Green Asia Ecocultures, Sustainable Lifestyles, and Ethical Consumption

Sustaining comfort practices 21
I would suggest that such a situation represents a significant omission in the
quest for more sustainable buildings and their usage. The absence of debate
and critique on TripAdvisor, in contrast to concern given to the ways in which
towels, showers, bedding, and plants are managed by service providers, begins
to reveal the general lack of awareness of the issues surrounding indoor thermal
comfort and the environmental consequences of creating and maintaining
artificially chilled space. Indeed, while a number of incidents leading to a
wider public debate concerning air-con usage in Asia in the last decade or
so have occurred—most notably the “Cool biz” and “Super Cool biz” (post-
2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami) initiatives in Japan—the issue rarely
receives attention within discussions about sustainability or climate change
and development, particularly in Asia. As an increasingly invisible, normalized
backdrop to urban life, the idea of air-con as a “necessity” invariably goes
unchallenged with chilled, dried air seen as infinitely expendable resource, one
that can be easily replenished with a flick of the switch. It is to such issues and
challenges that this chapter turns its attention.
To put the question of indoor comfort in context, for the majority of countries,
buildings account for around 50 per cent of their carbon footprint. Looking
forward, the consequences for developing a more environmentally responsive and
responsible built environment in Asia becomes apparent given the distinct shifts in
global energy usage, as predicted by the International Energy Agency (IEA), with
China, India, and the Middle East accounting for 60 per cent of an energy demand
that is expected to grow from current levels by more than a third by 2035 (IEA
2012). For those countries lying in Asia’s tropical and subtropical parts, it has been
estimated that between 40 and 70 per cent of the energy used by buildings stems
from cooling via electronic air conditioning (see Winter 2013). A host of factors
are driving this increase in cooling-related energy consumption. Fast-paced high-
rise urban development, rural-urban migration, population growth, together with
a rapid ascendency of a middle class are among the trend determining factors
shaping increased air-conditioning usage. The city-state of Singapore, popularly
referred to as “the air-conditioned nation”, is particularly revealing in this regard
(Figure 2.1). Recent household surveys indicate that more than half of the energy
costs (55 per cent) for Singaporean families is associated with keeping them
and their food items cool, with 37 per cent and 18 per cent accounted for by air
conditioning and refrigeration, respectively. As a consequence, for the average
Singaporean household today, air conditioning and refrigerators consume more
energy than all other electrical appliances and lighting combined (National
Environment Agency 2012). Similarly, in neighboring Malaysia, a recent study
by the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development (CETDEM) found
that 66 per cent of average household electricity consumption is associated
with cooling (CETDEM 2014). Given Singapore and Malaysia’s principal
cities are home to a high proportion of high-rise, middle-class urban residential
accommodation, together they represent an important signpost for future usage in
the wider region.