If your office always feels freezing, there may be a scientific reason behind it — and a new study suggests the problem has been built into the system from the start.
Research has found that climate control systems in office buildings were designed around a formula based on male thermal comfort, leaving women consistently colder and wasting significant amounts of energy in the process.
The study highlights that heat exchange between the body and its environment depends on several individual factors including body size, surface area, metabolic rate, tissue insulation and clothing. Because these vary between individuals, no single office temperature will suit everyone — but the research argues that the average preference should at least be taken into account when setting building systems.
Scientists cited in the study point to earlier research showing that men and women can differ in their temperature preferences by as much as five degrees. Women also tend to experience stronger vasoconstrictive reactions when cold — meaning their blood vessels contract more sharply in response to low temperatures — which compounds the discomfort caused by air conditioning set to a male-oriented baseline.
The energy implications are also significant. The study found that heating and cooling in offices and residential buildings accounts for around 30 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions. Adjusting office temperatures to reflect seasonal conditions rather than maintaining a fixed year-round target could meaningfully cut that figure — though researchers acknowledge this would require more flexibility around workplace dress codes, allowing staff to dress more casually in summer and layer up in winter.
The findings suggest that a relatively straightforward shift in how offices manage their climate could simultaneously address a longstanding comfort gap between male and female workers and reduce both energy use and costs.
