bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

FANNY W. Y. FUNG

Electricity use of the most and least energy-hungry shopping malls can vary as much as 13-fold while the variation among office buildings is as much as 17-fold.
This was shown in figures released under a new law and collated by Greenpeace.
But the group said what the numbers actually mean remains a mystery because there is not enough information on the cause of the huge disparity.
"We wrote to the developers to ask for the reasons behind their power usage," Yeung Man-yau, the Greenpeace campaigner responsible for the project, said.
"There are a lot of possible factors affecting energy consumption of commercial buildings - for example, visitor flow, length of opening times and the type of business tenants do."
Greenpeace conducted an investigation into power use of 236 commercial buildings using information from energy efficiency audit results made public under the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance.
The law, which took effect in September last year, requires owners of all commercial buildings built since 1987 to conduct an energy audit every 10 years and display the reports near the main entrances.
The data has been compiled into an online database at www.greenpeace.org/hk/sites/building-eui
Greenpeace is also calling for energy audit information from more buildings to make the database as comprehensive as possible.
Lei Yue Mun Plaza in Yau Tong topped the energy consumption list of 50 shopping malls with central air conditioning. The mall uses 658 kilowatt-hours of power per square metre annually. This is almost 13 times the consumption of the least energy-hungry mall, Olympian City One in Tai Kok Tsui, which uses only 51 kilowatt-hours per square metre.
But the developer of Lei Yue Mun Plaza said the figure had been inflated by a miscalculation and that it would seek to have the report amended.
A spokesman said the mall's total floor area had been understated.
An even bigger contrast in energy use was seen among 83 office buildings with central air conditioning.
Fo Tan Railway House had the highest energy-use index at 424 kilowatt-hours per square metre.
That is almost 17 times the consumption of Hip Kwan Commercial Building in Mong Kok, which uses 25 kilowatt-hours per square metre.
The MTR Corporation said Railway House used so much energy because it housed an operation control centre that ran 24 hours a day.
Greenpeace also developed a league table that ranked efforts in energy saving by different developers.
On a scale of 120 points, Swire Properties outperformed its peers with a score of 105 points, while Cheung Kong (Holdings) came last with just 10 points.
Ratings were given under four criteria: the establishment and attainment of an energy-saving target; energy-saving measures; certification of green features, and transparency of information.
 


Huge differences in electricity use among malls and offices, audit shows

Electricity use of the most and least energy-hungry shopping malls can vary as much as 13-fold while the variation among office buildings is as much as 17-fold. Photo: David Wong

News

Hong Kong

Audit figures show unexplained differences in electricity consumption, but more data needed
