hktdc.com - Energy-Smart Buildings


Hong Kong is committed to becoming a low-carbon city, says Secretary for Development Carrie Lam

In Hong Kong, it's all about energy. From the people working 80 hours a week, to the office buildings in which they work. The government can't do much to slow the people down, but it is making efforts to rein in energy being consumed by Hong Kong's skyscrapers.

The reason is simple: 89 per cent of Hong Kong's energy consumption goes directly to fuelling the city's office buildings and residential towers, according to the government, which hopes to change that.

The government earlier this month launched a new HK$450 million funding programme designed to encourage private building owners to make their facilities more energy efficient. The money comes from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), headed by Professor David Lung.

"We expect that more than 1,600 projects will be subsidised," Professor Lung said. "This will create business and job opportunities for such sectors as electrical, mechanical, building services and environmental engineering."

Financial Incentives


	Experts discuss the merits of green buildings at an Arup seminar

The plan will provide assistance for building owners to perform energy/carbon audits on their properties, identifying opportunities for enhancing energy efficiency and conservation, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Financial incentives will also be provided to encourage building owners to carry out alteration, addition or improvement work to upgrade the energy efficiency performance of their building services installations.

Subsidies will be offered on a matching basis. For applications involving a single building, the funding caps will be HK$150,000 and HK$500,000 per building for energy/carbon audits and energy efficiency projects respectively. For applications involving more than one building, a limit of 50 per cent of the approved total actual expenditure will be provided, without a maximum cap.

Low-Carbon City

But can Hong Kong become energy-efficient, given that local developers have been slow to embrace the green movement?

"I believe the Government of Hong Kong does have the foresight to work on environmental issues," said Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's Secretary for Development. "We can change Hong Kong into a low-carbon city."

Ms Lam said the nine departments under her purview, "acting as one government," are pushing for the development of more green buildings. "The Chief Executive [Donald Tsang] has gone on record as saying that he wants to improve the environment. But we do need additional legislation to develop incentives and disincentives for developers to build green buildings," she said.

"Future-Proof" Buildings


	Developers can make small changes now to "future-proof" their buildings, says Arup Director Chris Twinn

At a seminar earlier this year sponsored by the engineering consultancy Arup, company officials said more needs to be done on all fronts. Chris Twinn, a director at Arup, said developers can make small changes now to "future-proof" their buildings. Drop ceilings and other unnecessary design elements can be eliminated, while computer models used to determine power loads need to be readjusted to take into account things such as televisions, which use less electricity than when the model was originally developed.

Another Arup official, San Francisco-based Alisdair McGregor, said that the United States was also falling behind the rest of the world. Rather than the US government leading on environmental matters, he said, it is cities like San Francisco, Chicago and Portland that are reducing carbon footprints. Mr McGregor also said developers in Hong Kong needed to redefine "value," to take into account green credentials. "Value is more than just reduced operating costs," he said.

Locking in Change


Swire Properties Chairman Keith Kerr says green elements are being used in all of the company's developments

At a recent seminar organised by the Asia Business Council and the Asia Society, several leading companies related their stories on going green.

Keith Kerr, Chairman of Swire Properties, said that in the early 1990s, Swire officials saw the need to do something with the growing number "of people locking themselves to buildings over green protests." While conceding that the company "probably fumbled the ball a bit in the early days," Mr Kerr said that Swire was now working hard to incorporate green elements in all of its buildings.

"We now use the life-cycle approach over the life of a building, from design to tear down at the end of a building's life. We are also using computers to provide 3D models, so you can see a building's entire skeleton and design out a lot of waste," Mr Kerr said. "Also, we're measuring more closely and eliminating thousands of tonnes of carbon just by using closer measurements. We're also recycling building materials instead of dumping them and, probably most important, we've appointed a head of sustainability to ensure that green measures have a seat at the corporate table."

Marjorie Yang, Chairman of the Esquel Group, a leading textile and apparel manufacturer, said that a plant visit, during which she saw dead fish floating in a pond, sparked her to push for change at her company. "I wanted to change our behaviour because of that visit," she said. "I know that in order to change things, we have to use children in some respects, and I tell parents they need to change for their children's health."

Ms Yang also said that while it does cost money to "go green," companies can still be profitable. "We do lots of little things that add up, like printing on both sides of the paper at the office, and we've saved money by changing the light bulbs in one of our plants," she said. "They paid for themselves in 18 months."

Ms Yang noted it was harder for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to change, because they may not have the resources of a big company, but she said that smaller firms will actually benefit and improve a company's management by involving people in cutting waste.

Mainland Target

Energy efficiency is one of the quickest, cheapest and cleanest ways to address energy and environmental issues, according to the Asia Business Council. On the Chinese mainland, gaining a megawatt of electricity by building more generating capacity, costs four to six times more than saving a megawatt through greater efficiency, the council said.

It also said that, as of February this year, the mainland was home to 10 developments that have attained the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED Gold certification.

The mainland launched its Green Building Council in 2008. Its Ministry of Construction has set a new target - that energy consumption in new buildings should be 65 per cent less than in existing buildings. The government also established a tax-and-fees rebate system to help meet this goal.

Green Manufacturing