It’s 32° in the office

Not saying we need to give up on net zero, I asked why are we the only ones that are worried about it when many parts of the rest of the world don’t give a shit?

I work in a school. It's been hovering over 30 degrees for the last 2 days and during the last heatwave. We have a fan for the whole classroom. I've got 26 10 years old and 2 TAs in there. I am dripping with sweat and my TA's blood pressure is through the roof. The kids are cranky and argue about which direction the fan should be facing. Not fun.

We need livable homes for hotter weather and also to try and stop climate change from being the very worst case scenario. Some houses and public buildings definitely need AC yes.. that definitely doesn’t mean we should ‘scrap net zero’, it’s just another reason to be getting as much of our energy from renewable sources as possible. Did you read the GB news article that misrepresented a planning permission issue as being about net zero? Not sure why else you would think we need to give up on any chance of a habitable planet in order to get AC in schools and homes.

Why is it only us that has to feel guilty about wanting to use ac for a few months of the year? Many countries have ac on constantly and it doesn’t even enter their heads to turn it off and be uncomfortably hot and feel ill to save the planet. If I suggested that to the colleagues I work with who are from various parts of Asia, Africa and the US they’d just laugh at me.

To be fair (and I am a teacher) I am sure some boiling hospital workers have been to parents' evenings or meetings in the rare air conditioned schools.

I have two GP surgeries. One has aircon. The other is hotter than Hades.

I was in a classroom with 30 children and high temperatures . Best best of my day was my hospital appointment. Everywhere I went was ice cold.

Yanbu.

I think hospitals are too hot anyway. I get that the majority of patients are elderly, therefore seemingly require rooms to be heated to roughly the same tenperature as the surface of the sun, but surely the high temps promote bacterial and fungal growth?

Also, surely sleep should be acknowledged as vital for healing? Science has proven you need cool rooms for sleep.

I really feel for nurses and midwives right now.

I’ve put a foot spa under my desk filled with ice water. Granted it also makes me want to wee, but it’s cooling me down a treat.

Either way, it’s not acceptable. Same in my office, OP.

Neck fans have just been banned in our trust due to infection control so thats something to bare in mind unfortunately

Oh the irony of this comment…!

For every 1° above 23°, you lose 5% of your productivity, so at 32°, you're losing 45%. Almost half.

The management doesn't care though.

I work in a hospital too and only the boardroom has air con. No one else is important enough.

Scrap net zero to make sure the summers just keep getting hotter?

IMO putting ice behind a fan works better than putting it in front of it.

😂

Yeah yeah but none of that will keep anyone cool at work tomorrow.

So ice is a great idea.

No, what the British public "should" expect is AC and demand that net zero is scrapped and investment is made in jobs and infrastructure now to accommodate the weather that is here to stay. Ceiling fans, lights with ceiling fans that don't attract a premium, AC as standard in new builds, retrofitting AC in hospitals, schools, care homes and houses. Improvise is fine for a summer. We're now into what, four, five years of this? People need to catch a wake up and the public needs to demand more from the government and where money is being spent. Ice is not sustainable.

Ice is a great idea!

Especially as people saying hospitals 'should' have AC, isn't going to keep anyone cool.

In the absence of AC we need to improvise unfortunately.

I’m sorry op, it’s just ridiculous. It must be awful for you, no one is effective or efficient when it’s that hot so it doesn’t serve the employer either? Madness.
Have you tried the feet in a bowl of cold water with ice trick? My grandma swore by it (she also worked in the NHS). Not ideal at work I know but if you sit down a lot you could get away with it?

neck fan and a frozen insulated water bottle worked a treat in the last wave. Waiting for the emails to go around banning the fans for being an infection risk tho! 😆

i think i missed the subtext too tbh.

It felt like i was being told i was stupid to suggest such a thing as ice (but thats what i do when desperate so i was just suggesting it in an attempt to be helpful.

i buy my magical ice at sainsburys or make it overnight in any old receptacle in the freezer if it’s not for human consumption.

i know they should have AC.
The OP knows they should have AC.
The entire world knows the should.
But they don’t and i presume the OP just wants ideas?!

Gosh, I don’t know why no one thought of that before!

They can’t even afford staff let alone a massive national overhaul of hospital air con! 🤦🏻‍♀️ (Even with air con units it was over 30 deg at midnight on some wards on my last run of nightshifts).

Can't speak for the OP but my workplace does not have a freezer. A few fridges with tiny iced up freezer compartments. Maybe I should get my ice pick out.