Temperatures have soared into the 90s lately, yet Teresa Martin and her colleague Stella Jones have to bundle up to stay warm.
They keep blankets handy for the chilly climes at the downtown office building that houses the American Cancer Society, where they work in the grants management department.
“I also have a heavier sweater in my cabinet when we have staff meetings in the conference rooms because they are extra cold,” Jones said. “It’s either freeze or bundle up like an Eskimo!”
Walking outside at the end of the day gives Martin a chance to thaw out some, but then it’s time to take the rolling igloo known as the GRTA Xpress bus back home to Conyers. Her car’s a sauna by the time she climbs inside at about 5 p.m., and she doesn’t mind a bit.
“People wonder why I don’t turn my air on at the house,” she said.
A recent study by Nature Publishing Group, which posts scientific and medical information in print and online journals, may explain why she and other ladies might be shivering through the summer. The report, which examined corporate energy consumption, indicated that office air-conditioning systems have been set with male metabolic rates in mind.
“With a biophysical analysis we illustrate the effect of miscalculating metabolic rate on female thermal demand,” reads the report. “The approach is fundamentally different from current empirical thermal comfort models and builds up predictions from the physical and physiological constraints, rather than statistical association to thermal comfort.”
That’s a fancy way of explaining why Skye Smith, digital traffic Manager at CBS Radio Atlanta, is on the verge of frostbite while the guys in her office are comfortable.
“I always carry a sweater with me because I know it’s going to be an ice box,” she said. “(Wednesday) it was so cold I turned on my heater to keep my feet toasty! I asked the guys if they thought it was cold. They looked at me and said, ‘No, it’s you. You must be getting sick or something.’ ”
A 2003 technical manual published by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, offers wide parameters as guidance: “OSHA recommends temperature control in the range of 68 to 76 degrees and humidity control in the range of 20 to 60 percent.”
Not only is there a pretty good spread between 68 and 76 degrees, but temperatures also feel differently to men and women due to differences in physiology and metabolic rates, the Nature Publishing Group report shows.
Dorothy Pittman can relate. Years ago she worked at the University of Georgia library in the Special Collections office.
“After two days of freezing, I acquired a lab coat from the archivist that I could wear,” she said. “While the gentlemen department head always went without a jacket and wore short sleeve shirts both summer and winter, I always wore that coat as the building was always too cold for me.”
Today she works at Horton’s Books & Gifts in Carrollton, where books and clients stay comfy at 75 degrees.
“We sell chocolate candy; it loves that temperature also,” Pittman said.
Of course, guys aren’t entirely immune to frigid interiors.
“My hands are numb in the studio; can you add me to the list?” quipped Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz.
And some ladies like the air conditioning cranked.
“Maybe I’m just an outlier, or maybe it’s because I’m pushing 50 but I do not have a problem with the office A/C,” said Merrie Soltis, who works for a small business in Lawrenceville. “All I can say to these women complaining about being cold in the office: Just wait until you hit menopause!”
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