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Following is a question by the Hon Choy So-yuk and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 16) :
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective annual quantities of water and electricity power consumed, and the expenses thus incurred, by various Government bureaux and departments in each of the past three years; the respective percentages of recycled water and renewable power in the relevant quantities of water and electricity power consumed, and their scopes of application; and
(b) whether it plans to increase the percentages in the use of recycled water and renewable power; if so, of the specific targets and timetables; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) As offices of different government departments are commonly accommodated in the same buildings, most do not have separate electricity and water meters. Hence, we do not have separate data on how much electricity and water individual departments have actually consumed. Nonetheless, the electricity and water consumption of the government as a whole is shown below :
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
(base year) ******* *******
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Electricity consumption
raw consumption MkWh 2111 2163 2244
% change (raw consumption)* % - +2.5 +6.3
Expenditure $M 1939 1911 1936
Water consumption Mm3 28.5 28.1 26.2
% change (raw consumption) % - -1.4% -8.1%
Expenditure $M 148.5 152.7 144.0
* Compared with the base year, the major drivers for electricity consumption (i.e gross floor area of office buildings, fresh water consumption and treated wastewater of the whole territory, and utilisation rates of public sports and cultural facilities) increased in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Taking into account these factors, we estimate that the energy efficiency of government improved by about 1.4% in 2004-05, compared with 2002-03. That is, but for the increase in the drivers, the total electricity consumption would have decreased by about 1.4%.
Renewable energy has supplied about 1.2 million kWh equivalent to government facilities in 2003/04. With regard to effluent reuse, we are only at the exploratory stage of implementing the Total Water Management Programme. A list of government projects using renewable energy systems and effluent reuse systems is shown in Annex.
(b) The Government is committed to promoting the greater use of energy from renewable sources in Hong Kong, including the wider adoption of renewable energy in public works projects. One of the key initiatives in the 'First Sustainable Development Strategy for Hong Kong' published in May this year is to establish a policy on the installation of renewable energy facilities as a component of new government buildings and major public sector projects by 2006. As one of the steps to be taken in connection with this initiative, we will issue a Technical Circular promoting the use of renewable energy in public works projects shortly. We expect a wider use of renewable energy in government projects in the future.
Implementation of the Total Water Management Programme is an on-going initiative of this year's Policy Agenda. We are implementing two pilot reclaimed water reuse schemes: one at Ngong Ping and the other at Shek Wu Hui. The Ngong Ping scheme, to be commissioned around early 2006, will provide reclaimed water mainly for flushing and controlled irrigation. The Shek Wu Hui scheme, to be in operation in mid 2006, will provide reclaimed water for flushing, irrigation and water features after further treatment.
Ends/Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:19
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