Exercise is rarely discouraged these days, but do endurance sports increase the incidence of lone atrial fibrillation in men? Explore these novel findings.
Europace
How One City Tackles Freezing Offices, Denver’s Mayor Issued A Decree To Raise Temperatures Four Degrees
Published in July 31st, 2008
Comments Off
Cold in the summer …
“It may be 90 degrees in Denver, but Kim Devigil walks into work knowing the temperature is about to dive. “I bring sweaters, I always wear suit coats, and I have my space heater,” says Kim, who works for MillerCoors.
You might expect the brewery to be ice cold, but not the office building. “In general, we’re all cold, most all the time,” says fellow MillerCoors employee Aimee Valdez.
“Isn’t that crazy? And here we are at a time of $140 barrels of oil, and we are wasting that energy to make people uncomfortable,” Denver’s Mayor John Hickenlooper tells correspondent Hattie Kauffman. “Uncomfortably cold!”
So Hickenlooper decreed that all city buildings should raise the thermostat four degrees. “It saves money, it’s benevolent to the environment and it makes people happy, right? It’s more comfortable. What’s not to like?” he says.
Wanting to cut their energy bills, Qwest and MillerCoors signed on as well, even if it meant warmer offices.
The companies that adopted the mayor’s proposal may have thought they were asking their employees to make a sacrifice. But the workers Kauffman talked to welcomed the higher temperatures.
For some, like Kim, raising the thermostat four degrees barely makes a dent. “It’s still cold,” she says.
But others, like Aimee, say they extra four degrees have made a difference. “And I’m glad that we did it, too, because, you know, we don’t need it that cold. And I’m sure it saves a ton of energy.”
Some, like Helen Tanner, were caught unaware by the rising temperatures. “I did notice the temperature change. And I was complaining, it was like ‘Wow, is it just me having a hot flash?’” she jokes.
Professor Alan Hedge from Cornell University visited The Early Show to discuss the issue. He is the director of Cornell’s ergonomics laboratory and has studied the effects of cold offices.
He says many offices are way too cold in the summer. “We know that about 40 percent of people have problems with the temperature in these buildings throughout the summer,” he says.
Asked what these cold offices do to productivity, Hedge says, “Our research shows productivity goes way down. People actually do less work and they make more mistakes when the temperature is too cold.”
So why do they keep it so cold?
“Because what happens in buildings is think of a building like a refrigerator. Somebody sets the temperature and whatever is in the refrigerator gets that temperature. That’s what happens in a building. So the buildings usually are set with a temperature set way too cold for most of the people in the building,” he explains.” (Continued via CBS News) [Ergonomics Resources]
The Big Chill Video
Social Network
Translators
Recent Entries
- Calling all Texas Private Practice PTs!
- The Evolving Role of Obesity in Knee Osteoarthritis
- Relationships Between Postural Orientation and Self reported Function, Hop Performance and Muscle Power in Subjects With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury
- Malpractice Litigation, Defensive Medicine Cost Less Than Thought
- Expansion of Practice-Nurses can teach us a few things
- Ultrasound Guidance for Intra-articular Injections Improves Clinician Accuracy
- The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Edition (Paperback) tagged “massage” 58 times
- Effects of Acute Exercise on Sensory and Executive Processing Tasks
- Thera Cane Massager (Sports) tagged “massage” 44 times
- Are Incentive Bonuses for Physical Therapists a Good Idea?