Despite rising demand CLP cut air emissions by over 80 per cent
I refer to the article by Gavin Edwards, conservation director, and Sarah Keung, senior campaign officer for climate at WWF-Hong Kong ("Bright ideas", May 28).
CLP shares the same vision as the community on the need to conserve the environment. We are conscious of the impact our business has had on the environment. Over the last 25 years, we have made significant improvements to reduce our total air emissions by over 80 per cent, despite an 80 per cent rise in electricity demand over the same period. Our emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of electricity have also fallen by about a third over the same period.
According to government statistics, marine and road transport have replaced electricity generation as the biggest air pollution sources in Hong Kong.
Despite the limited opportunities for developing large-scale renewable energy economically in Hong Kong, CLP has developed Hong Kong's first commercial-scale standalone renewable energy generation and storage system on Town Island, and has been exploring the feasibility of an offshore wind farm in the southeastern waters. We have been offering services to customers, schools, civil society groups, businesses and the government to enable more than 200 small-scale distributed renewable energy generation systems to be connected to our grid. We will continue to facilitate the development of community renewable energy projects.
As for the planning of new gas-fired generation units, it is worth noting that the submission to begin the environmental impact assessment process for additional high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbines is preparatory work in support of the government's announced plan to increase the share of natural gas generation to around 50 per cent by 2020. The decision to proceed with constructing additional generation capacity would depend on factors including environmental requirements, technical feasibility, economic merits of the project and government approval.
In addition to continued efforts to move towards a cleaner fuel mix, CLP will continue to work with the community to help reduce carbon intensity, through a range of energy efficiency advice and energy-saving tools, supported by public education programmes such as the "Power Your Love" programme, whereby customers can save energy and donate the benefits to the less fortunate.
CLP will actively engage in dialogues with the community on the government's public consultation on the future development of the electricity industry, and will provide relevant information to facilitate an informed discussion.
