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Alex Lo
As I see it
Alex Lo

Do BN(O) migrants dream of air conditioning?

Those who left Hong Kong for Britain may be missing the ubiquitous cooling in homes as the UK swelters this summer

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People sleep next to air-conditioning units in a shopping mall in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, on June 3. Photo: Sam Tsang
Alex Lo
Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.

When I was still working from the South China Morning Post’s office in Hong Kong, I fought with my expat colleagues throughout the summer over control of the thermostat.

There were basically two tribes. I generalise here a bit, but essentially the locals wanted it freezing, which admittedly was bad for the environment and rather excessive. The expats, however, wanted it just a few degrees lower than outside, which seemed to defeat the purpose of air conditioning.

When my late boss Simon, who was British, told me he didn’t have air con at home, I was flabbergasted. How could anyone survive without one in Hong Kong, I asked. He gave me a smug look.

Since some of my former colleagues have returned to Europe, especially the United Kingdom, I wonder how they feel about air conditioning now. Western Europe, including the UK, is enveloped in heatwaves this summer. Such extreme, even deadly, climate events are becoming increasingly frequent.
I also wonder how Hong Kong people who have migrated to the UK with their British National (Overseas) passports feel about their current abode. Britain is notoriously against air conditioning, especially in the home.

My American colleagues have no such problem. It turns out that nearly nine in 10 households in the United States have some type of air conditioning, which is slightly lower than Japan and South Korea, according to data from the International Energy Agency and other surveys. In Hong Kong, more than 90 per cent of households rely on some type of cooling.

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