HONG KONG — Without fail, every year since moving to Hong Kong, I get a really bad cold. Sometimes two. This year, it was full-blown bronchitis. “Oh, it’s quite common this time of year,” my doctor told me. “Everyone gets sick.”

He was referring to the time of year that Hong Kong cranks up its air-conditioning. While temperatures outside are sweltering, offices, shops, malls and public transport systems become zones of fearsome cold. My bronchitis was induced by three days spent in Arctic conditions on the premises of the University of Hong Kong while outside, the thermometer topped 30 degrees Centigrade (86 Fahrenheit). It was made worse by a decision go to the movies, where not even a sweater, scarf and socks could keep away the chills.

In Hong Kong, as in much of the rest of the world right now, a debate is raging about how best to generate the additional electricity that is needed to power economic growth and development.

Do we use more oil and coal, which pollute and are ultimately finite? Or nuclear energy, which comes with safety concerns, and is being phased out entirely in Germany? Or renewable energies like solar power, which many nations are promoting, but which make up only a small portion of the energy mix in most countries, and often have physical limitations?