When the late Singaporean premier Lee Kuan Yew was asked for the secret of his nation’s rapid rise from doldrums to dynamism during the second half of the 20th century, he had two answers. First: multi-ethnic tolerance in a diverse society. Second: air conditioning.
Lee, who prioritised the installation of air conditioners in government offices when he came to power in 1959, hailed the technology as “one of the signal inventions of history”, and key to increasing the efficiency of Singapore’s civil service.
While the precise contribution of air conditioning to the Singaporean miracle is hard to quantify, there is no question that the ability to keep cool in hot climates is enormously valuable.
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