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Secretary for the Environment KS Wong
Hong Kong, China is committed to reduce aggregate energy intensity by 45% by 2035, using 2005 as a base year. We attach great importance to buildings' energy efficiency. This is particularly true in Hong Kong where buildings account for some 90% of the city's electricity consumption and 60% of our greenhouse gas emissions.
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a small land mass of 1,104 square kilometres, but it has a large population of over 7 million people. The intense building development, a high concentration of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the humid subtropical climate in Hong Kong, contributes to an increasing demand for energy.
Hong Kong has a range of policies and measures to manage demand for energy consumption through legislation and incentives to improve energy performance of new and existing buildings; Government leadership; and public education and social mobilisation.
To enhance the energy efficiency performance of buildings, we fully implemented the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance in September 2012. The ordinance requires new buildings and buildings undergoing major renovation to comply with minimum energy efficiency standards under the Building Energy Codes.
Codes revised
The new version of the Building Energy Codes was published in February 2012 to enhance buildings' energy efficiency. Most of the standards adopted by the Building Energy Codes are comparable to those adopted by some of our counterparts in the USA, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, while some standards such as lifts are initiated on our own and not yet specified in overseas jurisdictions.
Relevant building services installations are required to comply with the mandatory energy efficiency standards and requirements under the Building Energy Codes. We will review the Building Energy Codes regularly with a view to further tightening the minimum energy performance standards required of major building services installations.
To encourage new buildings to adopt sustainable building design, we have promulgated a set of Sustainable Building Design Guidelines under which developers may obtain gross floor area concessions in new buildings by incorporating sustainable design elements and providing eco-related information.
Energy-efficiency standards rise
In addition, we promote the Building Environmental Assessment Method, or BEAM, Plus system administered by the Hong Kong Green Building Council by requiring all new private buildings to register for BEAM Plus certification for the granting of gross floor area concessions for certain green and amenity features. As of August 2014, a total of 555 building projects have completed registration for BEAM Plus assessment.
The Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance also requires buildings undergoing major renovation to comply with minimum energy efficiency standards under the Building Energy Codes. We have also introduced the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme to require energy labels to be shown on the prescribed products to inform consumers of the products' energy efficiency performance.
The scheme currently covers five types of electrical appliances, which account for around 60% of annual electricity consumption in the residential sector. We will review the grading standards and the scope of the scheme regularly.
To incentivise community participation in energy saving, we have launched the Buildings Energy Efficiency Funding Schemes to subsidise building owners to conduct energy-cum-carbon audits and to carry out energy efficiency improvement works. More than one seventh of the total building stock in Hong Kong has received subsidies under the Schemes.
Gov’t leads the way
The some 8,000 buildings being managed by the Government offer a valuable opportunity for us to take the lead in the promotion of building energy efficiency by incorporating green features in our buildings and adopting green practices.
We have created a target-based green performance framework for government buildings. It provides specific guidelines on energy efficiency standards, greenhouse gas reduction, use of renewable energy, waste reduction and management, water management and indoor air quality. We are reviewing the framework with a view to enhancing further the energy performance of our government buildings.
We also established in 2009 the target of achieving a 5% saving in the total electricity consumption of Government buildings from 2009-10 to 2013-14, using the electricity consumption in 2007-08 as the baseline and under comparable operating conditions.
We had already reached that goal in the first three years and, in 2012-13, our saving reached 7%, which exceeded the original target. We will review the energy saving target for Government buildings in the near future.
We have also implemented an Energy-cum-Carbon Audit Programme for our government facilities/premises. The purpose is to identify energy management opportunities through a systematic review of the energy consuming equipment/systems in the premises.
The Government's vision of promoting a sustainable living environment in Hong Kong goes beyond energy efficiency. To develop Hong Kong into "a green, healthy and livable city", we set up in 2013 an inter-departmental steering committee on the promotion of green buildings to promote green building development in a holistic manner and to formulate implementation strategies and action plans in collaboration with other Government bureaux and departments.
Whole community must act
To promote buildings' energy efficiency, Government actions alone would not be enough. We need the active involvement of the entire community. The Zero Carbon Building is a case in point. Developed by the Construction Industry Council in collaboration with the Government, it aims to showcase the state-of-the art eco-building design and technologies to the construction industry locally and internationally and to raise community awareness of low carbon living in Hong Kong.
To increase public awareness of energy efficiency, we have been promoting community-wide participation in energy saving through various activities, such as launching the energy saving charter on indoor temperature since 2012 to encourage building owners and management to reduce electricity consumption on air conditioning.
The above measures have brought perceptible and encouraging results. Over the five years between 2008 and 2012, while our GDP increased by about 20%, our electricity consumption over the same period grew at a much slower pace, by around 5%.
Hong Kong has laid a reasonably good foundation in energy saving. The next step is to introduce more energy saving measures in the near future, and we are reviewing if there is scope for us to set for ourselves an even more progressive energy intensity reduction target and/or timeline.
Secretary for the Environment KS Wong gave these remarks at the plenary session of the 11th Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Energy Ministerial Meeting in Beijing.
