From AP, via MSNBC.com:
As the Chinese summer heats up, civil servants in the capital have been told to dress down to save on energy, state media said Friday.
With many cities in China facing severe power shortages, the Beijing city government has given its staff the go ahead to dress casually for internal meetings so that air conditioner usage can be kept to a minimum, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Government offices were advised to keep air conditioners at 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher from July 1 to Aug. 31.