Friends of the Earth (HK) Power Smart 2009
Over 20 million kWh of electricity and over 14,000 tonnes of Carbon saved in 90 days(Press release - 13th December 2009) At the same time that the delegates from different nations are meeting at the United Nations Convention on climate change, COP15, in Copenhagen to discuss new emission reduction targets and time-frames, the fourth Power Smart energy saving contest organized by Friends of the Earth (HK) came to a noteworthy end with those who had pledged to save electricity having done so in terrific fashion. A total of 20,172,248 kWh of electricity were saved. This is equivalent to preventing the emission of 14,121 tonnes of carbon dioxide, all this achieved during only three months of a very hot summer in Hong Kong, breaking all previous records. This has exceeded the expected reduction of 12,000,000 kWh and 8,400 tonnes by 75 percent and was a worthy effort in the combat against global climate change.
FoE (HK) had invited three groups of members of the public to join the Power Smart in early June 2009. Each unit in the 3 categories comprising of Household, Company, and Property Management, competed to achieve the most electricity saved in their respective groups. Each participating unit sought to achieve the most reduction in electricity use in the 90 days between 1st July and 28th September. In comparison to 2008's electricity usage reduction, there was a reduction of at least 2%, is eligible for a prize. This year's contest had attracted 2,480 units, which included 259 households, 36 companies, and 829 property management groups.
Statistics from the Hong Kong Observatory, however, indicated that from July to September this year, the temperature compared to that of 2008 was higher - an increase of 0.4 degrees from the normal temperature in July, 1.0 degrees in August, 1.2 degrees in September. A record-breaking 24 very hot weather warnings were issued from August to September ¡V the most since 1963. We were worried that the increased use of air-conditioning could influence the contest.
FoE (HK) announced that the fine result of the contest reflected the willingness of the community to respond to climate change and air pollution by conserving energy. It was critical of the government for not doing something positive and maximize opportunities at COP15. Mr. Edward Yau Tang-wah, Secretary for the Environment of Hong Kong, who is attending the Copenhagen conference, still not having emission reduction targets and timetables even though he has indicated that Hong Kong has the capacity to reduce carbon emissions and should take responsibility to do so.
Director of FoE (HK) Edwin Lau pointed out, "Since the government launched the Scheme of Control Agreement for the two power companies in 2008, it was suggested that the two should aim to save up to 15 million kWh annually. But the contest showed more than 20 million kWh were saved in just 90 days - the government could easily have incorporated a more stringent figure." 40 billion kWh is being used annually in Hong Kong, and the number of participated units in this year¡¦s contest made up approximately 1% of the market, illustrating Hong Kong still has a huge capacity to save energy.
The Supreme Saver Award winner of the Household category Ms. Wong Yuk Kiu, she was also in the top five in both Biggest Percentage Saver Award and Biggest Unit Saver Award - a decrease of 73.82% and saved 1,482.60 kWh to become the top winner in the category. She has been awarded the cash prize HK$30,000. Ms. Wong expressed it was her anxiety regarding Hong Kong's deteriorating air quality that prompted her resolve to do something about it. Knowing that air conditioners were the main culprits of energy consumption, she was determined not to turn them on despite the heat and found that a fan was effective in keeping her cool. Turning off the lights in unused rooms added to the savings. She also took the stairs to the 16th floor instead of the lift as a healthy way to save energy. She admits initially it was difficult to change her way of life, but soon got accustomed to the changes and "change" turned into "habit".
The Champion of the Biggest Unit Saver Award in the Household category belonged to Mr. Wong Wai Man, saving up to 1,591.51 kWh, a decrease of use by 65.91%. He explained that the main reason for the high savings was due to a change in circumstances, from living with his wife to living alone. This resulted in less air condition and other electrical usage. He also believed that energy saving should be everybody's responsibility.
Another Champion of the Biggest Percentage Saver Award in the Household category Ms. Tam Hoi Ying, who managed a reduction of 88.47% energy consumption, a saved 505.31 kWh. She stated that she does not consume a lot of energy despite living with her mother. Their monthly electric bill was minimal for each of them. Ms. Tam knew she couldn¡¦t win by reducing biggest units as she already had an energy-saving habit. Ms. Tam works in the research industry and has always put in practice the principle of "use less whenever possible" ¡V less air conditioning, reduce light bulbs and replace them with energy-efficient ones. Thus with her careful attention to minimize wastage, and she took cold showers in summer, therefore she was still able to reduce the percentage further.
The Champion of the Biggest Unit Saver Award in the Company category is "Modern Terminals Limited", saving up to 2,239,899.03 kWh (reduced 11.99%). Ms. Kate Ng, Senior Corporate Affairs Officer of the company explained, "We established an internal environmental committee, comprising of representatives from each department, as well as an energy saving group and promotional group. They provide bulletins with environmental target and development progress reports as well as evaluation reports to the committee on a regular basis. Our intranets include environmental protection guidelines and procedures for employees to refer to." Their management team gets involved into a corporate video production with different topics of environmental protection, demonstrating the togetherness of the whole company in saving energy. On the practical side, for example the air conditioning systems, the company engineers adjusted the temperature according to the outdoor weather. They recorded the daily indoor temperatures which they evaluated monthly. Some not common areas were fitted with motion-sensor lighting switches. Moreover, the company has signed up the "Dim it Charter" organized by FoE (HK), pledging to switch off their lights and advertisements at midnight. So besides saving energy and reducing emissions, they had benefited the community by decreasing light pollution and light nuisance.
Another Champion of the Biggest Percentage Saver Award in the Company category "Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd" with a reduction of electricity consumption by 37.95% (saved 319,787.18 kWh). The corporation had stepped up its efforts to protect the environment in recent years. They have replaced all T8 light bulbs with T5's which has saved them HK$200,000 annually. Since their server rooms are located on the top floor of their office building, the heat absorbed from the sunlight had increased the need for air conditioning. In response, they have installed on their rooftops heat-reflecting tiles, which has effectively lowered the temperature in the room. A large fan improved indoor air-circulation. Heat-proof plasterboards were also installed to diminish heat transfer between the server rooms and neighboring office rooms. This has resulted in a lowering of temperatures in office rooms. With monitoring by employees, adjustments to the air-conditioning can be made twice a day if necessary.
The previous Power Smart contests have been highly praised by property management. With the generous support and sponsorship by "Henderson Land Group" and "Sun Hung Kai Properties" this year, they mobilized their own properties to join in the contest. "Hang Yick Properties Management Limited" in the "Henderson Land Group" saved up to 693,428.22 kWh to become the first runners-up of the Biggest Unit Saver Award in the Property Management category. "Hong Yip Service Co. Ltd" and "Kai Shing Management Services Ltd", both under "Sun Hung Kai Properties", together with other property management corporations achieved a reduction of more than 3 million kWh of electricity.
The Champion of the Biggest Unit Saver Award winner in the Property Management category is Swire Pacific's "Festival Walk Holdings Ltd" which saved 1,044,589.53 kWh (reduced 11.39%). It invested in improvements to the mall's air conditioning systems, by the employment of energy efficient cooling and controlling systems. They also installed frequency inverters in 17 air handling units. The mall has replaced its lighting to T5% fluorescent lamps with electronic ballast features in the mall's directory, advertisement light boxes and for their offices. The company has entered into a collaboration program with Tsing Hua University for research into energy saving ways and means.
The Champion of the Biggest Percentage Saver Award in the Property Management category is "Urban Property Management Ltd ¡V Manning House" with a huge reduction of some 91.51% (saved 178,594.04 kWh). This was mainly achieved by the replacement of two previous air conditioning systems which controlled different floors, to just one system that still performs similarly. As for lighting, they have installed a switch timer on every floor ¡V lights will switch on automatically everyday at 7:00 am, and switch off automatically at 9:00 pm; saving energy in a more efficient and direct manner.
FoE (HK) stated that the participated units coming from three different categories were able to achieve great savings in energy by focusing rightly on items such as air-conditioning and lighting. They explored possible ways of minimizing electricity wastage further by both hard and soft tools. The Power Smart contest raised the public awareness of energy saving and helped to publicize and nurture the habit of energy conservation. The numerous companies and property management companies who were successful in the contest did so by instilling internally a team spirit to promote its targets and strategies so that everyone in each company acted together to implement the measures put in place besides taking advantage of energy saving technology. This proves that it is important for society to join hands to strive for the betterment of the environment.
FoE (HK) revealed how Hong Kong is unrelenting in its energy consumption. From 1997 to 2008, although the population increased by 7.3%, energy consumption increased by 27%, resulting in an inordinate increase of carbon dioxide emissions by power plants by 31%, thus contributing to climate change. According to the 2009 end-use data from the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the total energy consumption ratio from the residential and commercial sectors alone has already reached 89.4% by 2007.
The Power Smart contestants proved that they were able to save energy well above the government's standard of 33% while using only a quarter of the power plant¡¦s time. The future is not hopeless as the Power Smart contest demonstrated that Hong Kong has the ability and capacity to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
We hereby urge the government to produce a more enterprising energy saving and emission reduction target and to pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% no later than year 2020 as the United Nations has suggested.
The winning families and companies' representatives of "Power Smart 2009" saved unnecessary 20,174,248 kWh of energy, reducing 14,121 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission for the Earth. Their effort is highly appreciated. Miss Choi Man Yee, Prin AS for the Env (Energy) of Environment Bureau and Mr. Wong Sek Cheung, Ch Engr/Energy Efficiency A of Electrical & Mechanical Services Department cheered on in the venue of ceremony.
Supreme Saver Award (Household) - Wong Yuk Kiu
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Household) Champion - Wong Wai Man
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Household) 2nd Runner-up - Yung Ho Yin
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Household) 3rd Runner-up - Kwong Yuk Kuen
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Household) 4th Runner-up - Tam Shuk Wah
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Household) Champion - Tam Hoi Ying
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Household) 1st Runner-up - Pang Kwai Chun
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Household) 2nd Runner-up -
Luk Chi Hung
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Household) 3rd Runner-up -
Chan Tin Ying
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Property Management) Champion -
Festival Walk Holdings Limited
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Property Management) 1st Runner-up - Hang Yick Properties Management Limited (A Member of Henderson Land Group)
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Property Management) 2nd Runner-up - Asia Airfreight Terminal Company Limited - Synergis Management Services Limited
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Property Management) Champion - Urban Property Management Limited - Manning House
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Property Management) 1st Runner-up - One Madison
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Property Management) 2nd Runner-up - Royal Jubilee
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Company) Champion - Modern Terminals Limited
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Company) 1st Runner-up - Citi
Biggest Unit Saver Award (Company) 2nd Runner-up - Airport Authority Hong Kong
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Company) Champion - Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd.
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Company) 1st Runner-up - Elite Education Centre
Biggest Percentage Saver Award (Company) 2nd Runner-up -
Schneider Electric Asia Pacific Limited
FoE(HK) Power Smart 2009 ResultJoin hands Hong Kong for "Power Smart" energy saving 2009 Check that out!Enquiries:
Friends of the Earth (HK) Development Manager,
Janet Fok 3184-1517 / 2528-5588
Friends of the Earth (HK) Director, Edwin Lau 2528-5588
