Green Sense » Extreme Weather http://greensense.org.hk Point out the non-environmental friendly practice in society through research and monitoring. Mon, 05 Aug 2024 04:38:07 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Thank you for joining Green Sense ‘Monthly Green’ on 5th August: Green Building Guided Tour http://greensense.org.hk/en/2017/08/%e5%a4%9a%e8%ac%9d%e5%8f%83%e5%8a%a0%e7%92%b0%e4%bf%9d%e8%a7%b8%e8%a6%ba%e3%80%8c%e6%af%8f%e6%9c%88%e7%b6%a0%e8%81%9a%e3%80%8d8%e6%9c%885%e6%97%a5%e7%b6%a0%e8%89%b2%e5%bb%ba%e7%af%89%e5%b0%8e%e8%b3%9e/ http://greensense.org.hk/en/2017/08/%e5%a4%9a%e8%ac%9d%e5%8f%83%e5%8a%a0%e7%92%b0%e4%bf%9d%e8%a7%b8%e8%a6%ba%e3%80%8c%e6%af%8f%e6%9c%88%e7%b6%a0%e8%81%9a%e3%80%8d8%e6%9c%885%e6%97%a5%e7%b6%a0%e8%89%b2%e5%bb%ba%e7%af%89%e5%b0%8e%e8%b3%9e/#comments Mon, 07 Aug 2017 03:00:24 +0000 editor http://greensense.org.hk/?p=3083 On 5th August, Green Sense successfully held the ‘Monthly Green’ Green Building Guided Tour, in which we visited the Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) to know more about climate change and the ‘smart city’ concept, followed by a tour to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) Headquarters to learn about features of a green building.

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

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