Environmental Efforts
In support of the Government's environmental objectives, the Department takes environmental considerations into account from project inception to project management/operation to minimise pollution, conserve resources, protect our natural environment and promote appreciation of its beauty.
In meeting these goals, we are committed to:
- promoting greening and horticulture;
- preserving the assets of our heritage;
- providing aesthetically pleasing open spaces;
- practising waste reduction and energy savings; and
- minimising air and noise pollution in leisure and cultural activities.
We are mindful of these environmental objectives when we plan new facilities and maintain existing facilities and, accordingly, we promote energy-saving building service installations and the use of environmentally friendly materials. High-efficiency lighting systems (fluorescent tubes with electronic ballasts, motion sensors and optical fibres) are used to achieve energy savings as far as possible. The operating hours of venue lighting have also been rationalised where appropriate to reduce electricity consumption. In general, during the summer months, we maintain the 25.5°C office room temperature target set by the Government. In cases in which it is necessary to deviate from this standard for operational and/or customer comfort reasons, such as in certain areas of museums, sports centres and performing arts venues, we work closely with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) to monitor the situation and adjust the room temperature to as close to 25.5°C as possible and appropriate.
Other major environmental efforts include:
- upgrading existing landscape areas and planting more trees and shrubs;
- launching community greening activities, such as the Greening School Subsidy Scheme, the Hong Kong Flower Show, Community Planting Day and the Green Volunteer Scheme;
- organising educational programmes to promote heritage preservation amongst the public;
- saving water by planting drought-tolerant species at suitable locations and using less water for the water features of major parks;
- carrying out energy audits and energy-savings improvement work where practicable in collaboration with the EMSD and the Architectural Services Department;
- adjusting lighting operating hours at our venues where reasonable and installing occupancy sensors to control the switching on and off of lighting at a number of leisure venues and our headquarters to reduce energy consumption;
- taking part in the Friends of the Earth-organised 'Dim It 6.21' campaign from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm on June 21, 2009;
- switching off lights in the outer walls and outdoor areas of our venues, except for operational needs and safety/security reasons;
- using green products and promoting the use of recycled paper;
- engaging contractors to recycle magazines, newspapers, waste paper and printer cartridges;
- using waste separation bins at our venues for the recovery of waste paper, metals and plastics;
- replacing Euro I and II emission standard diesel specialised vehicles in our fleet with Euro V vehicles, and gradually replacing departmental petro-driven light buses with LPG vehicles to reduce emissions;
- installing solar panels at the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence and the Hong Kong Museum of Art to promote the energy savings concept;
- widely promoting good environmental practice and publicising green tips in our offices and venues; and
- appealing for staff support in adopting a more relaxed code of business attire and dressing down in summer to conserve energy and improve our air quality.
In December 2009, the Department issued its ninth environmental report, which covers its green management practices and activities in this area in greater detail.
