3 IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT
A. Impacts of Our Internal Operations

1.   Minimising Energy Consumption

1.1     More efficient use of energy is one of the main priorities for our internal operations, as it is for Hong Kong as a whole (see Improving the Environment - Impacts of Our Policies and Programmes for details).

1.2     All of our offices and laboratories undertake annual self-inspections to identify areas of improvement. Energy wardens are in all of our offices to monitor conservation efforts, and the Energy and Emissions Management Team manages overall performance and identifies further opportunities for savings.

1.3      To recognise our effort and achievements in reducing energy consumption in 2008, we have been awarded the 'Class of Good' Energywi$e Label under the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence.

1.4     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and Environment Bureau (ENB) are also subject to the Clean Air Charter, a voluntary, business-led initiative to encourage companies and organisations to reduce air pollution which was signed by the Government in 2006. The data and information provided below are relevant to the requirements of the Charter. We also produced a Guide to Clean Air Charter Report Writing in early 2008 to provide guidelines to government bureaux and departments on how to report about their achievements.

Progress on aims for 2008
1.5     We have achieved or exceeded all our aims for 2008:
-

Reduced office electricity consumption by 1.8 per cent (exceeding the target of 1.5 per cent by 0.3 per cent ) to 2.5 gigawatt hours(GWh) (not including air-conditioning, as we share office space in buildings that do not meter electricity consumption of air-conditioning separately). The resulting pollutions amounted to 1 800 tonnes of CO2, 5 300 kg of SO2, 3 300 kg NOx and 250 kg RSP.

- Maintained good indoor air quality in our offices (15 offices certified under the Indoor Air Quality Certification Scheme).
- Procured environment-friendly vehicles as new or replacement vehicles.
- Continued to encourage new waste management contractors to join the Clean Air Charter.
- Ensured waste management facilities met international emission standards when preparing new contracts.
- Continued to explore a landfill gas utilisation scheme for SENT landfill.

Fuel consumption at EPD in 2007 and 2008
1.6     Our fuel consumption is related to two areas:

Transport fleet
in 2008
Fuel consumption
in 2007
Fuel consumption
in 2008
Pollution emissions
in 2008

Road transport (52 vehicles including 47 petrol, two LPG, two hybrid and one Euro II diesel)

Total mileage:
623 000 kilometres

95 000 

2 900 

60 

litres petrol

litres diesel

litres LPG

88 000 

2 600 

60 

litres petrol

litres diesel

litres LPG

560 

0.1 

kg NOx

kg RSP

Marine monitoring vessel, the 'Dr Catherine Lam'

92 000 

 

litres ultra-low sulphur diesel

84 000 

litres ultra-low sulphur diesel

4 200 

170 

kg SO2

kg NOx

kg RSP


Aims for 2009
1.7     Our aims for 2009 are to:
-

Reduce office electricity consumption by 1 per cent.

- Certify that all our offices meet indoor air quality requirements.
- Continue exploring the option of procuring more environment-friendly vehicles.
- Continue encouraging new waste management contractors to join the Clean Air Charter.
- Include a requirement that the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre meets the latest EU emission standards when preparing the Centre's follow-on contract.
- Continue the work on a landfill gas utilisation scheme for SENT landfill to further reduce emissions.

On-going initiatives
1.8     In addition to the above initiatives, we have on-going measures to reduce energy consumption. These include:

OFFICES

 

- Cooling and heating
Maintain room temperatures at 25.5 degrees Celsius in summer months.
Use sectional control switches for the air-conditioning and lighting systems.
Encourage staff to dress down during summer months when appropriate.
Install occupation sensors in rooms.
- Lighting
Replace T8 fluorescent lamps with T5 lamps and use electronic ballasts in lamps.
Use occupation sensors.
Reduce lighting to the minimum necessary.
Switch off lights when not in use. Conduct routine checks and remind colleagues not to leave lights on.
Replace ageing lighting equipment with energy-saving devices.
- Office equipment
Use programmable timers for shared equipment.
Switch off computers and office equipment when not in use.
Use the power saving features on computers and office equipment.
Purchase computers and office equipment with energy efficiency labels.
Post energy-saving stickers on light switches and office equipment.

TRANSPORT

Promote green driving practices including:
 
- switching off idling engines;
- making trips only when necessary;
- driving at a steady speed;
- avoiding sudden braking;
- planning routes to minimise journey time and avoid congested areas.
Require hybrid vehicles under new waste facilities contracts.
Encourage staff to use public transport where possible, walk for short journeys and use the pooling system for government vehicles to maximise vehicle use.

CONTRACTORS

Encourage new contractors to sign the Clean Air Charter and commit to reducing their emissions.
Require operators of waste management facilities to follow stringent contractual requirements to control and monitor emissions.
Require continuous monitoring of emissions from the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre and monthly reports released to the public.

 

2.   Waste Reduction

2.1     We have well-established programmes to reduce paper consumption and recycle paper and plastic waste. In 2008 paper consumption fell by 4.3 per cent through our on-going paper-saving initiatives. These included such things as using both sides of paper, promoting electronic versions of annual reports, extending use of e-mail systems to all staff, disseminating administrative information through a daily electronic bulletin, using e-applications and processing for internal procurement and leave application, distributing seasonal greeting cards electronically, and promoting electronic sharing of reports and presentation materials.

2.2     To recognise our effort and achievements in reducing waste in 2008, we have been awarded the 'Class of Excellence' Wastewi$e Label under the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence.

2.3     We also consolidated our recycling efforts under the new Consumables and Inventory Recycling Scheme to re-use and recycle surplus items as far as practicable. The collection of recyclables was streamlined in our offices and we started to recycle used toner cartridges from photocopiers. Environmental contractors collected 46 500 kg of waste paper in 2008 and 490 kg of plastic waste.

 

3.   Other Issues

Green Procurement

3.1     The Government uses its purchasing power to negotiate for affordable green products, and hopefully promote a market for these goods. Internal green procurement guidelines exist for over 30 products. The Government now wants to expand this list and commissioned a consultancy study in July 2008 to update existing specifications and develop green specifications for additional, commonly-used products.

3.2     We also promote green procurement in the community through the Hong Kong Green Purchasing Charter which is funded by the Environment and Conservation Fund and was launched in October 2007. Three experience-sharing seminars were held under the Charter in 2007 and 2008. Subsequently, two green purchasing workshops were arranged for April and May 2009.

e-procurement
3.3     The EPD is one of three government departments participating in a pilot e-Procurement programme that enables electronic transactions with suppliers of goods and services, of up to $1.43 million. The programme simplifies procedures and reduces paper consumption. The other pilot departments are the Immigration Department and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. The next step will be to allow notification of invitations to submit quotations and the submission of quotations.

See also: Targets - Our Progress and 2009 Aims.