Device developed to cool disputes over room temperature in Hong Kong offices
Researcher uses personal data including gender to determine most suitable room temperature for majority of staff working in an office
If you are a female white collar worker in Hong Kong, the chances are you will constantly feel uncomfortably cold because of the low temperatures in male-dominated offices. The reason, according to studies, is that the cold better suits the faster metabolism of men.
To make office temperatures suitable for both men and women, as well as to reduce the city’s power consumption, a researcher from Polytechnic University has invented a smart device that can adjust the temperature of a room’s air conditioning using data it collects from occupants.
“There is no mechanism that can precisely measure every individual’s thermal comfort level yet, so we came up with this platform that can adjust room thermal levels to satisfy office workers’ needs as much as possible,” associate professor Wang Dan from the Department of Computing said.
The platform, called the Personalised Thermal Comfort Platform, can collect data from a building’s central air conditioning system, as well as feedback from occupants through their smartphones.
