27? Here in the UK I would've thought most offices keep it around 22-25
Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
41–50 of 105 posts
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#42For whatever reason, I don't comprehend Celsius intuitively. I convert that to Fahrenheit and see 80.6 degrees. Is Spain dry? Or humid? I would revolt as I much prefer cold.
27 is a comfortable indoor temperature for me (if I wear a T-shirt and don’t do heavy physical work). I wonder where a big difference in preferred temperature comes from, given that body temperature is almost the same for all healthy people?
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#43I've never understood why (in some countries) public places are so cooled down in the summer and so heated up in the winter. In Japan, in the summer they put the ACs to what feels like 16ºC, so whenever you go from outdoor (very hot and humid) to indoor, you feel like you'll freeze (because you're dressed for 30ºC). In the winter, they put the ACs to 25ºC, so you move from outdoor to indoor, it's extremely hot and st…
Myself and many others seem to find 21c too cold in winter and too hot in summer in some buildings. I think it's possibly due to radiant temperature: for example, the walls/roof/floor are hotter in summer so you need to cool the air down more to make up for that. That said, Japan and some other places (Singapore!) take it to the extreme, and in a modern well insulated building, this is much less needed than it used t…
Could it be for driver comfort? I sometimes have the impression that buses have their temperature tuned for the driver, who's staying in the bus for hours and has everyone's safety at least partially related to their comfort. But I find it impossible to confirm this by asking the bus companies why their buses are set this way (e.g. when windows were closed during Covid at about 20°C).
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, it’s incredibly useful for outdoor temperature. 0 F means it’s very cold, 100 F means it’s very hot. Meanwhile, 0 C means it’s sort of a little cold, and 100 C means your eyes will melt. I grew up with and actively use Celsius, but this instinctive disdain for other measurement systems leaves me… a little cold. It’s not even like Fahrenheit has weird non-decimal ratios. Save your mocking for the avoirdupois furl…
I'm British. Let me give you some intuition. 30C+ is too hot to go outside. 20-30C is a hot summer. 12-20C is the rest of the year. 0-12C is jumper weather or freezing to death in your home, depending on whether you can afford your energy bill. <0C is fucking Baltic.
As I said, I grew up with and actively use Celsius, so I’m unsure why you’re explaining it in a reply to me. I’m also Australian, so your ranges are wildly off for my climate. Summers don’t get started until the 30 C days, and less than 20 C is the heart of winter.
Celsius has many strengths, and is obviously better suited for scientific purposes. Fahrenheit is handy for outdoor temperatures. That doesn’t mean Celsius is useless for those.
These turf wars are weird. A good engineer doesn’t spur different tools, for different tools have different strengths. I can immediately make sense of both systems, and I consider that to my advantage.
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I saw a video about Hong Kong where colder shopping malls are considered more upscale. Waste is a Veblen good in that context, I guess.
I think we might have seen the same video. It happens in other places in Asia as well, not only Hong Kong. It's quite uncomfortable to go from ~34C and 98% humidity, to an environment at ~20C and less than 50% humidity. I'm surprised people don't get more respiratory illnesses more often.
When I was in Asia, I experienced that also.
First it was hard for me and making me sick, but then I got used to it also.
For a westerner, it might be hard to imagine constantly living with high temperatures like that. And for example having to sleep everyday with such climate.
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#46For whatever reason, I don't comprehend Celsius intuitively. I convert that to Fahrenheit and see 80.6 degrees. Is Spain dry? Or humid? I would revolt as I much prefer cold.
10 is cool, 20 is not. 30 is warm, 40 is hot! Body temp 37c. 20c = 68f (room temp) 30c = 86f. (68 mirrored)
More like
-20 is cold
-10 is cool
0 is cold and damp
10 is nice
20 is warm
30 is hot
40 is off the charts
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#47For whatever reason, I don't comprehend Celsius intuitively. I convert that to Fahrenheit and see 80.6 degrees. Is Spain dry? Or humid? I would revolt as I much prefer cold.
You better understand Celsius when you use body thermometer. Normal body temperature is 37, 38 is a light fever, 40 is severe fever. So 27 is temperature of a pleasant summer day, not too hot not too cold.
17 is pleasant, 27 is getting into hot territory
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#4827? Here in the UK I would've thought most offices keep it around 22-25
No surprise that different people from different climates are used to different temperatures...
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#49I've never understood why (in some countries) public places are so cooled down in the summer and so heated up in the winter. In Japan, in the summer they put the ACs to what feels like 16ºC, so whenever you go from outdoor (very hot and humid) to indoor, you feel like you'll freeze (because you're dressed for 30ºC). In the winter, they put the ACs to 25ºC, so you move from outdoor to indoor, it's extremely hot and st…
I hate this about Japan too. In Tokyo, you sweat to death on the subway, then get off with wet underwear into the cold street and yeah, summer trains feel so cold it's like having a high fever when sitting on the train.
JR commuter trains "solve" this problem by having some carriages on longer trains intentionally set to higher temperatures, signposted 弱冷房車 ("weak cooling car").
Re: Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just that, it's also that men have higher skin temps than women. If a man and woman were wearing the exact same clothes, in the exact same room, the man would still almost certainly be feeling warmer.
Is that effect mediated by body size, or is it true even when corrected for body size and shape?
It is directly affected by body fat at least. Fat is insulating (hence whales, seals, etc. having a thick fat layer) and definitely being on the larger size with a higher % of body fat makes someone feel warmer.