I was just in Las Vegas, and every single public place (casinos, hotels, restaurants) was air-conditioned to the point where it felt like a meat locker. It was horribly uncomfortable. I had to wear sweaters and sweatshirts indoors; then we’d all walk out into 106 degree heat!! Is there actually any real reason to not just cut air conditioning in public places to 78 degrees, across the board, across the nation? This needs to happen so desperately. So much energy could be saved. Power outages would stop. Cold-sensitive people (like me) would be so much more comfortable immediately, and trust me, everyone else would adjust. We all got along without ANY air conditioning for 4.5 million years!! WHY isn’t this happening???
Yes. Guys in suits would feel a bit warm. Won’t someone think of the guys in suits???
I’d be unhappy. At 78 degrees, I would be sweating and miserable. 70 is much more comfortable. It’s much more easy for people like yourself to wear more or thicker clothing than it is for people like myself to strip down and occasionally pour water on our heads.
But a lot less fun to watch.
Anise, let me get this straight. You find the level of air conditioning too cold for your personal comfort so you want the entire city of Las Vegas to adjust to you.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Where is the debate in this and what do we do with the people who think those establisments aren’t cool enough?
I think it depends on the place and the context. I’d think that Vegas could pull back the A/C to 78, because almost nobody in a casino is going to be wearing a suit. Shorts and Hawaiian shirts are the norm, in the TV shows and movies I’ve seen are to be believed. 
In an office building where people are working in long sleeves and long pants, it’d probably need to be a little cooler; also, for the computers that are now crucial to almost every single office-based business. At home – well, you should be able to be comfortable, and I’d think that the **yBeafs ** and the **Anises ** would balance out here.
As far as saving resources – I think I read somewhere that the sun beating down on a high-rise building makes it so hot that the energy required to cool the inside to 72 degrees is almost no more than to cool it to 78 degrees. I looked briefly for that info, couldn’t find it – maybe someone with more knowledge of the issue could enlighten us.
We regularly have electrical problems during heat waves. I’d consider it debatable that these problems could be reduced if public spaces cut back a bit on their AC usage. Governments have no problem asking individuals to cut back during these times, or ordering rolling blackouts. If Vegas was facing rolling blackouts like some other municipalities, maybe the casinos would think better of their meat-locker temperature settings.
Debating it by stating your personal temperature preference is kind of silly, since we’re all different.
Or maybe they could unscrew a few million lightbulbs from their signs.
If a casino cut their AC and set the thermostat to 78, I wouldn’t go. That’s way too hot for me, and as previously pointed out, there’s not much (socially acceptable) that I can do to make myself comfortable at that heat. While I’m sitting in front of my computer in my underwear with wet hair and a fan on my right side, I can’t do that in public. So I go places with AC, or I stay home nekked.
I suspect that there’s a much larger percentage of generally hot overweight businessmen with lots of cash to lose than older chilly pensioners playing nickle slots. Which ones would you keep happy if you were a casino owner?
It’s all about getting people into the casino. If it’s 106 outside, people want to duck into a cool place. Then they spend money.
We just came back, and the entire building isn’t that cool. The hallways in the hotel portion were really warm, way too warm for my tastes. Each room had adjustable AC.
We spent many hours in the casino portion. I was never cold, I know some in our party were wearing shorts and weren’t complaining. People tend to bunch up, also. In the little poker room, there were wall to wall people. It might have been 70 out in the main casino, but if the thermostat would have been on 78, that room would have been miserable. Same thing at the table games out in the casino. Standing shoulder to shoulder with 15 other people around a craps table is warmer than just standing by yourself. And there’s a lot of walking. Casinos are set up where you have to pass through as many money pits as possible to go anyplace.
Wear a coat.
The “meat-locker” temperatures in Las Vegas was a subjective measurement made by Anise, not me. I’ve stated no preference. Businesses exist to make money so there is no profit in the excessive use of air conditioning.
If your local area is having rolling blackouts its because your PUCO is completely inept. There is no excuse for not building peak-use generators to bridge the gap.
One thing public spaces can do is to cut the neon and bulb lighting and upgrade to LEDs. It should prove a sizeable cost saving over time.
The AC is broken in the bar area of the resturant I work in and the temperature hovers around the 78 degree mark Anise suggests is reasonable. The experience leaves me with the opposite impression. The workers are miserable with sweat dripping off us and even many of the customers are uncomfortable and complaining. I have only picked up one table in the bar since this has been going on and, yes, I did have to apologize for the inconvenience though they, unlike others, didn’t demand to see the manager.
As others have pointed out it is much easier for the cold adverse to wear extra clothing that they can remove than for the heat adverse to strip down when going outside. I know my boss isn’t going to let me wait tables in a Speedo though my hair is short enough that I can, and do, get away with pouring cold water over my head and faking the gelled spikey look.
If you know you don’t like the cold you can dress accordingly. At work, I cannot adjust. So I resent requests to increase the temperature from my customers and I make a point of never passing them on to the manager. With one exception. Wet people coming into the AC are bound to catch a chill so if there is a sudden shower I do take pity on chilly patrons. But if rain was in the forecast then its your own fault you weren’t prepared.
Just my 2sense
If it were only a matter of personal comfort, it wouldn’t be important. (I’m FAR from the only person who gets cold in JW Mariott’s conference rooms. MANY others were complaining. But that’s not the point.) But, come on!! Is anyone actually going to say (and back it up with evidence) that if every public building had to air condition to only 78 degrees, somehow NO energy would be saved? If every building was air conditioned to 50 degrees, does that mean that the same amount of energy would be used?
I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be unpleasantly argumentative, but this issue really bothers me. If we can’t even live with buildings at 78 degrees, how are we going to do all or even any of the other energy conserving things we need to do? Is anyone really going to be willing to change their personal habits at all? Will businesses be willing to do it to the extent they need to? Are we just doomed? Will we just keep running around in 68 degree buildings and keep it up as long as we can until the whole system collapses?? These are questions that need to be asked.
I’m just curious why the OP is posted in GD. Seems much more appropriate for IMHO or the Pit.
I’m gonna go with false dichotomy on this one. It’s not a choice between 78 degrees or 68 degrees.
Asking questions does not an argument make.
To be blunt, it’s none of your business. It’s up to the owner of the building to decide what’s an appropriate temperature.
If we, as a society, decide that energy conservation is an important issue, there are plenty of things that can be done without micro-managing people’s thermostats.
You’re talking about Las Vegas casinos. Did you ever stop to actually* look* at them? They are absolute monuments to excess. They are not concerned about energy conservation, they are concerned that their casinos are comfortable to (most) of their clients. Comfortable people spend money. Spending money is what keeps them in business. The only thing that keeps them in business.
The problem, as I see it, is that you’re asking for one specific change because it happens to suit you, and calling everyone else either lazy or set in their ways. The fact that you used a casino as the example just makes it that much sillier. Casinos aren’t in any sense necessary. If we wanted to save energy, just shut the whole damn thing down.
The proper way to deal with an insufficient electricity supply is to increase the costs of electricity, which will cause everyone to make cuts in the way that is most suited to their own wants and needs, not to declare an across-the-board standard on one particular use of electricity. Personally, I think rolling blackouts are absurd. A clear case where rationing results in shortages and inefficiencies. I would much rather have my electricity bill be a bit higher than have the power go out randomly. And it would actually make me conserve in a reasonable manner.
The building I work in is air conditioned, and when the air conditioner breaks, and the temperature rises, I am a less efficient worker. I take more and longer breaks to get cold drinks, I have trouble concentrating, I leave early if I can. It costs significantly less to run the air conditioner than it does to pay my salary, and I’m just one of dozens of people in this building. So it’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to try to cut air conditioning costs and ignore the very positive effect the AC generally has on our comfort and our productivity.
Yeah, so long as we never have to go outside, we can wear thinker clothing…
I didn’t put this in the pit because, well, I don’t like it very much. I hate the way that debates online can devolve into sniping and ickiness. I won’t do it. I’m definitely not going to start out that way to begin with! This is a very serious question, so I don’t think it belongs in IMHO, either. The deeper question seems to me to be if people would be willing to make personal sacrifices, such as being uncomfortably warm in a public place, whether it’s a casino, a drugstore, a restaurant, a government building, etc… Personally, I’d be happier if everything was at 78 degrees, but I am well aware that most people would not agree. But that’s not what this is about. Whether it makes anyone comfortable or uncomfortable, will we have to do it? How will everyone feel about it?