Please select: Overview Health and Hygiene Waste Water Energy Air Noise EHS Procurement Material Consumption Hazardous Materials Estate Landscaping and Greening Safety Partnerships and Awareness Initiatives at Our Own Office
			Enhancing Energy Efficiency Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings Energy Consumption Enhancing Energy Efficiency We continue to implement measures to enhance energy efficiency and energy management in our premises. Our efforts over the past year are highlighted below. "Micro-climate" Studies To improve environmental performance, we have been conducting "micro-climate" studies of indoor areas and common open space during the planning and design of our public housing projects. Using sophisticated computer software, we have simulated the pedestrian wind environment, natural ventilation, solar penetration, daylight, indoor air quality and energy use for several projects under planning, including those in Tin Shui Wai, Tung Chung, Lam Tin, Choi Wan Road and Upper Ngau Tau Kok.
			To assess the effectiveness of these studies, the project environmental performance will be evaluated against the Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HKBEAM) criteria. The feedback from this exercise helps us to identify gaps in environmental performance and enable us to map out an improvement plan to enhance our specifications, design standards and design guides. Energy Codes in Building Designs We continue to adopt non-statutory Building Energy Codes (BECs) issued by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) in our new development projects. We adopted the following relevant BECs issued during the past year:   Code of Practices for Energy Efficiency of Lighting, Electrical, Air conditioning (A / C) and Lift installations; and   Guidelines on Energy Efficiency of Electrical and Lift and Escalator Installations. Energy Saving Equipment Examples of energy efficient equipment we have installed during the year include:   Lighting with electronic ballast in six car parks and high efficiency lamps in other areas - saving up to an estimated 20% on power consumption;   Water-cooled air-conditioning systems in one shopping centre - saving up to 10% on power consumption; and   Air-curtains to minimize infiltration by outside air. We also completed a trial in an office area on installing an energy saving "Luminosity Enhancement Jacket" (LEJ). The data is being studied and LEJ will be adopted as applicable. Energy Efficient Management Energy management is another important means of reducing energy consumption. Our efforts during the past year have included:   Placing photocell lighting controls in communal areas in public housing estates and commercial centres;   Adjusting temperature and operating period of A / C systems in the Housing Authority (HA) Headquarters;   Setting new illumination level standards for lift lobbies (85 lux), corridors (50 lux) and stairways (40 lux) in communal areas in public housing estates; and   Closing down A / C, lighting, escalator and lift systems during non-business hours in commercial centres.
			Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings In the year, we have had two more of our shopping centres certified under the EMSD's Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings. The registration of six existing shopping centres had been completed at the end of March 2004. This demonstrated our initiatives in energy saving for lighting and electrical installations. We also continue to adopt the BEC in all building designs. We have put into practice some innovative energy saving designs in Choi Ming Shopping Centre in Tseung Kwan O. Such designs saved an additional 10% in energy consumption compared with other commercial buildings of a similar structure and occupancy rate. The Choi Ming Shopping Centre was the first building in Hong Kong certified with the performance-based BEC[2] under the scheme. To date, most of rental estates with standard block designs have also been awarded the Energy Efficiency Registration Certificate. Energy Consumption
			Our total energy consumption in 2003 / 04 was 1 016 389 MWh. As a proportion of our total energy consumption for the year, domestic premises account for over 51% while our shopping centres, car parks and the HA Headquarters together with factories accounting for around 35%, 8% and 6% respectively. Our domestic properties constitute the most to the total energy consumption, our energy efficiency initiatives have led to a gradual decrease in consumption per flat per month. As the second higher energy consumption, we have also focussed on reduction initiatives in our shopping centres. Our initiative to reduce energy consumption by water-cooled chillers in our Wo Che Shopping Centre achieved a year-on-year energy cost reduction of HK$0.1 per square metre per day. In 2003 / 04 the total electricity consumption of the HA Headquarters decreased by 8.2% year-on-year. Compared with other Government departments where headquarters electricity consumption ranged from 2% increase to 14% decrease, the HA has performed satisfactory.[3] Our performance was achieved by reducing the operational hours for our air-conditioning and lighting systems, and through the support of our staff in adopting energy saving programmes and practices.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]