Market Drivers on the Transformation of Green Buildings in Hong Kong The Green Buildings Roadmap

Transcription

1 Market Drivers on the Transformation of Green Buildings in Hong Kong The Green Buildings Roadmap Yau, R. 1 ; Tong, J. 2 ; Ng, T. 3, Nugroho, E. 4 1 Arup, Hong Kong, China 2 Arup, Hong Kong, China 3 Arup, Hong Kong, China 4 Arup, Hong Kong, China Abstract: Hong Kong Green Building Council s HK3030 is a demand-side management initiative to building energy consumption, with the target of 30% reduction in building electricity consumption by This approach involves classifying building stocks according to their potential for adopting energy efficient strategies, as well as tailoring strategies that specifically target the sweet spots in each of them. Using Hong Kong as an example, readers are encouraged to deliberate, debate and resolve the urgent challenge of green buildings transformation faced by cities worldwide. The paper reports the on-going process in identifying necessary actions, policies and potential costs towards achieving the HK3030. The first part outlines the quantitative analyses in assessing Hong Kong s building stock; while the second part presents the roadmap for transformation of green buildings in Hong Kong, which is derived by combining the quantitative analysis with the results of stake-holders engagements, and also a review on international initiatives. Keywords: Hong Kong, Green Buildings Roadmap, Emissions Targets, HK3030 Introduction Buildings in Hong Kong consume over 90% of the electricity and account for more than 60% of the GHG emitted citywide, and hence has great potential in contributing to the city s GHG reduction target [1]. Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) was established in 2009 to lead the market transformation to a sustainable built environment. Over the last 5 years, the council has played a major role in guiding the transformation by developing industry standards and best practices, as well as delivering educational programs and initiating research in green buildings. Recently, the council launched the HK3030 Campaign, an initiative to focus and coordinate the demand-side management approach to electricity consumption [2]. The objective of the campaign is to enable a reduction of 30% to the absolute building electricity consumption by 2030, as compared to the level of Taking into account the projected increase in building stocks and higher energy consumption per capita, HK3030 Campaign is equivalent to a reduction of 52% in absolute electricity consumption compared to a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, as illustrated in Figure

2 Quantitative Analyses on Building Energy Consumption and Reduction Potential To understand the current building energy consumption in detail, buildings are categorized into two main segments: residential and commercial. The two types have significantly different energy consumption intensities and patterns. They are further divided into several subcategories to highlight particular characteristics. The potential for energy reduction in each building category and sub-category are estimated through energy modelling. To ensure the models are of appropriate levels of accuracy, they are calibrated against measured data in actual operation. The overall reduction potential is thus built from bottom up by analysing the energy saving measures for each type of building, and assessing their cumulative effect on the entire building stock. Figure 1 Electricity consumption of building stock in Hong Kong Energy consumption is not only dependent on the type/sub-category of buildings, but also their conditions. In order to identify a realistic pathway towards HK3030, an extensive study on buildings with different conditions is essential. For this study, buildings are divided into the following categories: Existing commercial buildings developed before the year of 2015 New commercial buildings constructed in 2015 onwards Residential buildings The projected energy consumption level and possible target for each building category are shown in Figure 2. New commercial buildings have the highest potential for energy intensity reduction. They are governed by the latest building codes and also have more flexibility in 23371

3 design for adopting innovative systems. However, their impact on overall reduction is relatively small since they only account for 15% of building electricity demand in On the other hand, 58% of the building electricity demand in 2030 comes from existing commercial buildings that have already been built; they account for most of the building energy consumptions in Hong Kong. Therefore, the energy reduction initiatives for existing buildings are crucial for the achievement of the HK3030 target. Lastly, residential buildings make-up the remainder of the demand. The study considered many scenarios in the evolution of building stock performance that have the potential to deliver the energy reduction required for HK3030 campaign. In this document, we focus on one particular scenario to highlight some features that are essential when developing an action plan for future energy reduction. Figure 2 Projected building electricity consumption levels and possible reduction targets Existing commercial buildings is the category of building stock with largest energy consumption. Given the significant consumption of this category and will have to play a significant role in the overall reduction. Under this scenario, existing commercial buildings contribute over half of the total reduction in building electricity consumption. This is a daunting target and requires a sequential modular approach to break it down into a number of manageable interim steps this is further discussed in the next section. For existing commercial buildings, there are two different strategies (summarized in Figure 3): 24372

4 Retrofit and retro-commission 70% of existing buildings improving energy performance of buildings by replacing the existing equipment with energy efficient ones. The energy reduction target for retrofitted buildings: 60%, as compared to the consumption level in 2005 Retro-commission 30% of existing buildings examining actual building equipment systems operation and maintenance procedures for comparison to intended or design procedures. The associated energy reduction target for retro-commissioned buildings: 30% In contrast, the strategies for residential buildings are mainly dependent on behavioural change and existing Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MEELS), which grades appliances based on their energy performances. The assessment criteria of MEELS will have to be made increasingly stringent, such that the scheme could contribute to 25% of energy savings in residential buildings. This is accompanied by progressive behaviour change that is both facilitated by design (natural ventilation and facade design) and education (energy conservation). Figure 3 Overall strategies for enhancing energy performances of centralized equipment in existing commercial buildings The implementations of proposed strategies could reduce building electricity consumption by 53%, allowing the HK3030 target to be attained. The effort reduces Hong Kong s GHG emission by 30% or 15 million tonnes of CO 2 -e (compared against BAU scenario), which is equivalent to carbon sequestered by 4,000 sqm of forests in one year. The Hong Kong Green Buildings Roadmap Using the data derived from our quantitative analyses, combined with views collected at stake-holders engagements, and reference to international best practices, an action plan for market transformation of green buildings in Hong Kong was derived. The objective is to provide an overview of the truly critical initiatives on the road to HK3030, how they are 25373

5 interlinked, the interim milestones, the quantitative impact, and to do it in a way that is devoid of greenwash [3]. The major outcome of this research is the Hong Kong Green Buildings Roadmap for the implementation of the critical initiatives, showing the linkage between events, and the interim milestones along the way. The roadmap is in turn constructed out of a series of inter-linked modules, including roadmaps for existing buildings, reporting and benchmarking, regulatory drivers, BEAM Plus (i.e. Hong Kong-based green buildings assessment system), new buildings, GFA incentive scheme, green buildings financing, carbon markets and education. Such a modular and sequential approach is essential when tackling a campaign of such magnitude, as the daunting target can be broken down to a web of manageable interim actions and milestones. The focus of this roadmap is on the critical initiatives, they are the outcome of the various stake-holders consultation and further shortlisted; while there are many initiatives discussed, only those that serve as waypoints, without which other initiatives cannot proceed, are considered critical. As such, many initiatives, though of great importance, are not given top billing in this action plan. This is a conscious decision on the part of the authors, and helps focus the discussion on most pressing matters. As shown in Figure 4, the roadmap can be thought of in 2 stages, including: First stage: Paving the way is the preparation work necessary before the extensive physical changes in achieving significant energy reduction, these includes initiatives such as reporting, benchmarking, legislation, and assessment. A comparatively small portion of energy reduction occurs at this first stage, but at the same time, also requires relatively little investment in resources. Second stage: Realising Change with the ground work of the first stage in place, Hong Kong will be ready to tackle the tougher problems of significantly improving the operation (retrocommissioning) and hardware (retrofitting) of our buildings. The majority of the energy reduction will occur in this stage with accompanying significant investment in resources. The roadmap is constructed based on the following principles: Impact of existing buildings greater portion of the energy reduction will come from upgrading our existing buildings. 58% of building electricity demand in the year 2030 will come from existing commercial buildings that have already been built. On average, these buildings will need to reduce their energy use intensity by 50%. To enact such a level of energy reduction, a number of sequential steps must be pursued: the process starts by enlisting a significant portion of the existing building stock into a program of reporting, the data gained can then be used for consistent benchmarking, which in turn drives the low-hanging fruit retro-commissioning process in bringing the building stock up to defined performance standard, and finally the adoption of retrofitting of energy efficient systems to bring the energy consumption down to the required level. The roadmap is in a large part driven by the sequence and scheduling of these steps

6 Crucial role of benchmarking benchmarking is the hinge point on the roadmap. Firstly, many of the initiatives of stage one are geared towards the implementation of benchmarking the refinement of building codes, the preparation of assessment methodology in BEAM Plus, etc. Secondly, a significant part of stage two also requires a robust benchmarking system to succeed the identification of enhancement works in retro-commissioning and retrofitting, the construction of a consistent financial framework in GFA incentives, ESCOs and carbon markets. Currently, HKGBC has put into action two initiatives towards the successful implementation of benchmarking a tool targeting commercial tenants, and another focusing on the landlord building management. The full action plan [3] highlights the synchronization of these tools with the roadmap. Innovative design in new buildings - represents 20% of the total building stock. Though the impact is relatively smaller, the flexibility in integrating green building features into new buildings is much greater, and often allows for a higher level of energy performance. Perhaps equally important, is that the innovative design of new buildings captures the imagination of both professionals and the public: an exciting new building serve as a beacon for demonstrating sustainable design practices, new technology, and exemplary behaviour; and hence we must capture and maximize their demonstration and education value. Regulatory driven The emphasis is placed on regulatory initiatives. This has its origin in one of the findings in the stake-holders consultation, which is to achieve the aggressive energy reduction required, a coherent set of regulatory measures are the most important type of initiatives. Hence the construction of this roadmap first considers a number of regulatory policies (reporting/benchmarking/energy codes), and then subsequently seek supporting market driven initiatives to support them (voluntary initiatives/ incentives/education). While the majority of the stake-holders agree with such a regulatory driven approach, it was unrealistic to expect a complete consensus. Nevertheless, we hope that this approach serves as a useful starting point in our continued refinement to Hong Kong s roadmap. Area of emphasis at different stages the modular sequential approach of this roadmap highlights the shift in allocation of resources. At the first stage, the focus is on professional training towards the realization of benchmarking. While at the second stage, it shifts towards technical implementation. Financing becomes critical in the second stage when the bulk of the investment in physical upgrade occurs. It is at this stage that we need large scale funding through GFA incentives, funds, loans, ESCOs, which will also require professionals fluent in the finance of green buildings. The potential for energy/carbon markets (tax/rebates/trading) at this stage after a consistent framework of benchmarking is established

7 Figure 4 Hong Kong Green Buildings Roadmap We hope that the stake-holders can use this roadmap to gain a better appreciation of the scale and impact in the challenge of achieving HK3030. Laid out in this form, we see how the critical path shifts as we progress into the campaign, and can prepare for them in resource allocation and capacity building. Using Hong Kong as an example, readers are encouraged to deliberate, debate and resolve the challenge of green buildings transformation faced by cities worldwide. Acknowledgement The authors gratefully acknowledge HKGBC for funding this research project. We wish to thank Ir. Cary Chan and his team in Policy and Research Committee of HKGBC for their supports. We would also like to acknowledge all members of Arup Building Sustainability Group for their assistance in preparation of this document. References [1] Environmental Bureau, HKSAR Government. (2007). Hong Kong s Climate Change Strategy and Action Agenda. Hong Kong [2] Hong Kong Green Building Council. (2012). HK3030 A Vision for A Low Carbon Sustainable Built Environment in Hong Kong by Hong Kong [3] Arup. (2014). Research on Market Drivers for Transformation of Green Buildings in Hong Kong. Hong Kong 28376