transfers and
strategies so we could (a) cut energy usage and (b) achieve greater indoor
comfort due to the far superior self-regulating effects of passive energy.
There are ways of absorbing and transferring energy (external and internal
gains) around the building that would not only equilibrate the office better,
but would also allow us to recycle energy efficiently. That's where I think we
need to go. Which, I believe, is beyond LEED at this point.

