*******************************************************
Following are the speaking points by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, at the ninth Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Energy Ministers' Meeting held at Fukui, Japan, today (June 19):
Hong Kong attaches great importance to the subject of energy efficiency because we believe there could be a lot of scope for us to achieve much better as we move towards a low carbon economy and in this regard, we believe there are 4 areas that Hong Kong is pursuing which may contribute to the APEC movement in moving towards a much greener use of energy.
The first area is legislation, the second is incentive scheme, the third is infrastructural investment and the last is at the consumer level and public education.
What Hong Kong is doing is that we are introducing a mandatory requirement of minimum energy efficiency for buildings. The reason why we introduce legislation is not just to require a minimum standard but we also believe that it is essential to provide a level playing field for private sector buildings to join this scheme. Our experience tells us that in the past 10 years or so, while we have the voluntary building energy standards, it is only government buildings which comply. The private sector is hesitant due to the cost differential. After the success of the voluntary scheme in the last decade or so, we are in the process of making this energy efficiency code for buildings into a legislation which will provide a level playing field for all. We hope to have this piece of legislation enacted within this year. This will hopefully make a saving of 2.8 billion kilowatt hours in the first 10 years which may contribute to a reduction of around 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The second measure we are using is an incentive scheme. While Hong Kong is a market economy, we believe that appropriate government support will help to drive this low carbon green energy strategy. About one and a half years ago, we launched a building energy efficiency funding scheme which involve US$56 million. It works on a dollar for dollar matching scheme, that means government contributes 50 per cent and the rest by building owners of residential, commercial and industrial buildings. The scheme has only been launched for 18 months but has attracted more than 1,000 applications covering almost 8,000 buildings in Hong Kong, which is one-fifth of the total stock of buildings in Hong Kong. The very intention of this scheme is not just focusing on new buildings but also on existing buildings which is the biggest consumer of energy in Hong Kong. The scheme is now gaining momentum. What we believe is not just the first dollar that the government is contributing but the second dollar that owners are coming up to match or the additional dollars that owners are able to save through this scheme. So we believe that this will change the energy comsumption pattern in buildings in Hong Kong which are the major energy consumers.
In the third area, we also see much scope for infrastructural investment which can also bring about greater efficient use of energy and one typical example is the district cooling system which we will be introducing to a new town development in the old airport of Hong Kong called Kai Tak area. This district cooling system will provide a communal district cooling system which will save individual buildings from having their own air conditioning systems. This will contribute not only to a stronger saving of electricity consumption but will also free up rooftops for green roofing and other forms of environmental devices. We are also contemplating an integrated waste management facility which will be a form of waste-to-energy facility. All these will also open up opportunities for foreign investment in the waste to energy business in Hong Kong.
The fourth area is at the consumer level. Hong Kong as a city has a population of 7 million and more than 30 million visitors coming to Hong Kong on an annual basis. Consumer product is an area that we can highlight in the promotion of energy efficiency so mandatory energy efficiency labelling scheme will be an area that we will continue to expand. In Hong Kong, the promotion of energy efficiency is not just for saving but also for a lifestyle or behaviourial change. We are stepping up a lot of public education and campaigns, promoting Hong Kong not just as an international city but also a green city. We are also working in collaboration with our neighbouring provinces, in particular Guangdong area to build ourselves into a green Pearl River Delta area where we have a cluster of cities which subscribe to the idea of becoming greener or more liveable cities. As a contribution to APEC, we will be hosting a workshop for CEEDS or Cooperative Energy Efficiency Design for Sustainability in January next year. We believe that Hong Kong could provide a very good forum for further discussion on promotion of building energy efficiency so we would extend invitation to all APEC members to come. Before that, in the first week of November, Hong Kong will also be hosting an event for C40, which is an international conference for major cities in combating climate change. In this upcoming C40 conference, Hong Kong will focus on two areas, which is in line with APEC's initiatives. One is of course building energy efficiency and the other one is the promotion of electric vehicles.
So we hope that with these events, Hong Kong can join hands with other economies in promoting a greener, more energy saving and lower carbon economy. With these remarks, we support the efforts we all make in the APEC arena. Thank you.
Ends/Saturday, June 19, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:59
NNNN
