They may be saving energy, but 17.2°C average temperature indoors is freezing.
Personally in winter I heat my house to 14c as a minimum, 20c in the living room and office. Reason being I only need warmth if I'm sat down and not moving, so any higher and I start to get too hot.
My temperature is now approaching absolute zero.
Needless to say that thermal insulation is awful in IT.
https://lawline.se/answers/hur-kallt-far-det-vara-i-hyreslag...
I think that its all about the windows. In warm climate regions they are made to allow air circulation.
Windows, walls, roofs, ceiling heights, …
In warm climates until you have AC you want shade and air circulation / drafts.
Having no roof insulation is not much of an issue (might even be advantageous to trigger forced airflow) as long as you’re far from the roof. Likewise high ceilings keep the heat climbing above head level.
And imperfectly adjusted doors and windows with dodgy (or missing) seals isn’t a bother when it’s not an advantage.
In cold climes none of those is really acceptable unless you want to absolutely nuke your bank account on heating, at least if the house is anything more than a place to sleep in.
Personally I find if it's especially cold outside, I need to put the thermostat up to compensate.
When it’s -25C out, not so much.
Japan can actually be a case study of that: detached homes on Honshu (the main island) generally have poor insulation, in winter they tend to be quite cold and spot-heated (using kotatsu and kerosene space heaters, with heavy clothing).
On Hokkaido meanwhile, good insulation (including double or triple pane windows) and central heating are common (the island has insulation regs and there are loans dedicated to properly protecting against the cold), and inside temperatures tend to be cosy. It’s a regular occurrence that Hokkaido residents catch colds when visiting tokyo in winter, because they don’t have the habit of bundling up inside.
Though when it comes to Honshu, one of the justifications for the lack of insulation is the difficulty of keeping indoors drafty and dry during the extremely wet summer, to avoid the walls outright rotting on you.
However that doesn't dictate inside temperature. Well, maybe if you heat with firewood - you will get high/low temperature rises/drops. But people just like 20+ inside. 22-23C for me is comfort. Currently 24C at office - higher is out of comfort, but happens.
Someone like lower temperatures. Someone wants to save some money and keeps temperature lower than comfort.
And yeah, warmer climate results in colder inside temperature, because houses are not very well insulated and may not have advanced heating systems. But that's just experience from few data points I know of (and some HN comments confirms that).
Now I'm wondering how the comfort varies with the temperature of the walls (due to infrared radiation), which are obviously much colder in the winter than in the summer.
It's the other way around. Indoor temperature varying with the outdoor temperature is one of those weird things you experience when going abroad from your colder climate, at least in Europe.
I don’t know if I live in a cold climate but people will start to complain if the temperature goes below 21C indoors.
So I wear 3-4 layers, including fingerless gloves and a hat. It looks ridiculous, but nobody sees me. And in summer, well... I don't wear much or anything. I at least put on a shirt for video calls :P.
Frankly, it sucks; and this is my last year here before I go nomad full-time.
Back in 2012 to 2015 I worked most of the time I think in the radio lab at the company I worked for at the time. Temperature was often above 30 degrees in the summer. I didn't think much of it back then, went into office, started working and forgot everything but after a while I realized I was drinking 1.5l water during the work day without needing to visit the restroom and I would be exhausted when I came home.
It was noisy and warm but almost no interruptions and still very nice compared to insulating an attic in in the summer (I've done that too so I know.)
(This winter I tried working from the garage in December but at below 0C it gets impractical even with really warm clothing.)
These conditions are improper for extended work hours and intellectual work. I don't know how it is on your country but generally there are regulations regarding that. For offices the ideal climate is ~25 degree C, 40-60% humidity and <1m/s wind.
Have my upvote, I agree. But let me share why I sat there if you want (warning, somewhat violent towards the end):
I wasn't supposed to be there but the alternative was working in an open floor plan office where everyone from project engineers to service managers had access, and that was purpose-built to be cool so that it could be shown to customers.
> I don't know how it is on your country but generally there are regulations regarding that.
Norway is good at this but sadly we don't have effective regulations against managers who come into the room "joking" about impaling some people from another culture on our coat rack :-/
In my case I found it better to stay in the radio lab instead of risking that conversation or another one like that going in the background while I was one the phone with an important customers.
My point was only that I had a really really nice office but preferred the hot and noisy radio lab strongly.