At Paya Lebar Green, cool air slips quietly from white ceiling panels, keeping offices at 24C without the familiar hum of air-conditioning units. The eight-story building in eastern Singapore is testing a way to stay comfortable while using less energy to cool its rooms.
Singapore is often called an “air-conditioned nation.” It has Southeast Asia’s highest rate of air-conditioner ownership per person, and about 99% of private homes have cooling units. That comfort comes with a climate cost: buildings account for one-fifth of Singapore’s emissions, and cooling uses 40% to 60% of a building’s energy, according to studies. Air conditioners also release heat outdoors, while the electricity they need can add to climate change when it comes from fossil fuels.
At Paya Lebar Green, the alternative is called active chilled beams. These are panels fitted with cooling coils and mounted on the ceiling. A chiller on the building’s top floor cools water to 9C, then sends it through the coils. Small air jets draw warmer room air across the coils, cooling it before it circulates back into the office.
The result is a steady 24C and a quieter workplace. Renuga Shekar, a 30-year-old human resources professional, said she and her colleagues initially took the exposed pipes and panels for a “warehouse kind of look.” They only learned months later, after hearing technicians discuss the system during maintenance, that it was cooling their office. She said the temperature felt ideal for everyone and the change had been seamless. According to the building’s designers, DP Architects, the system uses more than 30% less energy than conventional air-conditioning.
A different approach is being used at the Singapore ports authority’s maintenance building at Tuas harbor in the west. Its passive displacement system uses ceiling coils to cool air. The cooler air sinks, then rises again as it warms, creating a natural cycle that reduces the need for mechanical fans—and cuts both energy use and noise.
Other options include radiant cooling. In that system, water chilled to between 14C and 18C flows through pipes or panels and absorbs heat from people and objects. Singapore’s government is backing the search for alternatives: a 2024 study found that alternative cooling technologies could save the city up to 48% in energy. Building authorities said that by mid-2026, at least 33 public buildings and 14 private buildings had adopted them.
The shift is still at an early stage, and people accustomed to standard air-conditioning may be wary of unfamiliar systems. Alternative equipment can also cost more to install, though supporters say lower running costs can make up for the difference over time. A simpler option is hybrid cooling: set air-conditioning higher, between 25.5C and 27C, and add fans. As Singapore works toward its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, these approaches offer more ways to keep buildings cool without relying so heavily on energy-hungry systems.