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Thermostat setting
Business Standard
|July 25, 2025
"For the first time, India will mandate setting air conditioner temperatures no lower than 20 degrees Celsius and no higher than 28 degrees Celsius across all sectors — including cars — amid rising temperatures due to climate change and increasing use of cooling systems," Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar said (Business Standard, June 10, 2025).
India has had a rather patchy relationship with air conditioning. It has often been seen as a wasteful use of energy. The HVAC (heating ventilation air conditioning) industry did not try to correct this image from 'energy wastage' to 'better work environment/better productivity'. Public sector banks fell behind when it came to air conditioning their branches/offices, losing an edge to private sector banks. Government offices, to date, see air conditioning as something reserved for the babus.
We often see air conditioning as a luxury that middle-class families and small businesses cannot afford. I had a rude awakening just a few weeks ago.
This story is from the July 25, 2025 edition of Business Standard.
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