International. A new study suggests that insulation that is supposed to make buildings more energy efficient doesn't conserve enough heat, as the norms are skewed toward the metabolic rates of men, who tend to generate more heat than women.
Published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the research ensures that the air conditioning installed in buildings is generally adjusted to men of an average age of 40 years and weighing 70 kilograms, but they do not take into account that women generate less heat, so they require higher temperatures.
The researchers say engineers rely on ASHRAE standards that determine how much insulation a building should have by calculating ambient air temperature, heat radiating over surfaces and devices, humidity and air velocity, along with two human factors: metabolism and clothing.
The study found that women who do normal office work have a significantly lower metabolic rate than the office space used by engineers.
Boris Kingma and Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt carried out this research in which they indicated that "the solution is to have more compartments in the offices, to make the thermal conditions more flexible and customizable for the needs of each one, whether male or female".
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