But Carrier certainly changed things. When the thermometer climbs we all flick switches which should bear the American's name: Carrier invented the Apparatus for Treating Air, better known today as air-conditioning.

Back in 1902 when a young Carrier shouted ``Eureka!'' there wasn't enough electricity in Hong Kong to cool a modern-day fridge-full of beer.

But hey, we're making up for lost time now. Cooling down Hong Kong accounts for around one third of total annual electricity consumption in the city. And it's rising.

All the more reason why, from a purely cost-conscious viewpoint, you would think that businesses would want to switch off Carrier's apparatus when the outside temperature drops.

Here we are enjoying the coolest time of the year, with everybody pulling on their fashionable overcoats, anoraks, knee-length boots and woolly ski hats - and that's just to sit indoors.

So why is it that Hong Kongers insist on burning electricity to keep shopping malls, restaurants, offices and cinemas chilled and dank during winter? Why are buses like huge fridges on wheels?

I've got a feeling it's because we have become addicted to air-conditioning. A friend who sits in an office all day in an anorak and scarf told me that if we didn't have the air-con on, we'd all be breathing one another's breath. Really?

But here's a better reason, put forward by an indoor air quality consultant.

``Hong Kong stinks,'' says George Woo, chairman of a Clear the Air campaign committee investigating rising indoor air pollution.

``People in Hong Kong have come to associate the quality of indoor air with low temperatures,'' he told me.

``It's a mistake. A lot of public places lower the temperature to hide smells from moulds in carpets and upholstery, caused by humidity and lack of fresh air ventilation. Restaurants in particular do this.

``When the temperature is lower our nose sensitivity goes down so we don't smell things. Also, molecular action goes down.

``The idea that air-conditioned air is cleaner and fresher is not true. It's just colder.''

So let's all fling open the windows, cast off our coats and warm our noses by rubbing them together like Eskimos.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Well rubbing noses together is easy enough, but most windows don't open and even if they did many people don't want them open, Woo says, because they've become convinced that the air outside is polluted.

Now there's the rub, so to speak. Hong Kong's outdoor air quality is indeed getting bad, as numerous reports attest. But where do we think our indoor air comes from?

It certainly isn't piped in from a pristine Norwegian fjord.

Woo acknowledges that outdoor pollution is a problem, but he says indoor air in Hong Kong is deteriorating too. Why? Because of the lack of fresh air ventilation. By a remarkable coincidence, fresh air is an essential ingredient of clean, healthy air, say the experts.

Air-conditioning is a bit of a con. Apart from masking must, it recycles a lot of old bacteria and such like. ``Building renovation regulations in some countries require inclusion of fresh air ventilation,'' Woo says, ``but in Hong Kong no one cares. There is no control. Indoor air quality is getting worse in Hong Kong.''

The Clear the Air campaign says poor indoor air quality can cause headaches, breathing problems and allergies.

But the damage may already have been done, at least to our noses. Hong Kong is firmly fixated on keeping them dog-like cold-damp.

An indication that Hong Kongers have become addicted to cold air-conditioning is found in Hong Kong's average indoor temperature: 20-21 degrees Celsius, compared with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok where the average is 24-25 degrees Celsius, according to Woo's research.

Turning up the thermostat three degrees from 22.5 to 25.5 degrees Celsius can save 10 percent on Hong Kong's energy consumption, the government's electrical and mechanical services department (EMSD) says.

A saving of just 5 percent would cut Hong Kong's annual energy bill by HK$400 million.

So it's clear that keeping our noses cold is a very expensive business. Even though a large percentage of the population live out their days and half their nights basking in someone else's air-con, the average household still manages to spend between HK$600 and HK$700 on every air-conditioner unit during the summer months.

Not only do we burn up one-third of our city's annual electricity usage keeping our noses chilled, energy consumption in that dubious cause is rising steadily. It increased by 55 percent between 1990 and 2000, the EMSD says.

Hong Kong's sophisticated air-conditioning system at Chek Lap Kok airport, for instance, is one of the biggest in the world - equivalent to 15,000 domestic air-conditioning units. The EMSD reckons that Hong Kongers spend on average 70 percent of their lives indoors.

``Poor indoor air quality can cause discomfort and ill health, leading in turn to absenteeism and low productivity in the workplace,'' an EMSD report says. A task force has been set up to look into the problem, so we can discount any hope from that quarter for a while.

Meantime, Professor KP Cheung of Hong Kong University's department of architecture opines that naturally ventilated buildings ``offer a greater variation of indoor climatic conditions than air-conditioned buildings and people are likely to be healthier in naturally ventilated buildings.''

He points out that not only are old technology ceiling fans cheaper, and more efficient in humid conditions, they save on the air-polluting coal that's burned to generate the electricity to work the air-conditioners.