Appliance firms sign up to learn how to cut their electricity bills
Mainland factories owned by Hong Kong businessmen will be shown how to make big savings on their energy bills in a scheme organised by the Productivity Council.
The programme will group companies in industry clusters so that participants can share their experiences.
Ten electrical appliance factories in Dongguan have registered to take part in the 'Energy Audit', the first phase of which will run from this month to April.
Eddie Lo Ying-hoi, the managing director of Lomak Industrial Company which makes consumer electronic products in Dongguan , said he expected the scheme to help his factory cut 10 per cent off its yearly 8 million to 9 million yuan electricity bill.
It would also help lower pollution. 'On the mainland, power plants are mainly fuelled by coal. If there is less demand for electricity, fewer suspended particulates will be generated,' Mr Lo said.
The council's manufacturing technology general manager, Li Li-man, said the council had initially targeted the electrical appliance industry because there was a lot of room in the sector to cut energy expenditure and members of the Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association were more receptive to the idea.
'Split-system air conditioners are common in factories, but they're not very energy efficient,' said the council's environmental management principal consultant Raymond Fong Cham-leung. 'A central air-conditioning system can cut energy consumption by one-third.'
Mr Fong said each participating factory could cut its energy consumption by 10 to 30 per cent.
