No A/C? Don’t discount the cooling effects of an industrial-strength fan for your warehouse.
Recent research on the benefits of targeted airflow in industrial facilities may help companies alleviate what one industry firm refers to as “the heat tax”— an unbudgeted operational drain that affects worker judgment, lowers output, increases turnover, and erodes bottom-line profitability when facilities run hot.
Such conditions can affect workers in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and other large facilities where full-building air conditioning is impractical, according to the study.
The research comes from the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment and the University of Sydney and was sponsored in part by industrial fan manufacturer Big Ass Fans, which has identified the heat tax as a major burden on workers and facility operations.
The study shows how targeted industrial air movement directly mitigates heat burdens in unconditioned facilities—and essentially puts some real-world data behind the use of high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fans and directional fans in industrial and commercial settings.
Researchers monitored 30 factory workers across regular shifts at two manufacturing facilities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, alternating periods with industrial fans running versus fans turned off. Workers rated conditions with the fans running as if the room were about 10 degrees cooler. What’s more, 79% of workers said they worked more effectively with the fans on, according to the research.
With the fans off, 98% of workers said they wanted more air.
“By monitoring workers under real Louisiana conditions, we found that air movement significantly reduced discomfort and perceived effort,” Charlie Huizenga, a founding researcher at the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley, said in a statement announcing the research results.
Separately, Big Ass Fans cited internal market analysis that shows fewer than 20% of U.S. industrial facilities maintain conditioned air, “leaving millions of square feet exposed to extreme summer temperatures, during which labor capacity can fall by 30% to 50% during peak heat spikes.” The company also pointed to separate workplace research that shows overall productivity drops 1% to 2% for every degree indoor temperatures climb above 75°F.
“While full-building HVAC is cost-prohibitive for large open plants, high-volume air speed solutions operate on 20 to 30 times less energy than conventional air conditioning—eliminating massive energy waste while closing the productivity gap,” the company said in the statement.
And that makes a difference for workers and the bottom line.
“When work feels harder and employees feel less effective, the entire operation carries that burden,” Leah Larson, CEO of Big Ass Fans, said in the statement. “This study proves how direct industrial air movement protects worker well-being and productivity on the floor.”
