‘It’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes’… these may just seem like silly song lyrics. But research shows they aptly describe many people who are cranking up their thermostats to tropical temperatures up to 27°C.
With energy companies announcing price hikes all winter, I assumed that most people would have been far more frugal with their heating temperatures this year.
But apparently, I’m wrong. Energy company E.ON has questioned 2,000 people on how hot their houses are – and the results are rather surprising. Not only have people been cranking the heating up this winter, some are basking in temperatures as high as 27°C.
Those in the 25- to 34-year-old category were four times more likely than their parents’ generation to like it this hot, and a quarter of Scots admitted to keeping their living rooms at 23°C or hotter.
Unnatural temperatures are good for nothing
Putting cost aside for just a second, are these temperatures really comfortable? Not according to the 2% who admitted to lounging around in nothing but their underwear!
We seem to have a national obsession with artificially changing room temperatures to the exact opposite of the great outdoors. Surely sitting in rooms that are stiflingly hot in winter and arctic in summer is neither good for our health or our environment?
And least of all is it good for our wallets. I’m glad some people can still afford to overheat their homes, because I certainly can’t, which is why this winter has been all about a low thermostat, good insulation and a well-stocked fire in my house.
Mind you, as I write this I’m working from home in a chilly house, which is slowly heating up having just turned the thermostat up a few degrees. Even I draw the line at working all day with frozen hands.
The thermo-spat
And it usually falls to me to point out when the house has turned unbearably cold, often to audible tuts from the other half. But we’re not alone – 23% of men admitted to bickering with their partners’ demands to turn the thermostat up, aptly dubbed the ‘thermo-spat’.
So is any of this ringing true with you, or is the research as barmy as it appears? Have you been known to bask in tropical temperatures mid-winter or would you rather put some logs on the fire and an extra jumper on your back?
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