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Energy efficiency is a heated topic nowadays
for environmental conservationists,
and one of the most important topics is
the energy efficiency of buildings.
Merely in Hong Kong, more than 280,000 TJ of energy
were consumed in 2013,
transforming to our GDP of more than
2100 billion dollars
Over 90% of the electricity are consumed
by our residential and commercial buildings,
and they accounted for nearly 60% of our carbon emission.
In macro context, poor allocation of buildings
could contribute to wall effect,
blocking wind channels and intensifying
urban climate in high density areas,
leading to the urban heat island effect.
The solution would be green buildings,
which refers not only to a physical structure,
but also a process to achieve
environmental sustainability inside architectures.
To further evaluate the sustainability of these green buildings,
various schemes have been used in Hong Kong,
including the BEAM Plus, and the LEED.
They assess the buildings by giving rating
,and platinum is the highest level.
Let's take a look at an example of Green buildings in Hong Kong.
Hysan Place is BEAM platinum certified
and is the first in Hong Kong that has achieved
pre-certification of Platinum LEED.
There are various green features adopted.
Urban windows enhance air ventilation,
lessen the wall effect and improve the microclimate in Causeway Bay
by Computational fluid dynamics technique and wind tunnel test.
Sky Garden, vertical greening and green roof
provides vegetated area of about 47% of the site area,
and also a comfortable public space.
Curtain wall system combines light shelves,
solar shades and low emissivity double glazing glass
to allow natural light to pass through but not solar heat.
There are also other energy saving features,
like this motion sensing escalator which
can slow down while there is nobody using to save energy.
How about the views from developer,
the government and environmentalist?
What do they think about green building
and the related policy in Hong Kong?
Developers tend to focus on reducing
economic cost and minimizing risks with a short payback period.
Also, they need to find out who is legally responsible
for the problems or defects of green buildings.
At the same time, green technologies and
knowledge are still new and relatively immature,
and HK still lacks the source of green or renewable materials.
Meanwhile, for the government to set up
new regulations or policies, it involves various departments.
This consumes a long time due to Bureaucratism.
Subsidies for adoption of green features also
put financial burden on the government.
For environmentalist, slow implementation of
green buildings, lack of promotion or education,
and the outdated environmental laws are what they concern about.
What can be the solutions to their concerns?
First, one of the solution would be the recognition of
BEAM Plus in Hong Kong.
The Building Environmental Assessment Method Plus
was first founded by BEAM Society.
BEAM Plus is the latest version of it in 2010,
assessing the energy use, water use, material use, etc.
However, BEAM Plus is voluntary and which means that
it will not be economical for small-to-medium developers to adopt.
As a result the government can provide tax or
gross floor area concession to those developers adopting BEAM plus.
It can also be partly mandatory and
voluntary for developers to pursue higher rating.
Another problem of BEAM Plus is that
this recognition is only given after construction.
It would be better to assess the design and planning of
the building in an earlier stage
to ensure environmental-friendly features to be included.
Another way to promote green building is by
government to provide incentives.
For example, a direct subsidy to green features
or fund for green technology research and development.
Through television, talks and publications, education
can change the perceptions of the public against green technology.
It can also raise the awareness and
attract more people to work in the green industry.
So in conclusion, there are already good examples of
green buildings in Hong Kong
but there are still constraints from different sectors
that make it not very popular.
The government should take a major role
in promoting green buildings,
by offering recognition to BEAM plus,
financial support and adequate education to the public.