The temperature is lowered in public buildings

At the beginning of September, the government announced that the temperature in all public buildings will be reduced to 19 degrees. It came into force on 1/10, and is due to rising electricity prices. What does it matter for e.g. Denmark's school students?

On 1 October 2022, the temperature was turned down to 19 degrees in all public buildings. A decision that was taken on the basis of rising electricity prices.

The decision was taken by the Government in collaboration with KL and Danish Regions, and is therefore a short-term solution to save energy.

They also say that it is only 1 degree that the temperature is lowered by, despite the fact that several public buildings have an average temperature of 21-22 degrees. It can therefore be as much as 3 degrees that the temperature is lowered, which can be clearly felt. So much so that Lars Gunnarsen, professor of construction health at Aalborg University, is convinced that if the temperature drops further, you will have to sit with mittens on to keep your fingers warm.

In addition, he states that at 19 degrees, parents should strongly consider giving their children thicker sweaters and long underpants. [1]

If the temperature is turned down more, you have to sit with gloves on to keep the heat when typing on the PC.

The question is, is it a solution that is a bit like peeing hot?

Of course, both money and energy are saved when the temperature is reduced in so many buildings - that is, here and now. But what about in the long run? You may think that COVID-19 is a thing of the past, but it is still in circulation, and we only see an increase in infection in the winter precisely because of the cold. The probability of getting sick if you freeze indoors naturally only increases, which results in a much higher spread of infection.

In addition, one can only imagine that ventilation in public buildings is minimized precisely because it is already cold indoors. A mixture of poor ventilation and higher infection rates will ultimately cost society even more money.

So which is cheapest? To turn down the heat and increase the infection, or make sure people are warm in an otherwise cold time?

Exercises to keep warm:

If you are in doubt about how to keep warm, you can always do a little gymnastics once an hour. The following exercises only take 5 minutes:

1. 10 angel jumps
2. Skiing for 1 minute
3. Jump in place for 1 minute

Alternatively, we also have a number of Brain Breaks in our Heroes of the Air Kit. You can read more about that here .

[1] https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/ministre-her-skal-danskerne-spare-paa-stroemmen-og-varmen