2.5.2 Corporate supports
Corporate bodies always have an influential role that drives employees’ motivation and behaviour. Managers of
shopping malls and shop spaces can set environmentally friendly policies to get the staff involved and help reduce
carbon emissions.
A. Be ready for a sustainable business
Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions amounted to the equivalent of 42 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2008. Around 90% of our city’s electricity is consumed
in buildings, or, in other words, buildings account for some 60% of total greenhouse
gas emissions
1
. Retail industry in commercial buildings can in fact trim back a lot of
sources of carbon emissions.
Implement the following and see how they benefit our Earth:
Strategies
Benefits of equivalent CO
2
emission No. of trees of intake CO
2
amount per year
Recycle used paper
- 5 kg per kg of paper
0.21
Offer a low carbon diet
- 36 kg per kg beef
1.6
Use a refrigerator with Energy Efficiency
Grade 1 instead of Grade 3
- about 109 kg per year
4.7
Avoid using plastic bags
- 6 kg per kg of plastic bag
0.3
Reduce garbage by 10%
- 454 kg per year
19.7
Save water
- 42 kg per 100m
3
1.8
1
Council for Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Carbon manager. Retrieved 5 April 2013, from
B. Energy consumption indicators
Energy consumption indicators allow practitioners to understand their energy consumption levels and performance with
respect to their corresponding peers.
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department has an energy consumption indicator to indicate the energy
consumption level and energy use intensity of different operating entities. Energy consumption of related retail
businesses are revealed in
Figure 35
.
Restaurant and retail
Annual energy consumption per area (MJ/m
2
/annum)
Chinese restaurant
4636
Non-chinese restaurant
4060
Fast food shop
6622
Bar
1536
Other eating and drinking places
5729
Arcade/basement/upper floor shop
1479
Street front/ground floor shop
1778
Central services for shopping arcade
2302
Figure 35 Energy consumption indicator (Source: Electrical and Mechanical Services Department)
Note: Businesses in the same group may be operating under different economic, environmental and operational
constraints, resulting in different energy performance. Practitioners are encouraged to consider the indicator as one of the
ways, but not the only one, of comparing and improving their energy performance with respect to the past.
2.5
Carbon emission
Figure 34 Hong Kong’s
greenhouse gases emissions
(Source: Hong Kong
Productivity Council)
2
The basics
Hong Kong Green Building Council 67
