Research Design Connection: Office Temperature Adjustments

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | April 22nd, 2019

Any time of year when there is heating or air conditioning in use, which is just about the entire year in most of the world, there are at-work debates about optimal workplace temperatures. Gunay and team have investigated requests to change workplace temperatures. In the course of their study, “Custom temperature setpoint change requests from four [large] office buildings were analyzed.” The researchers learned that, “The majority of the setpoint change requests were either to increase the default 22 °C [about 72 degrees Fahrenheit] temperature setpoints during the cooling season or to decrease them during the heating season…the [HVAC-type] operators tend to make greater setpoint changes upon hot and cold complaints than the occupants make through their thermostat overrides.” Gunay, Weiming Shen, Guy Newsham, and Araz Ashouri. 2018. “Modelling and Analysis of Unsolicited Temperature Setpoint Change Requests in Office Buildings.” Building and Environment, vol. 133, pp. 203-212, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.02.025 Sally Augustin, PhD, …