AC Admin Block vs Non-AC Classroom: Cooling as a Status Line ItemPREVIEW

Three people. One thermostat. They have
three different thermal comfort setpoints.
Two will be uncomfortable. All three will
blame the building.

Thermal comfort is not a single
temperature. Research on thermal sensation
shows variation in comfort setpoint across
a population with standard deviation of
approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius. In a
group of 200 people, the range of comfort
temperatures spans 3 to 4 degrees.
Someone's 23°C comfort is someone else's
cold shock.

The physiological basis includes sex, age,
body composition, metabolic rate, and
acclimatisation status. Women, on average,
have lower metabolic rates than men and
lower threshold temperatures for shivering
thermogenesis, shifting their comfort
setpoint downward by approximately 0.5
degrees. Age also shifts setpoint: people
over 65 have higher basal metabolic rates
and prefer slightly higher operative
temperatures. Individuals acclimatised to
March-to-November heat prefer temperatures
higher than their non-acclimatised
counterparts.

Central thermostats force a compromise
setpoint that satisfies none of these
groups. Research on worker productivity
shows thermal discomfort reduces output by
3 to 5 percent. Heated thermostat
conflicts between staff reduce
productivity further. Open-floor
complaints about temperature dominate
facilities requests.

Biothermal Microconditioning solves this
through distributed person-level control.
Each seating cluster gets its own
Thermopod arrangement, operated on its own
cycle. No shared thermostat, no forced
compromise. A person sitting near a
cluster wants cooling, and the system
provides it. A person who prefers less
cooling moves their seating. The building
stops enforcing a single comfort fiction
and instead provides local choice. One day
to deploy. Thermostat wars end.
Productivity returns.