In this morning's column, I wrote about the high energy toll of air conditioning.
I’ve been carrying around a digital thermometer, and have logged some goosebump-raising temps.
The lowest was at an energy meeting of all things — 68 degrees.
Lately, my own office here in the Inquirer newsroom has hovered at or below 72 degrees. I also sit in the draft from a vent, so I’m often cold enough to wear a jacket. A woman who sits nearby keeps a winter sweater at her desk.
Another woman I know occupies an office that’s so cold she sometimes turns on a small space heater — in summer!!!
Way too many of us are having to overdress for overcooled buildings. Am I the only one who thinks this doesn’t make sense?
PECO’s Michael Wood has a 15-degree rule of thumb: Your inside temperature should never be more than 15 degrees colder than outdoors. That’s because the hotter it gets outside, the more your air-conditioning works. And the more it works, the more humidity it removes. So you can have it be warmer and still FEEL cooler.
Works for me.
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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