With reports that some shops are being heated to as high a temperature as 25ºC, some people are concerned about the effect this is having on the planet.

The weather has been particularly icy and cold recently so, before anyone goes out, they wrap up in scarf and gloves and hat and coat to keep warm. But, with the weather so chilly, why do so many shops keep their doors wide open? And then, because of the cold winter air, the stores turn up the heating to temperatures we’re used to feeling in the middle of summer.

Many retailers say they don’t want to keep their doors shut in case it puts off shoppers coming into their store. Would you be put off going into a shop because the doors are shut?

Three people who feel strongly about shops keeping their doors open and their heating turned up have formed a campaign group called Close the Door. They want retailers to stop wasting energy by turning down the heating and closing their doors. The campaigners say that research by Cambridge University has found that closing a shop door in winter saves up to 50% in energy use and cuts carbon emissions in half too.

As most shops use traditional heating sources, fossil fuels are being burnt to make the energy to heat the stores. Research says that by closing doors in winter a shop can cut its annual carbon emissions by up to ten tonnes of CO2. That’s the same as three return flights from London to Hong Kong! If two thirds of the country’s shops closed their doors, the saving in CO2 would be the equivalent of taking more than 1.1 million cars off the road.

Staff working in the store don’t wear coats and scarfs so they need to be kept warm but the suggested temperature for a shop is around 20ºC, five degrees lower than the temperature in some shops.

Do you think shops are too hot? Do you close the doors if you walk into a shop with open doors? Does it make you cross that you’re saving energy at home and school but shops are wasting it? Write to us at newsdesk@firstnews.co.uk.