HK: Public Engagement Process on "Combating Climate Change: Energy Saving and Carbon Emission Reduction in Buildings" by the Council for Sustainable Development

The Council for Sustainable Development is holding 5 regional forums for public engagement on "Combating Climate Change: Energy Saving and Carbon Emission Reduction in Buildings".


  
1st Regional Forum - New Territories East
Date : 16 Aug 2011 (Tue) 2:15PM
Venue : Sha Tin Town Hall (Exhibition Gallery)
Address : 1/F, 1 Yuen Wo Road, Sha Tin, New Territories

2nd Regional Forum - Hong Kong Island
Date : 30 Aug 2011 (Tue) 6:45PM
Venue : Leighton Hill Community Hall
Address : G/F, 133 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong


3rd Regional Forum - Kowloon West
Date : 24 Sep 2011 (Sat) 9:15AM
Venue : Mong Kok Community Hall
Address : L2, Mong Kok Complex, 557 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon


4th Regional Forum - New Territories West
Date : 11 Oct 2011 (Tue) 9:15AM 
Venue : Tsuen Wan Town Hall (Exhibition Gallery)
Address : 1/F, 72 Tai Ho Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories

5th Regional Forum - Kowloon East
Date : 11 Nov 2011 (Fri) 2:15PM
Venue : Sai Tso Wan Neighborhood Community Centre
Address : 1/F, 81 Cha Kwo Ling Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon


Registration and more info:  http://www.susdev.org.hk/en/home.aspx

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Conference on Urban Age to be held in Hong Kong on 16-17 Nov 2011

The "CITIES, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING URBAN AGE CONFERENCE" will be Organised by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society in partnership with the University of Hong Kong druing16-17 November 2011. 

"Cities are critical sites for both enquiry and action in relation to health and well-being. With up to 70 per cent of the world’s population concentrated in urban areas by 2050, global well-being will increasingly be determined by the health of urban dwellers. To date, urbanisation has been associated with improvements in income levels and health outcomes. At the same time, the pressures of urban growth – reflected by increased levels of density, overcrowding, informal development and lack of services - have contributed to the emergence of stark social and health inequalities in cities of the developed and developing world.

The 10th Urban Age conference in Hong Kong will explore the relationships between the design of the built environment, health and well-being in cities with a particular focus on how urban density affects the experiences of different population groups – including fragile communities of the young, the elderly and migrants. These questions are particularly important at a time when the economic and environmental benefits of urban density, such as innovative capacity and resource and carbon efficiency, provide a strong momentum for related urban policy and practice, while important social issues such as health and well-being are given little attention."

More about the Conference: http://www.urban-age.net/conferences/hongkong/
Conference Brief







(Source: http://www.urban-age.net/)

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UNEP Survey on Emerging Issues for Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 (Before 30.9.2011)

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is conducting the 2011 ‘UNEP Survey on Emerging Issues‘ and invites everyone to participate. The output from the survey will be used to inform UNEP’s input to the ‘Emerging Issues’ theme of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Rio 2012.

UNEP recently conducted a Foresight Process on emerging environmental issues, in which 21 issues were identified through consultation with more than 400 scientists worldwide and systematic debate by a panel of 21 distinguished scientists. Furthermore, during the development of UNEPs’ flagship publication the 5th Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5), a further set of five emerging issues were also identified based on scientific opinions.

UNEP now wishes to solicit the opinion of governments, major groups and stakeholders on the list of issues. Through a survey they are asking interested decision-makers, practitioners and citizens to score the 26 issues based on their judgment of their importance and relevance, especially to their country or world region, and to suggest possible actions to address these issues.

Based on the input collected through the survey, UNEP will analyze and rank the scores to identify the top 5 to 10 priority emerging issues for each world region (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North America and West Asia), as specified by Governments and Major Groups. A short outcome report will be produced as input to the Rio 2012 process.

Source: http://www.environmentalgovernance.org/blog/2011/09/unep-consultations-raising-expectations-for-sustainability-summit-in-rio-2012/

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Second phase of Hong Kong Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme to take full effect on 19 Sept 2011

The second phase of the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MEELS) will be fully implemented on Monday (September 19) to include washing machines and dehumidifiers under the scheme. 


The MEELS was introduced in May 2008 through the Energy Efficiency (Labelling of Products) Ordinance (Cap. 598), under which energy labels are required to be shown on all prescribed products for supply in Hong Kong to inform consumers of their efficiency performance. Following the successful implementation of the first phase of the scheme, which covered three types of products, namely room air-conditioners, refrigerating appliances and compact fluorescent lamps, the scheme was extended to cover washing machines and dehumidifiers on March 19, 2010, with a grace period of 18 months.

Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201109/16/P201109150266.htm


More about Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme: http://www.emsd.gov.hk/emsd/eng/pee/eels_mandate.shtml

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Solar photovoltaic energy systems causing lead emissions in China and India

A study by Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering in University of Tennessee, Knoxville, discovered that solar power, which depends particularly on lead batteries, releases more than 2.4 million tons of lead pollution in China and India.

The researchers found that the countries have large amounts of lead leak into the environment from mining, smelting, battery manufacturing, and recycling – 33 percent in China and 22 percent in India.

Also, a large percentage of new solar power systems continues to be reliant on lead batteries for energy storage due to the inadequate power grid in these countries.

“Investments in environmental controls in the lead battery industry, along with improvements in battery take-back policies, are needed to complement deployment of solar power in these countries,” said Cherry.

“Without improvements, it is increasingly clear that the use of lead batteries will contribute to environmental contamination and lead poisoning among workers and children,” he added.

The study, co-authored with Perry Gottesfeld of Occupational Knowledge International (OK International), was published in the September issue of the journal Energy Policy. 

Sources: TruthDive

Link to the Article :

Perry Gottesfeld, Christopher R. Cherry, "Lead emissions from solar photovoltaic energy systems in China and India", Energy Policy, Vol. 39, Issue 9, pp. 4939-4946.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03014215/39/9

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Public consultation on initial proposals for the Regional Cooperation Plan on Building a Quality Living Area in PRD

The Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao governments today (September 1) jointly launched a three-month public consultation on initial proposals for the Regional Cooperation Plan on Building a Quality Living Area
(The Plan).



Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201109/01/P201109010129.htm
More info: http://www.gprd-qla.com/
Consultation Documents:  http://www.gprd-qla.com/en/class_resource.asp?classid=8&left05=hlink

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