As we no longer all work outdoors we generally find ourselves stuck in an office. Only 8% of the country benefits from the joys of having a fully functioning air conditioning system so it seems that for most of us, when the temperature goes up we start to get hot. To be fair, although we are seeing an increase in the chance of a heat wave, or heat waves over the summer months the temperate climate of the UK usually means that we are spared them. For example our friends in India look at our 35 degree plus weather and wonder what all the fuss is about, especially as they can easily get over 40 degrees even in the spring and autumn. There is some good news, whilst there is a limit as to the depths of cold we can work to until recently the optimum level of heat was ignored. In our world of increasing temperatures and more frequent heatwaves the Government have finally decided to work on what this should be. You might find that you are sent home, even from an office for it being too hot!
In the meantime, what can you do to keep cool in the office. As with anything like this it is rather down to your employers but if they are not prepared to have air con for the 4 or 5 months it can get overly warm. One solution is to have Brise Soleil panels that fit on the outside of the building and its windows. They deflect the sun away from the office and examples of this can be viewed at Aluminium Systems who have a huge range of options.
Moving on from how the building should be changed the next thing to look at is fans. There are many desktop versions that piggy back of your PC using the USB. This is not such an energy heavy system and if you consider that you were going to be using the PC anyway it can reduce the cost. It goes without saying that clothing choices are also important. There is much to be said for the tailored shorts and short sleeves shirt for men and the long floaty dress for women that keeps things on the respectful side plus business like.
The heat is going to pose some questions for our working habits for sure.