Testing times
With rarely any two days alike, Tony Ho Wai-lun, manager for energy efficiency and emissions reduction services at SGS Hong Kong, believes he has one of the most inspiring jobs in the engineering profession.
'I am involved in an industry where change is occurring almost on a daily basis,' said Mr Ho, who spent the first 12 years of his career working as a building engineer.
He and his colleagues have been carrying out tests on energy saving light bulbs, following the discovery by the Consumer Council that some bulbs in Hong Kong were less energy efficient than they claimed.
With Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland as part of his responsibility, Mr Ho is also kept busy managing the measuring and testing of energy saving performance of various products on behalf of clients.
This includes setting up a new testing facility in Tianjin, on the mainland, to test the mechanical strength of wind turbine blades.
As the demand for energy efficiency and emission solutions increases, Mr Ho and his colleagues have developed an agenda to expand his department headcount, which is now about 30.
'We want to recruit more people but realise we will have to provide internal training resources to raise proficiency levels,' Mr Ho said.
'As a third-party company specialising in inspection, testing, verification and certification, there is a lot going on in the renewable energy sector.
'Clients not only want to improve the energy efficiency of their products and production processes, they also need to meet energy compliant regulations required by customers and governments.'
He was initially inspired to become an energy engineer so he could use his skills to make a positive difference.
In between reading and keeping up to date with the latest energy efficient and renewable energy initiatives, Mr Ho and his team are increasingly involved in measuring their clients' carbon footprints and providing product life-cycle analysis.
He is also actively involved in providing training courses and seminars, and co-operating with industry and government energy representatives to raise climate change and energy efficiency awareness.
'If we are going to make a sustainable difference we need to provide facilities to improve know-how and the changes that need to be made at a social level,' said Mr Ho, who measures his own carbon footprint by the carbon reduction his company helps clients achieve.
