The Red, White, and Green

So I was at the office of one of my freelance editing clients the other day, and as usual, the air conditioning was on, even though it was a cool 60 degrees outside. The air conditioning there is always on full blast, evidently — summer or winter –and there’s no way to control the temperature from each office; the building management sets the temperature for the whole building. While the people in the office said they’ve talked to management about it on several occasions, so far the only remedy to the solution has been for people to walk around the office bundled up in jackets and blankets. In balmy LA! 

Now, obviously this is an incredible waste of energy. But it also could be affecting people’s health, according to recent research conducted at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This new research reveals that operating buildings in ways designed to save energy — with indoor temperatures slightly cooler in winter (in colder climates where the heat is normally on) and warmer in summer — also improves the health of its occupants. Among the findings? That symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating increased by over 50 percent in buildings that used air conditioning to keep temperatures below 73.4 degrees in the summer. Read the whole story here.

–Jennifer Grayson

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