Over 90,000 households support the 11th No Air Con Night

Turning off the Air Con, Cooling the Earth

The “11th No Air Con Night” was successfully held on 9th October, 2020, Friday. This annual energy saving event aims to promote green practices and encourage people to bear the responsibility as a member of the earth village.

Easing global warming starts with a simple action! We are happy to announce that over 90,000 households have signed up for “No Air Con Night 2020”! With reference to an air con consuming 1kWh of electricity per hour, turning on the air con for 8 hours would equate to emitting around 4.43kg of carbon emission. Referring to the participation date of 90,000 households in this year’s “No Air Con Night” (from 7pm to 7am the next day) would decrease electricity consumption by 1080MW, while reducing 598 tons of carbon emission.

This year, with the significant support from 49 Universities and Higher Education Institutes, and 287 Schools (including 55 Secondary Schools, 115 Primary Schools and 117 Kindergartens), thousands of students, staff and parents have the chance to understand the importance in saving energy and the practice of green lifestyles. Some schools also held different kinds of energy saving activities in response to this campaign.

Moreover, 246 companies and organizations have pledged to join “No Air Con Night 2020”. Over 1400 buildings and housing estates have called for the support from their colleagues, residents and tenants, and some of the property management offices to turn off the air con. They posted No Air Con Night posters, stickers and display the paperless promotion on the e-panels.

It is our honour to gain the generous support from the Hong Kong Observatory and Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, and having dozens of Government departments and related organizations, such as the Transport and Housing Bureau, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Buildings Department, etc., to actively promote our event to their Civil Servant teams. We are also grateful to have the support from over 57 District Council Members. They have published posts on the social media to show their supports.

Apart from political, business and educational parties, we have specially invited a rapper from HKGolden Music to perform the theme song and filmed music video for “No Air Con Night 2020”, arousing support from the general public! This year we also invited Sham Lok Yi, a local artist and Green KOL, to film a promotional video for “No Air Con Night”. In the video, Sham introduced different creative methods for cooling down when not using the air con. She also encouraged us to save energy and reduce carbon emission, as well as joining the “No Air Con Night”.

This year, celebrities of different sectors have supported “No Air Con Night”, including:

• Mr. PANG Yiu Hung, JP (Director of Electrical & Mechanical Services (Ag.)
• Dr. CHENG Cho Ming (Director of HK Observatory)
• Mr. LAM Chiu Ying (Former Director of HK Observatory)
• Futou Annie (Musician)
• Mr. MOK Ho Kwong (Founder of Natural Network)
• Ms. SHAM Lok Yi (Artist)
• Miss Cecilia CHOI (Actress)
• Ah Jeng (Radio DJ)

More about the participation list: https://en.noaircon.com/participation

Apart from inviting celebrities to support “No Air Con Night”, we are also aware that a number of public figures, including radio presenter, writer, and artist, have encouraged the public to join the event on their social media pages. Meanwhile, various online information platforms helped to promote this year’s “No Air Con Night”. We are motivated by the active responses public figures and the media have shown towards the event, which also reflects our society’s increasing awareness towards environmental issues.

This year, under the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures, we launched a new online activity for “No Air Con Night”– “Party Guess with the Polar Bear”, which allowed us to interact with the public via social media. In a video clip, an actor in a “Polar Bear” costume demonstrated a list of movements representing environmentally friendly and climate change messages. Dozens of participants got the correct answer and will receive a reusable umbrella bag. The reusable umbrella bag is an environmentally friendly gift and can substitute single-use umbrella bags. Through this activity, we hope participants and the public can learn to use the air con responsibly, to save energy and to mitigate global warming. We would like to thank the participants who joined this activity.

In the past 9 years, we have host a “No Air Con Night” ceremony in an outdoor air-con-free venue. This year we cannot host a ceremony due to the pandemic, but we are glad that different sectors have still shown their understanding and support for this event.

We thank all of you to turn off the air con and cool the Earth together! Please continue to support the “No Air Con Night” and sustain in the wise use of energy!

All can take action on easing the Global Warming.

While turning on the air con at home on hot days, are you aware of heating up the outdoor temperature?

Hong Kong consumed 4.48 billion kWh of electricity in 2019, of which air-conditioning made up around 30% (1.34 billion kWh of electricity) of the total, that equates releasing 7.44 million tonnes of carbon emission to the atmosphere.

If we rely on indoor air conditioning when the weather gets hotter, a vicious positive feedback is formed in warming the planet.

Using less air conditioning is truly a way in cooling the Earth.

All are welcome to join the “No Air Con Night 2020″ on 9th October (suggesting from 7 pm). The first step of change can be taken by turning off the air con at home together.

Sign up here: www.noaircon.com

The tour started from the ZCB. With detailed explanations from the staff, we were able to identify the serious consequences of climate change – a rise in temperature and extreme weather conditions becoming more common. As an international metropolis, Hong Kong has developed her own building strategies and green technologies to combat environmental problems.  Some of them were introduced in situ to reduce electricity and resources consumption of buildings: Smart-plug systems to monitor household and building electricity use, variable air volume system installed on the floor for cooling, and virtual reality softwares to replace conventional building design procedures. We also had a chance to test out several locally developed technologies.

Our next stop was the EMSD Headquarters building, which showcases various features of a green building. These include, apart from greening of the façade, solar panels, sunpipes and motion sensing lights that replace conventional lighting, double-layered glass windows for heat insulation, district cooling systems which use sea water as a coolant to replace traditional air conditioning, etc. The Headquarters, without a doubt, serve as an example and encouragement to transform Hong Kong into a low-carbon city.

Climate change is a pressing menace that simply cannot be neglected. Hong Kong, however, has yet to embrace environmental-friendly measures, and is thus to blame for contributing hugely to carbon emissions and aggravating global warming. As a response, the government has launched Hong Kong Climate Action Plan 2030+, which states that the ultimate goal is to reduce emission for 65% to 70% relative to 2005 levels by 2030. To achieve the target, the city will need efforts from the authorities to implement green energy policies and better town planning, efforts from various sectors to incorporate green concepts in building designs, most importantly, efforts from the public to keep up a more low-carbon, energy-efficient lifestyle.

To see highlights of the tour, please click: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm29wnti

ZCB is a 3-storey building which comprises of an exhibition areas, an eco-home show flat, an office area and a multi-function hall. There is also a landscape area with first native urban woodland which has around 40 kinds of native trees.

As the first zero carbon building in Hong Kong, ZCB consists of over 80 different eco-building technologies that help reduce in 45% of energy demand compare to other buildings in current standard design. Moreover, photovoltaic panels and biofuel are used in ZCB to provide electricity not only for their own needs but also for the local grid. These features highlight the ZCB a unique site of Hong Kong Green Buildings.

The EMSD Headquarters Buildings is originally the former Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal 2 building. It was revitalized and adaptive reused in 2005.  The revitalization conception with less demolition and construction waste makes it an ideal example of green buildings.

No matter the ZCB or the EMSC Headquarters Buildings, they both play an important role in building a green Kowloon East. By the end of this “Monthly Green” activity, participants will have a better understanding in how different building design can help with alleviating the global warming. Nevertheless, the wiser use of energy saving design and products are also vital.

Event Details:

Date:05-08-2017 (Sat)

Time:10:00-13:00 (3 hours)

Assembly Time: 09:45

Assembly Point: ZCB, Kowloon Bay

Fee: HK$50

Route: ZCB>EMSD Headquarters Buildings

Enrollment: https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/8-tickets-35927128007

Please contact Ms. Ma at 8100 4877 for any enquiry.