Someone should tell that to US government. The first internship that i had in a (state) government office would do early dismissal when the inside temp was over 90 degrees for 2 hours. It was a miserable experience.

I'm 100% certain that this is not the norm. However, there is good precedent for being more conservative with the AC than most Americans are. In at least one major European country, that is actually the law: new office buildings cannot have traditional AC.

I'm guessing this is not France, Spain, Greece, etc...

You can get away with no A/C a lot easier if you're almost in the Arctic circle. In reality I bet this rule has a fairly minimal impact on energy consumption because the buildings didn't need much air conditioning to start with.

My guess is that new office buildings have alternatives built into the design.

It’s possible to build buildings that are reasonably comfortable in high heat. It just costs more than a generic box with AC.

What justification is offered for reducing people’s quality of life like this?

Air conditioning uses large amounts of energy. This use has costs. Using it less reduces these costs.

Airbags have cost too. And big, fancy jets.

Virtue.

Or possibly to fight the climate change that will cause millions or billions to need to move in the next century.

Climate change.

Probably because most European buildings don't heat up that much. In the US there seems to be a likeness for no-insulation and paperthin walls.

I'm not sure if the country mentioned above is Germany, but well in Germany I've been in many (small and large) corporate offices without AC. It just gets hot in summer.

I honestly find working to be harder in that environment. German summers are traditionally not that long, but still it's two months of lower productivity.

There is one benefit though, shorts and sandals is accepted as office clothing.

and people commonly take weeks or even a month off in summer.

That's naive. Modern building code in the US is pretty/very heavy on energy efficiency. And of course European buildings heat up.

All new buildings in EU now have to be A+ energy efficient meaning it’s nearly self sufficient - heats up from human heat and air-to-air heat pump.

So, basically the same legislation as what California had implemented a few years before the EU.

You do realize that wooden houses are much better insulated than brick houses? With brick you have to add an insulating layer (Styrofoam or other materials), with wood the walls themselves are the insulating material.

I live in a country that uses traditional brick and mortar construction and I can tell you that American homes are far easier to condition climatically.

FWIW this was quoted in the article itself.

Also the cover photo I think is taken in Singapore on the service road behind Boat Quay about here https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@1.2868298,103.8492369,3a,75y,...

(though I couldn't get it exactly right on streetview)

This topic is also the theme of a rather good collection of essays on Singapore's politics by Cherian George - there's some available online here https://www.airconditionednation.com/

Well, Most of the govt offices in India do not have A/C even today. The have fans all over. I guess, the A/C became essential partly because of how we construct buildings - which trap all the heat.

This is a good, related, read "How air conditioning changed the world":

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-39735802