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Following is a question by the Hon Martin Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (December 8):

Question:

Regarding the energy conservation measures and lighting installations in various government departments and public organisations, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the measures, in addition to using energy-saving lighting installations, adopted by various government departments and public organisations to conserve energy, and whether it has assessed the effectiveness of such measures; if it has, of the assessment results, if not, the reasons for that;

(b) whether various government departments and public organisations have fully switched to the use of the above installations; if not, the reasons for that, and the departments and organisations involved;

(c) whether it has worked out the costs incurred by the government departments and public organisations in switching to the use of such installations, their annual savings in energy expenditures and respective cost recovery periods; if not, the reasons for that; and

(d) whether any government departments and public organisations still have non-energy-saving lighting installations in stock or outstanding procurement contracts with suppliers of such installations?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The energy conservation measures adopted by government departments and public organisations fall into the following two main categories:

(i) Housekeeping measures - such as setting the thermostats of air-conditioning systems at 25.5 degrees Celsius, curtailing the operating hours of such systems and switching off electrical appliances when leaving an office.

(ii) Energy-saving equipment installation - including T5 or T8 fluorescent tubes, electronic ballasts, variable speed drives for air-conditioning systems, occupancy sensors that automatically turn off air-conditioning when the room is empty, and energy-efficient office equipment.

Over the past few years, these energy conservation measures have been gradually adopted by government departments and the amount of electricity saved has been increasing from year to year. The new measures and installations adopted last year by government departments can save approximately 29 GWh of electricity annually. As a result of these measures and those implemented over the past few years, a total of about 82 GWh of electricity was saved by government departments last year.

(b) Measures that prove to be effective will be promoted to all government departments and public organisations. All new installations in government departments and public organisations are energy-saving ones. Regarding the existing installations, replacing them in one go will be very costly since a lot of installations are involved. In addition, replacing them when they are still functioning means wastage, and carrying out the replacement works at the same time will inevitably disrupt the operation of the departments concerned. Therefore, the existing installations will usually be replaced at the end of their useful lives or when the premises are renovated.

(c) The installation costs of energy-saving installations vary greatly with the physical setting. Moreover, they are often installed when other works are being carried out, making it difficult to break down the costs incurred. In general, the cost-recovery period of an energy-saving installation is about three to five years.

(d) At present, most government premises already use energy-saving lighting installations, such as T5 or T8 fluorescent tubes. We do not have any older and more energy-consuming lighting installations in stock or any outstanding procurement contracts with suppliers of such installations.

Ends/Wednesday, December 8, 2004

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