If the great air conditioning debate of July, 2019 has taught us anything, it’s that people take their personal comfort very, very seriously when it comes to ideal temperature. Anyone who has ever worked in an office building knows that much, as the battles between those who run habitually hot and habitually cold can be perpetual and vicious.
So naturally, people are prevailing with cool heads over a new federal report from Energy Star — the program from the the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency — that states the coolest you should keep your residence is 78 degrees when you’re at home. Likewise, while you’re at work or away, Energy Star recommends setting your thermostat to 85 degrees, and a relatively balmy 82 degrees while sleeping.
The findings of the program went viral on Monday when tweeted by Florida’s 10 News reporter Jennifer Titus. “How cool do you keep your house?” Titus tweeted. “New report shows these as the recommended temps for energy efficiency.”
Here’s the full report: https://t.co/KadR9hrWlD
— Jennifer Titus (@jenntitus10) August 19, 2019
Titus also tweeted a link to the story from her station, written by one of her fellow colleagues.
Not surprisingly, people quickly took umbrage with the findings of the report, and as social media users are often wont to do — many came at the messenger. As such, the poor reporter’s mentions were soon filled with unbridled outrage.
Enjoy the ratio.
Who's the moron who came up with this alleged report?
— JWF (@JammieWF) August 19, 2019
I’ve already embraced a dying Earth, so I keep my central air between 67-72 at all times.
— Colin Moriarty (@longislandviper) August 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/RationalJesse/status/1163747779686129664
https://twitter.com/hannahwanebo/status/1163532320428761090
https://twitter.com/xchixm/status/1163524676825550854
https://twitter.com/casspa/status/1163526952529080322
5 billion. jesus this is awful.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1163628137965658115
For her part, Titus attempted to roll with the controversy by tweeting a jokey video of herself setting the thermostat at 94 degrees just before hitting the sack.
So that conversation was fun. Let’s have another one tomorrow. Quite frankly, not sure what all the fuss is about. pic.twitter.com/1g8PkzC6kO
— Jennifer Titus (@jenntitus10) August 20, 2019
On Tuesday morning however, Titus provided an update with a screenshot of an email she received regarding her tweets. “Good morning! Glad you guys enjoyed the report,” she wrote. “Not my report for the record. Y’all have had such a nice civil conversation and have even reached out through my work email.”
Good morning!
Glad you guys enjoyed the report.
Not my report for the record.
Y’all have had such a nice civil conversation and have even reached out through my work email. Thanks! #benice #goodmotto pic.twitter.com/GRiPO3af6w— Jennifer Titus (@jenntitus10) August 20, 2019
Poor Jennifer. Although as one user pointed out, hate mail kind of means that you’ve made it? In any case, congrats!
https://twitter.com/AlienInfluencer/status/1163842064846663682