If I’m in a warm country, I don’t need Arctic-level air con, thanks

It’s 33 degrees outside and humid as a Finnish sauna, so why am I shivering in my hotel room?

I check the thermostat on the air-conditioning and it reads 19 degrees. Compared with the heat outside, it’s like a refrigerator.

I fiddle with it for a while and manage to click it up a few degrees. When I come back in the afternoon, the housekeepers have set it back to 19.

Every time I’m in Singapore, I go through the same ritual. It’s one of the most consistently hot and humid countries in the world and yet, the interiors of hotels, shopping malls and restaurants are like freezer units.

I know to pack shawls, cardigans and jackets whenever I visit. I don’t want to get frostbite when I’m eating my dinner. Even Singaporeans wear jackets indoors because it’s so cold. They’re smart dressers and it’s a hub of international business, so possibly a cooler interior climate is more conducive to outfits like suits.

But does it have to be freezing?

The founding father of the country, Lee Kuan Yew, introduced widespread air-conditioning as a way of improving Singapore’s productivity. And it certainly did. As a result, air-conditioning now accounts for about 60 per cent of all energy used in commercial buildings and about 24 per cent of the average household’s energy consumption.

That’s about the highest consumption in Asia for cooling.

Many air-conditioners use hydrofluorocarbons, which are potent greenhouse gases, as refrigerants, in addition to consuming vast amounts of electricity generated from fossil fuels.

It’s a problem. The country lags in the uptake of renewables and is heavily reliant on fuel imports from the Middle East. Singapore looks green, but over 90 per cent of its energy is derived from fossil fuels.

If Singapore hotels warmed their rooms by just another two or three degrees, they’d save a heap of energy. Each degree of extra cooling in summer increases energy use between 5 per cent and 10 per cent according to the Australian government.

When I say I want to chill in my hotel room, I do not mean it literally.

The recent Middle East fuel crisis has forced the Singapore government to finally act. They’ve mandated that government offices set the air-conditioning to 25 degrees to reduce energy consumption.

Hotels don’t appear to be doing it. I stayed in two hotels on a recent visit to Singapore, and in both cases the air-con defaulted to 19.

I suspect the housekeeping staff like to keep it that way while they work.

I usually give up and just turn it off, but Asian hotels have a love affair with thick doonas or duvets (and no sheets) so it can get too warm at night.

No wonder I returned home with yet another head cold from my body having to adjust constantly from hot to cold to hot again.

On the other side of the world, lack of air-conditioning has become a political issue, as European countries swelter in 40-degree heat.

Compared with the US, Europe has a relatively low rate of usage of air-conditioning. The use of it in homes in the UK, for instance, is thought to be only 4 per cent.

Right-wing politicians, including those from National Rally in France and the UK Conservatives, have become champions of air conditioning, while opposing efforts to tackle climate change.

They argue that European countries are hostile to air-conditioning and that government over-regulation is to blame.

But maybe it’s due to the historically cold climate?

Up until 2020 it was rare for many European cities to ever see 30 degrees, so air-conditioning was never considered a necessity. And most of the housing was built in the centuries before modern air-conditioning was developed in the US in 1902. Houses were built to keep heat in, not out.

The change in summer temperatures has been rapid. Europe is the most rapidly warming continent on Earth. It’s currently about 2.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels.

So, the expense of playing catch-up with cooling systems has become quite the heated discussion.

Australia’s use of air-conditioning has doubled since 1999 but most of us have the more efficient, climate friendly, reverse cycle (heat pump) systems.

We can tolerate a little warmth. Which is why I’m always uncomfortable when hotels set rooms at frosty levels.

Yes, we can adjust the thermostat, but the room has usually been running on “Arctic Blast” for hours before we check in.

It’s unnecessary. Wasteful. And unpleasant.

When I say I want to chill in my hotel room, I do not mean it literally.