Energy usage and extra-cool Government offices

Tuesday, 17 January 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Below is an article I sent to the papers in 2009 suggesting that Government ACs should be set to 26 degrees. I am so glad that it is now a directive by the President. At that time I made this proposal to the Productivity Task Force Chaired by the Secretary to the President and was informed later that the CEB had stated that it is impractical. I am glad that even though eight years later wisdom has dawned on Sri Lanka’s policymakers.

The global downturn in demand, and the resultant decline in revenue has prompted many export companies in Sri Lanka to reduce costs and improve productivity. One initiative implemented widely is switching off air-conditioning totally, or during certain times, and/or adjusting the thermostats to a higher temperature. I have personally experienced this recently where in one company we had a meeting in the board room and the AC was switched off. The host apologised that their new policy is to switch on AC only at 10:30 a.m. In another office the meeting was held in the meeting room without any AC at all and there was no apology, because it was normal practice.

In a totally opposite manner, the Government offices continue to have their ACs on all the time at a very cold temperature setting. Very often I have complained that I am “freezing”. Obviously they do not have to earn money in order to spend money, but use the full budgetary allocation.

The hotels are even worse offenders. Many foreigners complain that Sri Lanka hotels are some of the coldest in the world. The Japanese apparently feel it the most, judging by their surprise at the temperature setting in Sri Lanka hotels. The Japanese obviously feel it because of their new “cool biz” policy where thermostats have to be set to 26 degrees Celsius in summer, and they have given up wearing suits to office in summer.

This is not mandatory in Japan and is just a recommendation by the Government for voluntary adoption. Although many smaller companies in Japan seem to ignore this recommendation, the larger ones consider it responsible behaviour to set their thermostats to 26 degrees. In fact last summer when I visited a Hitachi plant in Japan, the waiting room had a notice about the cool biz policy prominently displayed, lest visitors would wonder what has happened to the air-conditioning.

We could save a colossal amount of foreign exchange if the Government “recommends” setting of air-conditioning to at least 24 degrees if 26 degrees is not acceptable. I have set mine to 26 degrees and I feel quite comfortable.

Sunil G. Wijesinha

Colombo 5