Environmental,Health and Safety Report 2004 / 05

	Office

The Green-focused Office Headquarters

Our Administration Sub-division is responsible for all administration support of Housing Authority Headquarters (HAHQs). “Implementation of green initiatives in such a huge department will absolutely be a challenging task, and having met the government’s green management targets with success is definitely one great achievement,” Mr. Dennis Tang, Senior Executive Officer, General said.

As part of the Government’s economy drive in March 2003 to economize the use of resources, all departments are committed to reduce the consumption of energy and paper of the offices. Against the base year of 2002/03, the consumption of power in kWh and photocopying paper in ream targeted to be reduced respectively by 3% and 5% in 2004/05.

Of energy consumption in 2004/05, we have continued to reduce energy consumption in our headquarters during the year, and managed a 10.7% reduction against 2002/03. This indeed has exceeded our commitment to the target set by the government for each government department of a 6% energy reduction over the four years up to 2006/07.

Another encouragement to our energy saving efforts is the result of Hong Kong Awards for Energy Efficiency and Conservation in Government - Venue Saver Awards organized by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) revealed in end 2004. Our HAHQs was ranked the fifth among other government departments. The assessment on energy reduction was within the period of October 2003 to September 2004 against that of the previous year.

The reduction achieved so far is by adopting new and improved management initiatives and improved energy efficiency in lifts, air conditioning and lighting systems. Key initiatives on lightings and air conditioning systems and some management measures performed during the year include:

reduction of illumination in common areas of offices and car parking areas after office hours and replacement of all lightings in two main blocks (Block 1 & 2) with electronic ballasts;
replacement of existing controls for air handling units with variable speed drives. The initiative is anticipated to give a year-on-year energy saving of approximately 2.5% upon completion;
appointment of energy wardens with a remit of equipment inspection and staff education, increased patrols by our security staff with instructions to switch off lights and air-conditioning systems when not in use; and
reduced operating hours of air conditioners, lights and lift systems.

	However, the saving would soon reach a plateau since almost all first- and second-tier saving measures have been implemented. As on paper saving, our Administration Sub-section again takes every endeavour to meet the Government’s set target, and has that committed as one environmental target in other arenas such as the Housing Department Environmental Committee and the Environmental Protection Department’s Wastewi$e Scheme. In these respective programmes, we have obtained the same positive results as follows: on the target reduction of paper consumption in all Housing Department offices (excluding site offices) by 5% against that of base year 2002/03, a 5.3% reduction was achieved; and of the Wastewi$e target to reduce the paper consumption by 1% on a year-on-year basis, this has been achieved for the last two consecutive assessment years in 2003/04 and 2004/05.

However, the saving would soon reach a plateau since almost all first- and second-tier saving measures have been implemented.

As on paper saving, our Administration Sub-section again takes every endeavour to meet the Government’s set target, and has that committed as one environmental target in other arenas such as the Housing Department Environmental Committee and the Environmental Protection Department’s Wastewi$e Scheme. In these respective programmes, we have obtained the same positive results as follows:

on the target reduction of paper consumption in all Housing Department offices (excluding site offices) by 5% against that of base year 2002/03, a 5.3% reduction was achieved; and
of the Wastewi$e target to reduce the paper consumption by 1% on a year-on-year basis, this has been achieved for the last two consecutive assessment years in 2003/04 and 2004/05.

	With the satisfactory assessment on the above target among our other Wastewi$e targets by EPD, the Department has been awarded to use the prestigious Gold Wastewi$e Logo in all official printed documents since 2002. Dennis however remarked that the control of paper consumption in practice was less flexible than that of energy consumption since the paper usage would greatly depend on functional needs rather than demand, and in particular, the Department has started insourcing the printing work in recent year. The Office Administration however will try to monitor the paper consumption of the Department through various means such as: distribution of monthly paper consumption report by divisions for individual division to monitor their paper usage; circulation of green messages received from the Central Government about paper saving tips to all staff via emails and uploads to the department intranet; extensive use of electronic communication and uploading of departmental circulars and publications onto the intranet; and enhancement of staff awareness on paper savings through education and training. With such full support of our green focused administration, we are confident that our office will maintain this notable achievement in meeting the Government’s targets in the coming years.

With the satisfactory assessment on the above target among our other Wastewi$e targets by EPD, the Department has been awarded to use the prestigious Gold Wastewi$e Logo in all official printed documents since 2002.

Dennis however remarked that the control of paper consumption in practice was less flexible than that of energy consumption since the paper usage would greatly depend on functional needs rather than demand, and in particular, the Department has started insourcing the printing work in recent year. The Office Administration however will try to monitor the paper consumption of the Department through various means such as:

distribution of monthly paper consumption report by divisions for individual division to monitor their paper usage;
circulation of green messages received from the Central Government about paper saving tips to all staff via emails and uploads to the department intranet;
extensive use of electronic communication and uploading of departmental circulars and publications onto the intranet; and
enhancement of staff awareness on paper savings through education and training.

With such full support of our green focused administration, we are confident that our office will maintain this notable achievement in meeting the Government’s targets in the coming years.

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