Low-carbon lifestyle within reach, but will HK grasp the opportunity?

Hong Kong is well placed to establish low-carbon communities, but a lack of pilot projects and low public awareness of their potential means the opportunity could be missed.

That's the assessment of a professional who has pioneered such communities elsewhere in the world. It comes as the city prepares for big new developments at West Kowloon and Kai Tak, as well as three new towns in the New Territories.

The government pledged in 2008 to design three new development areas in the New Territories - Kwu Tung North, Fan Ling North, and Ta Kwu Ling - to have minimal carbon emissions. Little progress has so far been reported publicly but an engineering study is being conducted to explore the feasibility and the extent of the designs.

Chris Twinn, a veteran engineer who started one of the first zero-carbon residential projects in London 10 years ago, said that, in order to pave the way for such developments, the government should first demonstrate the feasibility of the concept to developers with a small-scale residential project.

'Developers will not make a financial commitment until they have seen the details of what it means and submit tenders. Otherwise, it involves an enormous cost premium, which will be mostly an innovation cost,' said Twinn, a director of the global engineering firm Ove Arup which is conducting a site engineering study and will propose land uses for the three new towns.

He said Hong Kong residents also needed to know more about the energy they were using as they consumed it. Since electricity meters were installed outside their apartments and were difficult to reach, occupants were generally not aware of how much they were using until they got their bills.