All this helped the developer achieve a 30 per cent energy saving and a 40 per cent reduction in carbon emissions at the end of 2021 compared with 2008 when it conducted its first comprehensive energy audit.

“Working with existing buildings presents challenges, but we are determined to overcome these with new technologies and systems,” said Andy Yeung, director and head of technical services at Hongkong Land, in an emailed interview.

Property consultancy JLL installed a smart power-metre system at its office in One Taikoo Place as part of the scheme. The system helps to monitor energy use in different zones and appliance categories.

JLL discovered that almost half of the electricity was consumed outside office hours.

It removed underused equipment including an icemaker, which led to a 9.3 per cent reduction in energy use in its social hub and work cafe areas between last October and June of this year.

“Working with a landlord to optimise your own performance also optimises the performance of the building. So it goes both ways,” said Helen Amos, head of sustainability at JLL in Hong Kong. “Either side cannot achieve the challenge without working together.”

Dutch asset manager APG Investments Asia, an office tenant of Swire Properties in Three Pacific Place, participated in the fit-out portion of the Green Performance Pledge and managed to reduce carbon emissions in its new office by 10 per cent on an annual basis, compared to its previous premises in Central.

This was helped by adopting energy saving features such as the use of motion and daylight sensors throughout the office.

“The most important part is how we now operate this asset for the next 20 years. We can start to look at even newer technology,” said Jonathan Waite, senior responsible investment manager at APG Asset Management Asia.

Chief finance and risk officer Thijs Aaten added: “Ultimately you will have to be net zero. If you’re dodging the bullet now, it will catch up with you.”

Swire Properties has developed a smart waste-reduction pilot programme for its tenants in partnership with Spare-It, a cleantech start-up based in Boston, US. Smart scales were fitted under rubbish bins to collect live waste disposal and recycling data in offices, and display screens were set up to showcase the waste reduction progress of participating teams.

“With this information, we’re able … to understand exactly where to focus and how to generate less and less waste,” said Jose Moreno, Spare-It’s general manager in Hong Kong.

The seven-month challenge involving 15 teams from seven office towers managed by Swire Properties resulted in a 14 per cent reduction in waste per employee. The programme also diverted 41 per cent of total waste by weight from landfills.

According to Spare-It’s calculations, the scheme saved 51,847kg of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the planting of 1,250 trees, said Moreno.

Spare-it is not the only start-up turning to digital solutions to make buildings more environmentally friendly.

Property sector needs streamlined approach to meet energy reduction goals

Hong Kong engineering technology firm Negawatt Utility has developed a digital centralised platform to manage the carbon emissions of buildings.

“With IoT and data analytics, we can understand how the building is operating and give suggestions on how to fine-tune, for example, why buildings are sometimes too hot and too cold,” said Arthur Lam, CEO of Negawatt.

The company partnered with Schroders Capital in 2019 to conduct a pilot project at its Worfu mall, a community shopping centre in North Point. Since then, the start-up has helped reduce energy use by about 200,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) – equivalent to 14 tonnes of carbon emissions being avoided – through the optimisation of the chiller plants that provide cooling.

“Negawatt’s platform has also allowed us to draw on the data to make assumptions on how we can set KPIs [key performance indicators] to make our asset more efficient” to lower our carbon footprints further, said Tracy Wong, asset manager at Schroders Capital real estate Asia-Pacific.

Air conditioning accounted for 28 per cent of Hong Kong’s electricity consumption in 2019, according to data from the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.

A team of PhD students and research staff from City University of Hong Kong have looked into ways of reducing the use of air conditioners as a means to lower environmentally harmful emissions.

The paint, which is patented in Hong Kong and mainland China, was inspired by the self-cooling skin of Sahara silver ants. It reflects more than 95 per cent of solar radiation and emits infrared heat.

Hong Kong landlords offer solutions for tenants to meet climate goals

When compared to normal white paint, iPaint can result in an immediate cooling effect of between 4 and 7 degrees Celsius when applied on the roof tops of buildings, said Martin Zhu, co-founder of I2Cool.

Using one square metre of iPaint can save 120 kWh of electricity and eliminate 70kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to planting six trees, according to the company’s website. The product has been used by the Urban Renewal Authority, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, as well as developers such as Henderson Land and Hang Lung.

Largely overlooked, embodied carbon contributes around 11 per cent of all global carbon emissions, according to the World Green Building Council.

To this end, construction companies and contractors such as Gammon Construction have been employing materials with a lower carbon footprint.

Gammon has over 480 certified low-carbon concrete products, with a roughly 15 to 30 per cent lower carbon footprint than normal concrete, according to chief executive Kevin O’Brien.

“The reason why concrete is a challenge is because part of the recipe is cement, and cement uses a lot of energy to produce, both to extract its raw materials, and then the energy necessary to produce cement,” said O’Brien.

As of July, the total net floor area of environmentally certified grade A buildings in Hong Kong reached 28.3 million square feet, accounting for 38 per cent of total prime office stock, according to a report by property consultancy Colliers released on Wednesday.

“We suggest landlords upgrade their assets early to gain the upper hand in the office market. The competitive advantage of being an early sustainability adopter will likely fade as government regulations push everyone to reach similar standards,” Colliers wrote in the report.

At the current rate of construction, between 60 and 80 per cent of the buildings in Hong Kong that will be in existence in 2050 have already been built.

“We create new buildings that are very efficient, but we’ve also got very good, well designed older buildings that, with systems upgrades, could be some of the best buildings in Hong Kong,” said JLL’s Amos.

“They’re not so snazzy, but actually, their performances are up there, just with a retrofit.”