This week my school informed me that we can no longer set the air conditioner to cool the classroom below 26 degrees.
It was justified by explaining that the government has instated a new regulation, or law, or what-have-you, which prohibits some businesses from ‘abusing’ their air conditioning. It was explained to me that the rationale behind this is to help ‘save the environment’ by conserving energy. The punishment is apparently a steep fine.
Seems vague to me. 26 degrees is pretty brutal when you’re moving around teaching, especially with more active classes. Now, there’s not exactly much I can do if this is a big crock, but it would still be nice to know where I stand.
This was instituted not long ago (last year?) to conserve energy. I believe it applies to businesses open to public access (convenience stores, shopping malls, etc.), but I don’t know if it applies to schools.
In my opinion, it’s one degree too high. 26 degrees is the edge of discomfort for me.
What side effect I do not like is that if you say you have your AC on at 24-25 now, you are killing the planet. :loco:
I was teasing some Facebook friends that were complaining about heat that I was home with my AC on at 24 and they were like, “be conservative” and “go green”.
[quote=“KPSeventy”]This week my school informed me that we can no longer set the air conditioner to cool the classroom below 26 degrees.
It was justified by explaining that the government has instated a new regulation, or law, or what-have-you, which prohibits some businesses from ‘abusing’ their air conditioning. It was explained to me that the rationale behind this is to help ‘save the environment’ by conserving energy. The punishment is apparently a steep fine.
Seems vague to me. 26 degrees is pretty brutal when you’re moving around teaching, especially with more active classes. Now, there’s not exactly much I can do if this is a big crock, but it would still be nice to know where I stand.[/quote]
26 is okay actually, just run some fans and set the a/c on climate control…when you first walk in and turn it on, it will cool it okay. the 26 degree rule is for environmental reasons…
No - its not OK its bloody hot. I run mine at 24 because its the only level where my wife doesn’t feel cold and I can survive. HK has a rule which sets it at 25 or 26 and the airport is always too hot. I’m a big guy and I sweat rivers at that kind of temperature.
I don’t care about the greenies -airconditioning was voted the most important innovation of the 20th century for a reason, it allows us to function when its too hot to work. 26 degrees is too hot to work and if my boss insisted in setting it there I would insist on not working - period.
A lot depends on where you are from and what temperature you are used to. Canadians and people from the northern states of the USA will typically find 26 too hot and will want to put on the air-conditioning when it gets to be that temperature. People from Taiwan are used to hot weather and so may find 26 to be fine.
I used to live with a Taiwanese woman and a Canadian man in Taipei. On some days he and I would get home and put on our room’s air-conditioner; we’d then go visit our Taiwanese roommate in her room, only to find her shivering, wrapped up in a blanket sitting next to the space heater.
After I lived in rural China for a year, in a place where there was no heating, I had gotten used to the cold. When I went back to Canada I couldn’t stand how hot it was indoors in the winter. I kept our house at about 11 degrees for the rest of the winter, though only when no one else was home.
26 is about right I think. Go much under that and you often need to have a jacket with you - I was in one place yesterday that was set to 24 and it was bordering on being too cold.
In my experience all air conditioners are not created equal and 10 similar AC units set to 26 degrees in similar sized rooms will yield 10 different actual air temps depending on brand, age, condition, etc. So it would seem the 26 rule is just another good old Taiwan “law” with a deliberate mile wide loop hole. If you’re uncomfortable at 26 degrees, getting your local AC service guy to tweak your thermostat a little lower so an indicated 26 is closer to an actual 24, may be a couple of hundred bucks well spent?
I remember back in Jr. high school in the “old country” that the school district set limits on heaters in the classroom in order to save energy. Before that, the teachers could set their own thermostats in the classroom and most would choose 68 to 70. Some people thought 70 was unbearably hot, while others though 68 was freezing cold. The school locked up all the thermostats and set them at 68. The funny thing that happened is that the as soon as a classroom of students settled in, the air-conditioning would blast cold air into the room. We had to wear coats, scarves, and gloves in the classroom.
After a few teachers discovered you could put a cup of ice on the thermostat, it got better. But of course the school figured that one out too, and threatened to fire the teachers who didn’t follow the new rules.
I can’t remember how it ended. I guess we just got used to wearing more clothes, sweaters, and jackets. Either that or the school district backed down and changed their rules.
Here, I don’t even have air-conditioning in my classroom. I just have to adjust to the heat and humidity and wear appropriate clothing for that. Light cottons fitted loosely work best for me. A fan in the right position keeps me somewhat dry. If you don’t have an electric fan, get a hand-held fan. And no “teacher aerobics” lessons in this weather!
We set it for 28 in the bedroom at night. 30 degrees… it’s still dropping below that at night anyway, isn’t it?
26 is too hot for the classroom for me. If I’m sitting in my office not doing much of anything, it’s fine, but if there are 70 people in a room, and the ACs are in a line on one side of the room (usually all pointing at a few frozen spots, without moving the cool air around), and I’ve just walked across campus in sweltering heat and sun, 26 absolutely does not cut it. At 24 I’m OK; 25 is endurable if there’s a lot of air circulation.
Once in a while female students will complain that it’s too cold; thus far I’ve refrained from pointing out that, while I’m wearing trousers and a collared shirt, they’re wearing… a lot less.
Plus we’ve got all these stupid modern classrooms in buildings designed around AC, and therefore have neither natural air circulation nor fans. Dumb architecture that we’re all going to come to regret as energy gets more and more costly.
[quote=“baberenglish”][quote=“KPSeventy”]This week my school informed me that we can no longer set the air conditioner to cool the classroom below 26 degrees.
It was justified by explaining that the government has instated a new regulation, or law, or what-have-you, which prohibits some businesses from ‘abusing’ their air conditioning. It was explained to me that the rationale behind this is to help ‘save the environment’ by conserving energy. The punishment is apparently a steep fine.
Seems vague to me. 26 degrees is pretty brutal when you’re moving around teaching, especially with more active classes. Now, there’s not exactly much I can do if this is a big crock, but it would still be nice to know where I stand.[/quote]
26 is okay actually, just run some fans and set the a/c on climate control…when you first walk in and turn it on, it will cool it okay. the 26 degree rule is for environmental reasons…[/quote]
Bullshit. It does nothing for the environment. It because of resource depletion and saving money for the boss.
It’s ok if you ask the boss to turn on the air-con 1 hour before your class so it’s nice an cool when you walk in.
At the junior/senior high where I taught, the A/C didn’t have temperature controls, just fan control switches with 3 settings each. The kids usually turned all the units on full blast, then opened the doors and windows and wore their jackets and sweaters. When I pointed out the waste and the irony and asked why they did it, most said that it was because they paid for it in their tuition and felt entitled to it.
I am in thin and in good shape. At 26 degrees I am comfortable if I don’t move around. As soon as I stand up and start doing anything, I begin to sweat profusely. I suspect that the humidity is more of a problem than the temperature.
We’re talking about a good soaking, head to toe. It is quite uncomfortable. Tolerable, but almost bad enough that it impacts my ability to function. Maybe I’ll acclimatize someday.
You’re all getting it wrong. It has nothing to do with the “setting” of a certain temperature or what’s on the thermostat. The government regulation is saying the actual room temperature has to be 26 degrees or higher. It’s what the thermometer reads. The setting on the thermostat might be 25 or even 24. As long as the actual temperature of the room is 26, you’re meeting the requirement.