Summers are hot in Omaha, where heat indexes can top 100 degrees. But Molly Mahannah is prepared.
奧馬哈市的炎天異常熱，其炎熱指數最高可以到達華氏100度(約合攝氏37.8度)。但莫莉·馬哈納(Molly Mahannah)對此有所預備。
At the office, she bundles up in cardigans or an oversized sweatshirt from her file drawer. Then, she says, “I have a huge blanket at my desk that I’ve got myself wrapped in like a burrito.” Recently, “I was so cold, I was like ‘I’m just going to sit in my car in like 100-degree heat for like five minutes, and bake.’”
在辦公室裏，她會從文件抽屜裏拿出羊毛開衫大概大號活動衫，穿在身上。然後說，“我的辦公桌旁還常備著一個大毯子，可以把本身像做玉米卷餅同樣裹起來。”比來，“我認為特殊冷，就會想，要到本身的車裏坐上五分鐘，那邊有華氏100度，可以暖暖和和。”
Ms. Mahannah, 24, who wrote on Twitter that at work she felt like an icy White Walker from “Game of Thrones,” said a female co-worker at her digital marketing agency cloaked herself in sweaters, too. But the men? “They’re in, like, shorts.”
24歲的馬哈納在Twitter上說，在辦公室裏，她認為本身像是《權利的遊戲》(Game of Thrones)裏冰涼的“白鬼”(White Walker)。還說在她地點的數字營銷機構裏，一位女性同事也穿上了毛衣。但漢子們呢?“他們穿戴，短褲之類的。”
Right. It happens every summer: Offices turn on the air-conditioning, and women freeze into Popsicles.
沒錯。每一年炎天都是如斯：辦公室裏開著空調，女人們凍成為了冰棒。
Finally, scientists (two men, for the record) are urging an end to the Great Arctic Office Conspiracy. Their study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, says that most office buildings set temperatures based on a decades-old formula that uses the metabolic rates of men. The study concludes that buildings should “reduce gender-discriminating bias in thermal comfort” because setting temperatures at slightly warmer levels can help combat global warming.
終究，科學家們(特殊聲明，是兩位男士)開端號令閉幕“辦公室北極大詭計”(Great Arctic Office Conspiracy)。他們周一在《天然·氣象變更》(Nature Climate Change)雜誌揭櫫的一項研討表現，大多半寫字樓的溫度設置，都是基於一種幾十年未曾轉變的公式，這一公式是根據男性的代謝率設定的。這項研討的結論是，寫字樓應當“削減熱安寧度方面的性別輕視”，由於將室溫程度稍微進步，有助於應答環球變暖題目。
“In a lot of buildings, you see energy consumption is a lot higher because the standard is calibrated for men’s body heat production,” said Boris Kingma, a co-author of the study and a biophysicist at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “If you have a more accurate view of the thermal demand of the people inside, then you can design the building so that you are wasting a lot less energy, and that means the carbon dioxide emission is less.”
“在許多寫字樓裏，均可以看到能源消費要高許多，由於溫度尺度是根據男性的身材代謝產熱才能設定的，”這項研討結果的合著者之一、荷蘭馬斯特裏赫特大學醫學中間(Maastricht University Medical Center)生物物理學家鮑裏斯·金瑪(Boris Kingma)說道。“假如你對辦公室裏人們的保暖需求有更精確的懂得，就可以計劃出能源糟蹋少很多的寫字樓，那也象征著可以下降二氧化碳排放。”
The study says most building thermostats follow a “thermal comfort model that was developed in the 1960s,” which considers factors like air temperature, air speed, vapor pressure and clothing insulation, using a version of Fanger’s thermal comfort equation.
這項研討表現，大多半寫字樓的溫度主動調理器都相沿了“1960年月構成的熱安寧度模子”，它斟酌了氣溫、氛圍速度、蒸氣壓、衣服隔熱等身分，應用了範格(Fanger)熱安寧公式的一種版本。
It is converted to a seven-point scale and compared against the Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied, a gauge of how many people are likely to feel uncomfortably cool or warm.
它被轉換成一種七分制，與預期不滿足比例(Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied)相對於應，後者用以斷定有若幹人大概會感到冷得不舒暢或熱得不舒暢。
Seems simple enough.
看起來仿佛很簡略。
But Dr. Kingma and his colleague, Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, write that one variable in the formula, resting metabolic rate (how fast we generate heat), is based on a 40-year-old man weighing about 154 pounds.
但金瑪博士和他的同事沃特·凡·馬爾肯·裏徹滕貝爾(Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt)寫道，這個公式中有一個變量——靜息代謝率——是基於體重約154磅(約合70千克)的40歲男性的參數設定的。
Maybe that man once represented most people in offices. But women now constitute half of the work force and usually have slower metabolic rates than men, mostly because they are smaller and have more body fat, which has lower metabolic rates than muscle. Indeed, the study says, the current model “may overestimate resting heat production of women by up to 35 percent.”
大概如許一名男士的指數曾代表了辦公室大多半人的情形。但現在女性占領勞動力雄師的一半，她們的代謝率每每低於男性，重要由於她們大多比男性體型小，身材脂肪含量多，而脂肪比肌肉代謝率低。現實上，這項研討表現，今朝的模子“大概把女性在靜息狀況的產熱才能高估了35%。”
“If women have lower need for cooling it actually means you can save energy, because right now we’re just cooling for this male population,” said Joost van Hoof, a building physicist at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the study.
“假如女性制冷需求更低，那現實上象征著可以節儉能源，由於今朝咱們只是在為男性人群制冷，”荷蘭方提斯運用科技大學(Fontys University of Applied Sciences)修建物理學家約斯特·凡·胡夫(Joost van Hoof)說道。他沒有介入上述研討。
“Many men think that women are just nagging,” he said. “But it’s because of their physiology.”
“許多漢子認為女人們只是在絮聒，”他說。“但那是她們的身材性能在起感化。”
Physiology and clothing. The authors also note that the model is not always calibrated accurately for women wearing skirts or sandals.
除身材性能，另有著裝習氣。研討者還指出，今朝的模子其實不總能精確地為穿裙子和涼鞋的女生們調校溫度。
“Many men, they wear suits and ties, and women tend to dress sometimes with cleavage,” said Dr. van Hoof, who wrote a commentary about the study. “The cleavage is closer to the core of the body, so the temperature difference between the air temperature and the body temperature there is higher when it’s cold. I wouldn’t overestimate the effect of cleavage, but it’s there.”
“許多男士穿西裝打領帶，而女生們則穿戴展露乳溝的衣服，”凡·胡夫博士說道，他就上述研討撰寫了一則批評。“乳溝更接近身材焦點，以是四周溫度低的時刻，那邊氣平和體溫的溫差會更大。我不想過分誇張乳溝的影響，但它確切存在。”
So for the planet’s sake, men should “stop complaining,” Dr. Kingma said. “If it is too warm, the behavior thing you can do is take off a piece of clothing, but you can only do that so much. You could also say let’s keep it a very cold building and women should just wear more clothes.”
以是，為了地球情況斟酌，男士們應當“停滯埋怨，”金瑪博士說。“假如認為辦公室太熱，可以脫一件衣服，但你只能做到這類水平。你也大概會說，咱們照樣持續把辦公室調得冷一些吧，女人們應當多穿些衣服。”
But his study offers another solution: Change the formula.
但他的研討供給了另外一種辦理計劃：轉變調理溫度的公式。
The researchers tested 16 women, students in their 20s, doing seated work wearing light clothes in rooms called respiration chambers, which track oxygen inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled. Skin temperature was measured on hands, the abdomen and elsewhere. A thermometer pill the women swallowed reported internal body temperature.
研討職員對16名女性舉行了測試。她們都是20多歲的門生，穿戴浮滑的衣服，坐在可以跟蹤監測吸入的氧氣和呼出的二氧化碳濃度的房間內，這類房間名為“呼吸室”。她們一邊坐著事情，一邊有儀器監測她們手部、腹部和其他部位的體溫，另有一種口服體溫藥丸用來丈量她們體內的溫度。
Researchers found the women’s average metabolic rate was 20 to 32 percent lower than rates in the standard chart used to set building temperature. So they propose adjusting the model to include actual metabolic rates of women and men, plus factors like body tissue insulation, not just clothing. For example, people who weigh more get warmer faster, and older people have slower metabolic rates, the study reported.
研討者發明，女性的均勻代謝率比用來設定寫字樓溫度尺度的代謝率低20%到32%。以是他們發起對現有溫度尺度舉行調劑，既斟酌到女性和男性的現實代謝率，也斟酌身材構造絕熱等其他身分，而不單單是打扮身分。好比，研討申報提醒，體重較重的人更易覺得熱，年紀更大的人代謝率更低。
How much warmer an office would become would vary, of course, but the study cites research finding as much as a five-degree difference in women and men’s preferences. Dr. Kingma said a woman might prefer a 75-degree room, while a man might prefer about 70 degrees, which Dr. Kingma said is a common current office temperature.
固然，辦公室畢竟應當進步若幹溫度應當視詳細情形而變更，但這項研討的成果表現，女性和男性偏好的溫度會相差五度。金瑪博士表現，女性大概願望室內溫度到達華氏75度，而男性大概偏向於設在70度上下，金瑪傳授表現，華氏70度的室溫設定今朝在辦公場合比擬常見。
Some experts doubt the proposed formula would be easily adopted.
有些專家疑惑新發起的溫度尺度可否被很好地采用。
Khee Poh Lam, an architecture professor at Carnegie Mellon, said even if the industry accepted a change to the longstanding model, buildings often house different businesses or “squeeze more people in” than they were designed for and partition offices so thermostats and vents are in different rooms. Given these improvisations, he added, “whether this actually affects energy, I think that’s a big leap.”
卡內基梅隆大學(Carnegie Mellon)修建學傳授林棋波(Khee Poh Lam)表現，即使業界樂意轉變這個歷久存在的模子，每棟寫字樓裏都容納著分歧的企業，並且一些樓宇裏“擠的人”比本來計劃的要多，別的，辦公室也會分開空間，致使恒溫器和透風管道被隔在了分歧的房間裏。他接著說，斟酌到這些詳細情形，“這一舉動要真正對能源消費發生影響，我認為難度不小。”
Still, he said, “we need to keep pushing” for improvements because “the phenomenon of women getting cold is very, very obvious,” and cold or hot employees are less productive.
不外，他也說，“咱們須要連續推進”這些改良辦法，由於“辦公室裏女性覺得冷是異常異常廣泛的事”，而假如感到太冷或太熱，員工的事情效力會比擬低。
Individualized temperature controls are the eventual answer, said Dr. Lam, who helped design a “personal environmental module” in the 1990s that was deemed too expensive for commercial development. Now others are developing systems to let workers make their cubicles warmer or cooler.
林傳授表現，本性化的溫度掌握才是終極的辦理之道。1990年月，他曾贊助計劃了一種“小我情況模塊”，但人們認為它本錢太高，不合適舉行貿易開辟。如今，已有其別人在開辟可讓員工把本身工位的溫度調高或調低的體系了。
Kimberly Mark, 31, would appreciate that. This summer, at a software company in Natick, Mass., she and female colleagues are using space heaters. The thermostat is in the office of “the guy next to me,” she said, “and I’m the only woman in the offices that he controls.”
31歲的金伯莉·馬克(Kimberly Mark)異常等待這類裝備湧現。她是馬薩諸塞州納蒂克一家軟件公司的員工，這個炎天，她和女性同事在應用小型取暖和裝備保暖。她說，恒溫器在“我閣下誰人家夥”的辦公室裏，“而我是他掌握溫度的這個辦公室裏，獨一的女性。”
Phoebe McPherson, 21, said she sometimes wears thick leggings, a long-sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt and motorcycle boots to work at a health technology startup in Reston, Va. She often adds a tartan blanket, wraps “a blanket around my legs,” and despite the glaring fashion faux pas, wears a Snuggie backward to seal off any openings.
21歲的菲比·麥克弗森(Phoebe McPherson)辦事於弗吉尼亞州雷斯頓的一家康健科技創業公司。她說本身偶然要穿厚厚的打底褲、長袖襯衫、活動衣和機車靴去上班，她每每還會再加之一條花格呢毯，“用毯子把腿裹起來”，還會朝後穿上一件Snuggie帶袖懶人毯，以避免任何處所通風，只管這儼然犯了時尚大忌。
“I wore a dress once and had to go change,” said Ms. McPherson, who attended college in New Hampshire. While male colleagues wear T-shirts, “I’m bringing all my New Hampshire clothes to work.” And when that and hot coffee fail, she nuzzles against a white fake-fur wall in the office, just to “feel my skin warming up against the fur.”
“我曾穿戴裙子去上班，但末了不能不更衣服，”曾在新罕布什爾州讀大學的麥克弗森說道。男同事們穿戴T恤，“我卻把本身在新罕布什爾州時的衣服都穿到單元來了。”假如多穿衣服、喝熱咖啡還無論用，她就會把臉貼到辦公室裏一壁貼著人造白色毛皮的墻上，就為“讓貼著毛皮的皮膚，感到一點點溫暖起來”。
市場價：HK$ 110
