I've also never understood why women just don't dress for the indoor climate. If men are expected to dress like that then why can't the women put on another layer.
There's only so many layers I can take off and stay in the dress code.
My vote is always for the cold.
I think at this point this low temperature has less to do with patriarchy and more to do with tradition---the thermostat is set to 68 because that's what thermostats are set to. Maybe a few well-articulated complaints to the facilities people could make a difference? Who doesn't want to be able to claim they saved the company $X million in energy costs?
Of course, the reverse is often an issue in the winter: the heat is up way too high. We've essentially reversed the seasons inside our buildings!
In summer anything near windows is sweltering, but the core of the building is too cool. In winter the poorly insulated fresh air ducts blast residual cold air when the heating kicks on, and the areas near windows are hard to keep warm.
Bah. Climate control is primitive, in both offices and houses. I dunno, maybe LEED is a solution, but I have no first-hand experience with it.
Personally I'm interested in looking at ways to integrate mechanical energy systems, environmental sensors, monitors with passive energy transfers and strategies so we could (a) cut energy usage and (b) achieve greater indoor comfort due to the far superior self-regulating effects of passive energy. There are ways of absorbing and transferring energy (external and internal gains) around the building that would not only equilibrate the office better, but would also allow us to recycle energy efficiently. That's where I think we need to go. Which, I believe, is beyond LEED at this point.
