Study finds office air conditioning biased against women

Ever wondered why women generally feel colder in office buildings than men? Researchers in Netherlands have found the answer.

According to a study published in the Nature Climate Change on 3 August, office thermostats have been set using an old formula from the 1960s that used the metabolic rate of a 40-year-old 154-pound man.

The optimum temperature of women doing light office work dressed in a light shirt and tracksuit bottoms was found to be 75F (24.5C) in contrast to men who were recorded at 71F (22C), reported The Telegraph.

The study has hence concluded that buildings should, "reduce gender-discriminating bias in thermal comfort."

"In a lot of buildings, you see energy consumption is a lot higher because the standard is calibrated for men's body heat production," said Dr. Boris Kingma, the study's lead author at the Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, reported The New York Times.

"If you have a more accurate view of the thermal demand of the people inside, then you can design the building so that you are wasting a lot less energy, and that means the carbon dioxide emission is less."

Setting the temperatures higher would contribute positively towards battling the rising global warming issue as well.

Female social media users applauded the science behind their most common dilemma at work.