Greenpeace protests over energy use in estates' common areas
Greenpeace staged a protest at the Development Bureau yesterday, calling for transparency and the monitoring of energy consumption in common areas of private housing estates, which often incur multimillion-dollar power bills.
Three members of the green group were dressed as polar bears and shouted slogans at Murray Building in Central.
The action followed a survey by the group that found only 10 out of 128 private housing estates responded with energy consumption figures relating to the common areas. The MTR Corporation, which manages more than 10 developments atop railway stations, was one of those companies that failed to respond.
In a letter to the group, the MTR Corp said it could not release the figures because energy consumption patterns varied with the facilities provided in different estates and therefore 'a direct comparison cannot be made'.
Prentice Koo Wai-mok, a Greenpeace campaigner, said the company should bear corporate social responsibility and publicise the figures.
Another survey, which the group commissioned Lingnan University to conduct last month, found some 360 out of 522 interviewees agree on the need for management companies of private housing estates to make known the energy consumption details in common areas for monitoring.
The protest and the surveys were part of an ongoing campaign by the group, which earlier this year found that facilities in common areas - including clubhouses, car parks, wide corridors and grand lift lobbies with chandeliers - could contribute to the multimillion-dollar energy bills footed by six housing estates in West Kowloon. These facilities are supposed to be environmentally friendly or improve the living environment, and earn developers more floor area for more flats and, in turn, more profit.
Koo suggested the government make it a condition that a developer must conduct a carbon audit for a project's operation if it was to get bonus floor area for green features.
An audit would help identify what could be done to cut energy consumption, for example, with lobby lighting, escalators or air conditioning.
