Ethos Public Relations Manchester

The heat is on – it really shouldn’t be!

by Debbie

I have just returned from a holiday in New York City and have come back on a quest to find out how much public buildings spend on central heating!

My arrival at JFK Airport was the first experience of the ‘hot house’ atmosphere everywhere in the city. As my family and I waited for over an hour to get through immigration, everyone in the queue (or should I say line) was sweltering.

Outside it was probably about minus two…but inside it was probably about 80 degrees.

At our hotel we practically stripped off as we waited to check in and when we arrived at our room on the 36th floor – one of the first things we did was try to open a window to let some air in.

I had prepared for the trip with thick coats, lots of woollies and an investment in layers of thermal underwear. I needn’t have bothered as the city was enjoying an unseasonably warm February – most days it was sunny and mild – like a spring day.

But clearly guardians of the thermostat controls in shops, restaurants, museums and even inside the Staten Island Ferry – had not noticed. We huffed, puffed, sweated and sweltered in Macy’s, at Ellis Island, at the Museum of Natural History, in a bowling alley, the Empire State Building – and even in yellow cabs!

One evening as we chatted to a couple of German tourists over an extortionately priced beer, they told us that as frequent visitors to the city they preferred the sweaty winter season to the ice cold summer season. During the summer months – public buildings are air conditioned to within an inch of their life. You needed your thermals on every time you went indoors.

On a serious note, the city that never sleeps should wake up to the fact that its carbon footprint needs some serious attention.

Posted at 2:43pm on 21^st February 2012