KBzine: the original kitchen and bathroom industry e-news - since 2002
28th January 2021
We strongly recommend viewing KBzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Some like it hot... (but women like it hotter)
If men and women lived separately, men would pay a whopping £425 less* than women on heating their homes, new national research has revealed. The research also exposed the fact that there is a battle of the sexes going on in UK homes: Thermostat wars - where women like it hot, but most men want to cool it down.
The new poll of 2,000 co-habiting UK adults found that more than half of women like their homes to be around 24°C or hotter, whereas only 35% of men want their thermostat higher than 22°C.
A massive 88% of men also claimed that they constantly turn the thermostat down in the house having found that their partner had turned it up.
Staggeringly, the research conducted by the team behind energy saving Duette blinds, found that if UK households kept their homes at the male preferred temperatures, they would be £425 a year better off than following the women's lead.
Using The Energy Saving Trust calculations, the average household heated to 24°C (women's most popular setting) would cost £655 to heat, while one at 19°C (men's preferred temperature) would only cost a very thrifty £230*.
More men than women said they knew what temperature the thermostat was actually currently set at; 69% of men said they knew versus just 32% of women.
But it's not only a battle of the sexes that these new insights have highlighted. It also dispelled the myth surrounding soft southerners and hardy northerners when it comes to heat. Overall, people in the north like their homes warmer than households living in the south. The average preferred room temperature of those living in the south was 23°C, while the mean among respondents from the north was 25°C.
"The results offer an interesting insight into the battle of the sexes going on in UK homes, as well other differences such as who feels the cold more and who tends to be more energy aware," says Kirsty Hunt, spokesperson for the company behind www.duette.co.uk
"We compared our findings to a previous study by the Energy Saving Trust that put the average thermostat setting at 23°C (73°F)**, while Government health advice puts the ideal living room temperature at 21°C and the rest of the house at 18°C as the optimum for health and wellbeing.
"Our poll found that one in 18 women would like their home as hot as 30°C (86F)!
"It's worth highlighting the cost and energy savings that can be made by simple steps such as turning down the thermostat and insulating homes with energy saving products like Duette blinds instead of normal blinds."
Around £85 can be saved on the average annual energy bill for each degree that the thermostat is turned down***, while installing energy saving Duette blinds can save another estimated 25% on heating bills (by reducing heat loss through windows by up to 46%). A handy tool for calculating savings can be found at www.duette.co.uk
"But we think the future's bright. A big trend from the recent Computer Electronics Show was the number of connected, digital devices we will be using in our homes, as well as wearables. Turning to technology to control our smart homes via smart devices, and investing in energy saving products coming into the mainstream market, we will not only be more aware of temperatures around the home but also in control, so we can keep those costs down."
More energy saving blinds and other energy saving tips can be found at www.duette.co.uk where the survey was carried out.
*cost per annum
Costs are an illustration calculated on the price of the average annual heating bill in Jan 2014 and how much each degree reduction can now save. The heating is a proportion of the overall annual gas bill for an average household and varies depending on thermostat settings:
19°C £230
21°C £400
23°C £570
24°C £655
25°C £740
27°C £910
** source: Energy Saving Trust
*** source: Energy Saving Trust, Jan 2015 - £85 per degree reduction in annual bills based on a typical 3 bed semi
The survey was carried out in December 2014 using online methodology and multiple choice answers. Respondents were UK adults, aged between 18 and 60, currently co-habiting. For a full breakdown of the survey results:
30th January 2015