ITALY: The Italian government is limiting the operation of air conditioners to 25ºC in all public buildings as a result of the energy crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine.
The rule, dubbed Operation Thermostat, comes into force on May 1 until March 31 next year in all schools and other public buildings. It does not apply to hospitals but could be extended to private homes in the future.
The regulation will be based on the weighted average of the air temperatures, measured in the individual rooms of each building for winter and summer.
It states that the temperature must not be lower than 27ºC in summer, but allows a -2ºC tolerance, or higher than 19ºC in winter, with a +2ºC tolerance.
The move comes as Italy battles to find new sources of energy to replace the 45% of its natural gas which was formerly imported from Russia.
