Downtown Hong Kong
Posted on 07/06/2005 6:28:42 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
'Arctic conditions' inside malls and buses blasted
Winnie Chong
June 27, 2005
Hong Kong's ''big chill'' is getting people hot under the collar.
The problem of ice-cold shopping malls and public transport makes life unbearable for both tourists and residents alike, a green group said Sunday.
According to Friends of the Earth, even leading travel guides refer to Hong Kong's ''Arctic conditions'' at shopping venues, restaurants and on public transport.
The group says it has received 266 complaints from residents and travelers this month, complaining of the cold. One said the temperature inside a Kowloon Bay restaurant toilet was 16 degrees Celsius.
Another said the indoor temperature at the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Tsim Sha Tsui office was 19C while many hotels and shopping malls set air-conditioner thermostats at 20C to 22C.
In the latest edition of Insight Pocket Guide, it forewarns travelers to Hong Kong to ``bring a light sweater or jacket; many restaurants, offices, shopping malls and the MTR are notoriously over-air-conditioned.''
The Lonely Planet 1998 edition on Hong Kong says the ``temperatures are set so low inside public buses you may find your extremities turning blue.''
Friends of the Earth (HK) environmental affairs manager Hahn Chu Hon-keung said ``the excessive use of air-conditioners has branded Hong Kong as a place that wastes energy and does not care about the environment.''
According to Friends of the Earth, 24 percent out of the 266 complaints received were about temperatures inside public transport.
Of these, 60 percent complained about buses.
Chu said passengers complained buses were so cold that they needed to wear jackets and sweaters.
A spokeswoman for New World First Bus and Citibus said the temperature inside their buses is set at 21C and controlled by thermostat,
and that bus temperatures are reviewed regularly.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University building services engineering department professor Daniel Chan said: ``Though buses use thermostats to maintain a certain level of temperature, it is not practical as some zones inside buses are cold while some are hot.''
Chan urged bus operators to train drivers to adjust the temperature according to the number of passengers.
Chu urged companies and public areas to set the air-conditioners to 25.5C, which the government also urges.
He said adjusting air-conditioners one degree Celsius higher can save 3 percent on electric bills.
If public places and transportation can set their indoor temperature at 25.5C, HK$1 billion could be saved, Chu added.
A Polytechnic University study found that Hong Kong's public areas are the coldest in the world.
winnie.chong@singtaonewcorp.com
Ping!
I live in Texas where it's mighty hot several months of the year. However, there are places around here that are so cold due to air conditioning that one can turn blue! Instead of complaining about it, I simply leave and don't go back. This is such a waste of resources.
Sounds like my office. Where I work, a lot of the women are huddled in fleece jackets and sweatpants during the day, and it's July! I worked on Saturday and one poor gal was wearing a parka. Others wear gloves because our fingers get so stiff. What is wrong with building management that they make employees struggle with conditions like this?
In a public restroom, the colder the better.
Its an insidious plot by the building handymen to observe and record headlights. I just know they are manning the remote monitor when the women walk into the building.
There oughta be a law!
You have a point.
I've been in Hong Kong shopping malls and on Hong Kong busses. They were perfectly comfortable.
For a thin woman, air-conditioning is a killer.
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