Ah, the perfect temperature! It’s so welcoming to walk into your house from the blazing hot outdoors, or a frigid snowy evening, and suddenly be at a completely comfortable temperature! Of course, keeping your HVAC system well maintained is a big part of that (and we’d be happy to help)! But setting your thermostat to the right temperature is crucial. But what IS the right temperature?
Well, the right temperature could be the one that saves the most energy, and therefore the most money. We have plenty of tips for how to save energy with both your AC and your heating! Check out here and here, where we talk about tricks that will save money without you even noticing much difference. The earth will thank you for your awesome stewardship!
But the whole point of heating and AC is to make our lives more comfortable. Sure, you can take the cost saving tips to an extreme and save even more money, but if you are sacrificing too much comfort to do so, then I would beg to argue that you’re missing the point of central heating and AC! So maybe the perfect temperature is simply the temperature that you’re most comfortable at. And that temperature can vary wildly. Ask any group of people what they like to have their AC set to, and you’ll get that many different answers.
Isn’t it weird that humans don’t seem to have one set temperature that they like best? I would have guessed that 72 degrees was the magic number, but it’s not – it’s just MY magic number! The science of how temperatures affect us and our preferences for hot or cold is fascinating. Take, for example, this study that shows men and women excel at math and word problems at different temperatures. Or this study that shows the relationship between ambient temperature and risk taking. This article discusses all sorts of issues you never imagined related to workplace temperatures (did you know Mark Zuckerburg keeps his office at 59 degrees!?). And of course, we’ve all heard that going to bed in cooler temperatures promotes a better night’s sleep.
So really, there’s a lot to consider, especially if you share your home with family or roommates. And if you work from home, you might want to take some tips from those articles about workplace temps to insure your own optimal performance! In the end, finding the compromise between comfort, performance, and energy bills is key to the perfect temperature.
