AN energy adviser to the US Government has attacked Hong Kong plans to introduce thermal standards to save energy in buildings, saying they may lead to greater energy wastage. Amory Lovins, an adviser to President Bill Clinton on energy efficiency, says the effect of the standard is to use dark glass in buildings to cut the heat gain, which leads to use of more lights. These heat the building more, lead to use of more air-conditioning and no net energy saving. Mr Lovins called the scheme ''completely off the rails'' in a letter to legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai. ''I thought I had persuaded officials that energy savings from adopting the OTTV approach would probably range from approximately zero to negative, but evidently the bureaucracy has gone ahead anyway. This is a very bad idea.''