'We at Gateway Apartments endeavour to do all we can to make a difference and hope to inspire others to follow in making our city a cleaner and greener place for all,' he said.

He also said the company, as a responsible industry leader with a large operation within Hong Kong, was committed to sustainable business principles and believed that there was more to running a successful business than a sole focus on profitability.

'Aside from the obvious benefits to the greater community, our environmentally friendly initiatives also make perfect business sense and are appealing to prospective residents, many of whom come from countries where being green is part of life,' he said.

The first 10 sections of its solar panel pilot scheme were installed back in 2006. Today, 100 sets of solar panels are in place, covering a surface of about 200 square metres on the roofs of Sutton Court and Hampton Court of the apartment developments.

The whole system has been up and running smoothly since June, providing 127,000 kilowatt-hours per year of clean and renewable electricity to the project's water heating system. That offsets nearly 70 tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a year.

Holenweger said the solar panel system had significantly reduced the heat pump's electricity consumption, resulting in savings of about HK$100,000 per year. Given a cost of HK$1.5 million for the whole system's installation, it would take more than 10 years to recoup the investment. He said there was still space for expansion, which might be considered upon the successful running of the system.

'Green initiatives cannot be viewed on an itemised basis since some lower operating costs whereas others increase costs. Some green measures incur a great initial investment but benefit a company and the community on a long-term basis,' Holenweger said.

'A good example is our use of rechargeable batteries in pagers and cordless phones, which carries a high initial cost but reduces waste significantly.'

Gateway Apartments is planning to extend the use of rechargeable batteries to cover all the remote controls at its 499 serviced apartments within the Harbour City complex in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Holenweger said the occupancy of Gateway Apartments had always been stable due to its well-balanced tenant mix and a large proportion of long-term lease commitments. Its occupancy rate is nearing 90 per cent, with a waiting list for larger apartments, he said. A promotion offering its 712 sqft studio units for HK$27,800 a month has been well received and will run until the end of the year.

'It is our corporate policy that green measures never compromise the standard of quality and services delivered to our residents. We are pleased to say that our residents are 100 per cent behind our green initiatives and many of them bring their own ideas and suggestions for our consideration,' he said.

'We very pleased with the success of our waste separation scheme, which was introduced last year. The scheme involves different containers for separating paper, glass, plastic and aluminium within individual apartments, and not a single resident does not support it.'

The company's environmental committee reviews business practices regularly and makes recommendations of green initiatives to management.

The scope of environmentally friendly initiatives is comprehensive - ranging from the fitting of water-saving shower heads and taps to electricity timers and sensors to minimise power consumption for locker lighting and lifts, room temperature set at a constant 25.5 degrees Celsius, and the use of biodegradable cleaning products, laundry, dish-washing detergent and garbage bags.

The landlord has also replaced halogen lights with energy-saving light bulbs along all common guest corridors and guest lift lobbies. LED lights are in all lifts to reduce energy consumption.

The property was awarded the Class of Excellence Wastewi$e Label this year by the Environmental Campaign Committee in recognition of its commitment to environmental protection.

Among other accolades for its environmental efforts, Gateway has been awarded the Indoor Air Quality Certificate (Excellent Class) for the past three years, and received the gold certificate in the Quality Water Recognition Scheme for Buildings in the past two years.