2015-08-11  Not a hot topic in HK: air conditioning

On these days of steamy hot weather in HK, it's lovely when walking along a footpath to pass a "doorless" shop from which refreshing cool air is coming out the entrance. Like many HK people, I often stop outside such a shop for a few seconds to be refreshed.

But our earth is paying a price for such waste of electricity. Such waste contributes to climate change which is already affecting so many parts of the world.

No wonder in 2005 then Premier Wen Jiabao requested that government offices keep their air conditioners at 26 degrees Celsius or higher. No wonder Pope Francis in his recent climate change letter has called for a re-think about the use of air conditoners.

If HK wants to take climate change seriously, one obvious step is to require shops to have doors if their premises are air-conditioned. In the short term this is not good news for pedestrians. But in the long term it's good news for Mother Earth and all of us.