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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau 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:
In his Policy Address delivered last month, the Chief Executive stated that the Government would take the lead in reducing power consumption. Starting from January 2006, power consumption in all government office buildings would be reduced by 1.5% annually. Also, the authorities had issued internal guidelines last year requiring government bureaux and departments to set the temperature of the air-conditioning systems in their offices at 25.5 degree Celsius during summer, so as to reduce electricity consumption. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) of the annual average per-square-metre amount of electricity consumed by the offices of each bureau or departments under its purview set up in government-owned premises and the expenditure on electricity, and the average temperatures set for the air-conditioning systems in these offices in summer, in each of the past three financial years; as well as the corresponding figures for offices in leased premises; and
(b) whether they plan to extend the electricity saving programme to offices in leased premises; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) & (b) Offices of different government departments are often accommodated in the same building. They do not have separate electricity meters. As such, we are unable to provide the requested electricity consumption figures of each bureau and its departments. The figures for annual electricity consumption and expense per square metre of gross floor area for government office buildings with annual consumption greater than one million kWh* in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 are shown in the Annex. The weighted average consumption has decreased from 262 kWh/m2 in 2002-03 to 261 kWh/m2 in 2003-04 and 255 kWh/m2 in 2004-05. These figures include consumption of air conditioning systems and lifts. However, we do not have the comparable figures for offices in leased premises.
Before October 2004, the guideline for setting air conditioned indoor temperature in government offices was 24¢XC. In October 2004, the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau issued a circular requesting all bureaux and departments to maintain the indoor temperature at 25.5¢XC in summer months, unless there were special operational needs.
This circular and other energy saving programmes are also applicable for accommodation in leased premises. User departments are encouraged to liaise with the respective management agents to explore measures to comply with energy saving requirements. However, on some occasions, adjusting the air-conditioned temperature may affect other tenants. As a result, the management agents may be reluctant to accede to the departments' requests. We will continue to actively promote the 25.5¢XC guideline to the public. We believe that as the guideline becomes better accepted by the business sector and public at large, improvements will be seen in due course.
* Excluding new buildings for which full year consumption figures are not yet available
Ends/Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:11
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