HK3030 Campaign Launch
Posted on: 10 December 2012
News Release
Hong Kong Green Building Council Launches HK3030 Campaign
30 percent absolute electricity reduction by 2030 well within grasp
Hong Kong, 10 December 2012 – The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) today launched the HK3030 Campaign, a vision for a low carbon, sustainable built environment in Hong Kong by 2030. The HK3030 Campaign puts forth a roadmap to reduce the absolute electricity consumption of buildings in Hong Kong by 30 percent of the 2005 level by the year 2030.
With the population of Hong Kong expected to reach 8.3 million by 20301 , and electricity consumption in buildings estimated to peak at 57,605 GWh by 2030 under the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario2 , an absolute reduction of 33,421 GWh is required in order to achieve the 30 percent absolute reduction target by 2030 referencing the 2005 baseline. This translates to approximately a 60 percent total reduction in 2030, with buffer factored in.
“Achieving a 30 percent absolute reduction target by the year 2030 is no easy feat, but we have complete confidence in Hong Kong making this a reality,” said Ir Conrad Wong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Green Building Council. “Based on our modeling, 12 percent out of the total 60 percent of the HK3030 reduction target needs to be achieved by behavioural change, while the remaining 48 percent could be made possible through technology advancement and uptake. Public support in changing our ways of using electricity, and support from the government, power companies and the building and construction industry as a whole is critical to the success in achieving the HK3030 target.”
The HK3030 Campaign takes a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach to reduce electricity level in all building types in Hong Kong, including the existing building stock which has traditionally been the most challenging. HK3030 puts forward solid recommendations to expand the scope of regulatory control to push for more green buildings, and to incentivise the market for optimal outcomes.
“Electricity consumption of buildings is one the major causes of air pollution in Hong Kong as it accounts for 60 percent of greenhouse gases emission locally. If we want a better living environment with good air quality, it’s time to start reducing our electricity consumption level today!” added Ir Conrad Wong.
Key Recommendations of HK3030
The carrot-and-stick approach is adopted in addressing the three strategic pillars of the HK3030 Campaign, namely the existing buildings, new buildings, and public awareness. A total of 28 recommendations are put forward to achieving the HK3030 target. Below are four most important recommendations in elaboration.
1. Public Education – From Cognition to Action
With 12 percent of the HK3030 saving target to be contributed by behavioural change, the public needs to understand why building energy efficiency is an integral and crucial part of Hong Kong’s climate change strategy. Under the HK3030 Campaign, the HKGBC plans to launch a series of HK3030 Charter Programmes aiming at schools, offices, hotels and shops to enhance public engagement in saving energy. In the next few years, the HKGBC will also launch a series of practical guidelines for property managers and building owners to better understand ways to improve building energy efficiency. The Green School Guide, first of the series, will be launched in early 2013.
2. Citywide Electricity Consumption Benchmarking
For existing building users, one of the challenges in saving energy is not knowing where to start and how much is there to be saved. The HK3030 Campaign recommends the development of a building operational energy benchmarking scheme by collecting and sharing citywide electricity use intensity (EUI) data, allowing building owners and users to compare their electricity with their peers. Such benchmarking scheme will also pave the way for the Certification Programme on Building Operational Energy Performance, which aims at providing incentives to the market to disclose energy performance to public and to drive continuous improvement in the market. This benchmarking scheme should be tied with mandatory EUI requirements to improve overall electricity consumption of buildings.
Led by the HKGBC, the development of this online benchmarking tool is already underway. It is HKGBC’s plan to start benchmarking office buildings in 2013, commercial buildings in 2014, all other building types in 2015, and to advocate a mandatory EUI labelling scheme for all buildings in 2018.
3. Increasing Funding Support to Energy Efficient Projects
While the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) has already motivated many major retrofitting projects in existing buildings of Hong Kong, it is shown that upfront capital support is a vital element to drive major retrofit. Therefore, the HK3030 Campaign recommends the Government to continue the investment in ECF and to increase the current maximum cap to HK$2 million per project and to extend it to single owner buildings. In addition, to ensure accurate data submission for building energy use data, sub-metering is an area where Government subsidy should be granted in order to push the building energy efficiency agenda forward.
4. More Stringent Requirements for GFA Concessions
The provision of GFA concessions has proved to be effective in motivating developers to adopt green building features in new buildings, i.e. over 30% of the new project planned to undergo or undergoing BEAM Plus assessment. The HK3030 Campaign strongly urges the Government to review this policy with a view to tighten up the requirements such that different GFA concession rates should apply to the different BEAM Plus levels attained. The HK3030 Campaign recommends applying a 15 percent GFA concession to BEAM Plus Platinum rated projects, 10 percent for Gold, 8 percent for Silver, and 5 percent for Bronze and none for Unclassified projects.
An enforcement bond should also be required to ensure the implementation of the proposed green features for GFA concessions. For example, upon the granting of the GFA concession for a development, 50 percent of the cost of the bonus GFA should be collected from the building owner as enforcement bond. Once construction is completed, the building performance would be assessed under the BEAM Plus assessment scheme and if requirements are met the enforcement bond will be released. Failing to meet the requirements will have part or the entire enforcement bond withheld as a penalty.
Based on the experiences from the projects of Green Building Awards 2012, the latest building technologies and design in Hong Kong can already achieve 50 percent or even higher energy efficiency when compared to 2005 level. “The 60 percent reduction target is achievable provided that both regulatory controls and incentives are there to drive building owners and users to adopt energy saving technologies and change their electricity consumption behaviors,” added Ir Conrad Wong. “The silver lining is that even if we only had today’s technological level to live on, the HK3030 target is still comfortably within reach.”
“Even though the HK3030 Campaign is arguably the most aggressive electricity saving project in the world today, it is still well within grasp. Together with the Government, the building sector and the general public, HK3030 will help to transform our city to a low carbon economy and sustainable city. Let’s make Hong Kong a cleaner, healthier and vibrant Asian world city,” concluded Ir Conrad Wong.
The full HK3030 paper can be downloaded at https://www.hkgbc.org.hk/upload/HK3030/Home/HK3030paper_eng.pdf
Notes:
1. Census and Statistic Department (2010). Hong Kong Population Projections 2010 – 2039
2. The Climate Group (July 2010). A Low Carbon Vision for Hong Kong: Discussion Paper. BAU scenario in 2030: Population: 8.3 million; Household: 3.196 million; Members per household: 2.6; Floor area for household: 44m2
The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) today launched the HK3030 Campaign, a vision for a low carbon, sustainable built environment in Hong Kong by 2030. “The HK3030 Campaign puts forth a roadmap to reduce the absolute electricity consumption of buildings in Hong Kong by 30 percent of the 2005 level by the year 2030,” said Ir Conrad Wong, Chairman of the HKGBC.
About the HKGBC
The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member led organisation established in 2009 with the vision to aspire for quality and sustainability at every stage of the building life cycle and embrace these principles as a mark of excellence. The Founding Members of HKGBC include the Construction Industry Council, Business Environment Council, the BEAM Society and the Professional Green Building Council. Its mission is to lead the market transformation to a sustainable built environment in Hong Kong by guiding the development of industry standards, best practices, education, and research in green building.
Press contact
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Heidi Hui
Hong Kong Green Building Council Secretariat
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Email: [email protected]