Modern digital thermostat for adjusting heat/air-conditioning.

WARM-BLOODED VS. COLD:
INDOOR ENERGY DEBATERS
GET SET TO SWITCH SIDES

Battle lines form in the workplace
over who controls the thermostat

TO AIR-CONDITION… OR STAY WARM?
 
By David Maril
 
In another week or two when Baltimore’s temperatures remain in the 80s, the warm-blooded segment of our population will shift from their insistence on energy conservation to demands for air-conditioning around the clock.

On the other side are the cold-blooded. This usually shivering bunch, who should be wearing woolen uniforms, will suddenly take an interest in the energy crisis and demand air-conditioning thermostats be set no lower than 80 degrees.

There isn’t any middle ground. You either like brisk living and working conditions or prefer an ever-present warmth in the air.

Product manufacturers are recognizing this great divide.

Certain bed/mattress companies have been touting temperature controls for each side.

For years, many luxury cars have come equipped with separate heaters for the two front seats.

Many models have temperature control systems that divide the car into different climate zones.

A person on your right who likes to chill out can sit in a wind tunnel of arctic air. Or, if their preference is classic sauna conditions, they can sweat to their heart’s delight while you sit in a 70-degree environment.

I discovered years ago that some of the most intense battles for power and control in the workplace are generated by who controls the temperature.

I once knew a high school teacher/coach who lost his job over a thermostat dispute.

One day when he decided the gymnasium was too cold, he grabbed a handful of snow and packed it around the thermostat, forcing the sensor to call for a lot more heat. When the school’s administration learned what he’d done, he was out the door in the snow.

An old Honeywell thermostat, which was vir- tually ubiquitous before the days of digital.

In the old days, it was easy to make temperature adjustments in an office building. You could open a window if the heat was starting to become oppressive.

However most buildings today are sealed. Windows exist just to let in light.

Fresh air is considered a foreign substance. Computerized climate control systems regulate the flow of cold and warm air in each room, floor and department.

To economize, many of these office systems are set on timers so the heating/cooling mechanisms shut down at off-hours. This creates plenty of ill-will when a company has people working on different shifts 24 hours a day.

Often working late at night, or very early in the morning, at a newspaper the building would either be 10 degrees too cold or 15 degrees too hot.

Someone would always comment that it was bad enough working these hours but inexcusable to have the temperature control system shut off to save money.

The usual comment was, “It wouldn’t be like this if the fat-cat executives were here working on these shifts.”

It was impossible to disagree. .

If you want to determine the person who really has authority in the workplace, just check into who has a key to access the thermostat in your office or floor.

In most offices, the thermostats are secured behind locked boxes that are almost as tough to break into as the company safe.

Long ago, companies learned that if the thermostat was out in the open, energy costs would double from cold-blooded and hot-blooded workers continually turning the device up and down.

But even with tighter security, we all know people who brag about being able to raise or lower the temperature by maneuvering paperclips or hairpins through a seam or crack in the covering.

Personally, I like a chill in the air. If the temperature is in the middle 60s, that’s fine with me. It’s refreshing and invigorating. My father was the same way. But he did give in to my mother, who preferred warmer temperatures.

Old office thermostat.  In the workplace, he (or she) who controls the heat and air-con- ditioning, controls the office, often by jamming paperclips or hairpins into the thermostat.

When I hear people complaining about how cold it is, I feel like yelling at them, that they could always wear sweaters or leave their coats on.

It’s hard to accept all the whining about having to type with gloves on and being able to see your breath in the air.

The first thing I do when I take my seat on an airplane is reach up and turn up the air nozzle full-blast. There is nothing worse than sitting on a hot, stuffy airplane.

If I hear someone complain they want the air-conditioning turned off, I very quickly tell one of the flight attendants the temperature seems fine to me.

When it’s warm and there’s no air circulation, it makes you sleepy and sluggish. But that’s me. And in many places my viewpoint is in the minority.

It is also important to recognize that with advances made in healthcare and preventative treatments to combat high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes, an increasing number of people are prescribed blood thinner medications.

One side-effect of these medicines seems to be more of a susceptibility to feeling cold.

All winter long I was a vocal advocate for energy conservation.  Keep that heat down-low and give the furnace a break. Let’s lower those electric, oil and gas bills.

But when I had houseguests, or people over for dinner, I was the good host, even though it pained me, and raised the thermostat to 68. The rest of the time, however, I kept the thermostat set at 63.

This felt fine to me, and my long-furred cat, Sampson, didn’t seem to mind, either. The only time I’d even think about the thermostat was when my MICA intern students and secretary were at the house working and always seemed to be wearing their coats.

Of course, now that Baltimore’s hot, muggy weather is on the horizon, I have changed my tune.

The air-conditioning has been activated and ready to run as much as needed.

I figure I fulfilled my energy conservation duties in the winter and am entitled to whatever relief needed with the air conditioning turned up full-blast in the summer.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
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