With Singapore’s recent weather, when you’re out and about, it’s always a relief to step into a mall with the AC blasting and get some much-needed reprieve from the stifling humidity.
But according to some netizens, aircon in many public spaces isn’t quite as chilly as it used to be anymore.
In a Reddit post, a netizen asked: “Is it just the weather being too hot these days, or do you actually feel that the aircon in shopping malls, cinemas, libraries, Macdonalds, KFC, etc. feel less cold these days?”
They guessed that it could be due to building owners adjusting temperatures to cope with rising electricity costs, adding that during a recent cinema visit, they didn’t even need to put on a jacket.
The OP also lamented: “Just over the weekend, I was at our public library. When I walked into the library, it felt a wee bit cooler than outside. I thought it could be that the main entrance kept opening and closing so the temperature on the ground level could be higher than the rest of the library. I quickly escaped to the 2nd floor. The temperature felt the same.”
Many Singaporeans chimed in, agreeing.
Some even said they haven’t felt properly chilled in air-conditioned public spaces in years, with one sharing that they’ve now packed away their jackets along with their winter travel coats.
Others shared more specific gripes, with some saying Changi Airport used to be “nice and cold” but now feels “quite hot”, while another claimed Eastpoint Mall doesn’t even seem to have the aircon on anymore. One even said it’s now normal to sweat through meals outside.
“Have you tried dining at NEX? You can even sweat while dining at level 1 or B1 restaurants because sometimes it feels like there’s zero aircon going on,” one netizen complained.
Many also agreed that cinemas used to be freezing, with one netizen saying they even caught a cold on several occasions — but that the halls are no longer nearly as cold as they used to be.
While some offered plausible explanations, such as higher outdoor temperatures affecting indoor cooling and efforts to conserve electricity and manage costs, there’s actually a more straightforward reason why malls don’t feel as cold as they used to.
As one netizen who worked in commercial air-conditioning for a decade stated: “BCA Greenmark.”
“Last time the central chillers were always running at max power. These days they are tuned to about 2 degrees higher so as to achieve the Greenmark energy efficiency. Newer buildings now need to qualify for super low energy so your indoor air handling units and fan coil units are going to be tuned as well,” they explained.
Echoing the same sentiment, another netizen explained that many newer buildings are built to meet Green Mark standards, which can influence how air-conditioning systems are optimised for energy efficiency.
To put it simply, Green Mark-certified buildings are designed to keep indoor temperatures in a comfortable range, usually around 22.5 to 25.5 degrees, with humidity kept below about 70 percent.
It’s more so about designing buildings to be more energy-efficient while maintaining acceptable indoor comfort levels. As a result, some spaces may feel less cold than before, as systems are tuned to balance thermal comfort with reduced energy use.
So, with the environment in mind, maybe it’s worth appreciating the small luxury of indoor, air-conditioned spaces that shelter us from the sun. Even if they feel a bit warmer at times, it still beats being out in the heat, right?
Photos: Golden Village, Mak_ jp/ Pexels