Keep office cool in summer sustainably

Beat the Heat: Space Management and Cooling your Office this Summer

11th July 2023

The Great British summer is set to be another scorcher. With temperatures over 30°C expected and offices designed to keep heat in, business owners and managers are naturally worried about keeping their employees comfortable and productive.

For businesses committed to reducing carbon emissions, those worries are even more difficult to manage. One of the best ways to cool an office building is the use of air conditioning, which can be notoriously energy inefficient and use highly damaging refrigerant gases (if not managed correctly). Therefore, this may not a great choice for your sustainable business.

The good news? There are ways to keep your office cool this summer that prioritise your sustainability goals and your business’ bottom line. Take a look below for our best tips for using space management to beat the heat this season.

Space Management and Cooling the Modern Office

Space management, defined as maximising office space by optimising efficiency and productivity, is an excellent way to reduce carbon emissions. It’s also extremely cost-efficient, and one of the easiest ways to keep your office cool in rising temperatures. What does space management mean in the context of cooling the modern office, and what can you do to keep your employees from sweating through the summer? We share our best tips below.

Prioritise Ventilation

Air flow is key when it comes to keeping an office cool in the summer. Air flow comes from many sources – windows, HVAC systems, and placement of office workers are all part of the air flow equation. Prioritise ventilation and keep
your office cool by:

  • Assessing sunlight levels: this goes beyond simply looking outside. Consider the way that sunlight hits your office building each day. If your office is shaded, the air inside will be cooler than the air outside, so opening a window may make things even warmer, which brings us to our next point…
  • Considering the windows: if your office has windows that open, keep them open, but be sure to keep the corresponding blinds closed. This allows air to circulate within the office but prevents the sun from heating the room further.
  • Keeping workers moving: when employees are kept in once place and sitting quite closely together, body heat can make an office positively stifling. Be sure to encourage workers to move around regularly to stimulate air flow, and keep them well spaced apart at desks.
  • Eliminating additional heat sources: plugs and wiring are often the culprits of high room temperatures. On hot days, be sure to switch off any unused technology, including printers, scanners, or spare monitors. If employees do need to print regularly, schedule a ‘printing hour’ over the summer months to ensure that everyone stays cool.

Heating and Cooling Systems

While air conditioning might not always be the most environmentally friendly option, it’s an important part of the modern office environment. To ensure that your air conditioning remains environmentally friendly, it’s critical to schedule regular service and maintenance checks for the equipment. Other environmentally friendly options include installing a more energy efficient cooling system, such as an air- or ground-source heat pump (ensuring your building is as energy efficient as possible!).

The Fan Dichotomy

Fans are an excellent way to keep cool, but for many environmentalists, they’re contentious. While the increase in air flow does keep a room cool, a fan motor produces heat through the electricity required to keep the blades spinning. This creates a situation where you warm the room to cool it. This doesn’t mean that fans cannot be used – it’s simply important to consider the impacts and to use a fan in optimal conditions. Our best tips?

  • Only use the fan during working hours: a fan moves air around a room, it doesn’t cool the room itself, so there is no benefit to leaving a fan on overnight or when colleagues aren’t in the office. Limit fan use to working hours to reduce the environmental impact.
  • Consider fan placement: fans move air around, so if it’s cooler outside than it is inside, placing the fan near an open window can have a huge impact on room temperature. It’s also important to know that putting a bowl of ice in front of a fan will create a makeshift air conditioner, cooling the room for a fraction of the carbon emissions.

Curious about ways to reduce carbon emissions year-round? Our team of Environmental Consultants can help. For more information, get in touch today.


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