29 September 2016, Macau

CEM has always been active in promoting energy efficiency and conservation. It has been joining hands with the Office for the Development of the Energy Sector (GDSE) to hold the “Macau Energy Saving Contest” since 2009, which has achieved incredible savings of 116.4 million kWh of electricity for Macau in seven years. This year, 43 hotels and 454 buildings participated in the Contest, hitting a record high. To convey the message of energy saving, CEM held the “Experience Sharing Seminar on Energy Saving” at the conference room of Macau Science Centre on 29 September. Keynote speakers from Hong Kong and Macau hotels and environmental protection sectors were invited to share their expertise as well as their respective companies’ successful experience on energy saving, attracting more than 60 representatives from related industry to participate in the Seminar.

Guests attending the Seminar included Chio Loi Long, Senior Technician of the Environmental Protection Bureau Environmental Publicity Education and Cooperation Department; U Pui Un, Consultant Senior Technician of GDSE; Cheang Io Tung, CEM Customer Liaison Committee member; Benjamin Yue, Principal Advisor to CEM Executive Committee; Iun Iok Meng, Advisor to CEM Executive Committee; Jane Leong, Senior Manager of Customer Services Department and Cecilia Nip, Senior Manager of Communications and Public Affairs Office, and so forth.

In his speech, Benjamin Yue indicated that as an important part of sustainable development, energy conservation requires the joint efforts of citizens and commercial institutions. Due to the flourishing hotel industry in Macau in recent years, there are new large-scale hotel projects completed and put into service every year, resulting in the city’s power consumption to hit record highs. In order to ease the burden on the environment, the hotel industry has actively invested in resources and mapped out appropriate environmental protection policies allowing staff and customers to conduct environmental practices, which not only help hotels save operating costs, but also allow them to improve their environmental image as well as fulfill social and environmental responsibilities. CEM hoped that this Seminar can be set up as an exchange platform, industry insiders can exchange information about energy conservation measures and experiences implemented in equipment or operation, thereby establishing an environment that pays equal attention to economic development as well as environmental protection and energy conservation.

CEM invited representatives from Hong Kong and Macau’s hotel and environmental protection sectors as keynote speakers at the Seminar. Ir Conrad Wong, BBS, JP, Immediate Past Chairman of Hong Kong Green Building Council and Vice Chairman of Yau Lee Holdings Limited, addressed on “Smart Building Means Smart Investment”; Brian Tse, Director of Engineering of Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui, gave a speech about “Green Practice for Hotel Operation”; and Justin Ng, Sustainability Life Cycle Management Assistant Vice President of Galaxy Macau, gave a talk about “Sustainable Development Management Approach: Continuous Energy Commissioning”. Meanwhile, Chairman of Macau Energy Saving Association John Ramos delivered a keynote speech titled “Smart Control and Diversified Data Management”.

Taking Holiday Inn Express Hong Kong SoHo’s successful story in green building as an example, Ir Conrad Wong introduced how a hotel can make use of sustainable development designs combined with green building and eco-friendly devices to achieve energy saving and recover related costs within a short term. Holiday Inn Express Hong Kong SoHo is one of the intelligent hotel models as well as the first hotel in the world to simultaneously obtain four platinum awards or equivalent of green building accreditation by the Hong Kong Green Building Council, the US Green Building Council, the Singapore Building & Construction Authority and the China Green Building Council.

Mr. Brian Tse said that Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui is committed to environmental protection and has set long-term goals of reducing energy and water consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. Not only has the hotel switched to using a lot of energy-saving devices, it has also actively organized staff to participate in various energy conservation campaigns. In 2015, the hotel took part in the Earth Hour campaign to support environmental protection together with its guests. Thanks to the active implementation of energy-saving measures, the hotel’s power consumption in 2015 dropped 5.2% compared to 2014.

Mr. Justin Ng explained that Continuous Energy Saving Commissioning is an ongoing technology that can conserve energy and improve building performance. Its primary target is to integrate optimized building performance into the ongoing energy-saving management system when the devices are in operation. Implement “Continuous Energy Commissioning” can correct the possible error and maintain the energy performance and efficiency to prevent further energy loss. Due to enhanced monitoring, the maintenance cost is reduced, thereby helping to achieve the short-term cost recovery plan. In the meantime, energy consumption can be reduced by 10% to 15% annually.

Mr. John Ramos said that many SMEs and hotels are now continuing to invest in different energy-saving devices, and a proper utilization of data can preserve the value of investments as well as effectively diagnose and evaluate a better scheme for the replacement of energy-saving devices. Mr. John Ramos stated that the cloud era has already arrived, and cloud technology-based energy management platforms can help make long-term analysis and monitoring on data computation, as well as constantly monitor indoor environmental changes to optimize various eco-friendly measures.

There was a Q&A session after keynote speakers shared their experiences. Jane Leong and Cecilia Nip joined keynote speakers to answer questions. Attendees raised questions with great enthusiasm and exchanged their views and experiences on energy saving.