The Shatin campus of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), winner of the Hanson Supreme Grand Award, the Hanson Grand Award (Post‐Secondary Education Institution), and the Most Innovative Energy Saving Measures Award (Across All Categories), is the top performer in the Energy Saving Championship Scheme in 2016 and an outstanding promoter of energy conservation and environmental protection. They strive to mobilize and educate the community and campus stakeholders in energy conservation and have implemented a variety of action‐based energy conservation strategies.
The energy saving measures adopted by CUHK have contributed to remarkable savings of about 90,000,000 MJ in the past 3 years. This is attributed to a wealth of resources and professional knowledge provided by the University. With the dedicated Committee on Campus Sustainability and its Energy Conservation Task Force, energy conservation policy and guidelines have been developed and implemented with support from the senior management of the University. Energy Wardens are appointed in each office to help identifying and implementing energy conservation measures.
CUHK is keen to reduce electricity consumption in its buildings. Actions include replacement of air‐cooled chillers with energy‐saving water-cooled chiller systems and oil‐free chillers, and implementation of the Energy Conservation Incentive Scheme to incentivize energy-saving behaviour in the office. The design of new academic and hostel buildings encourages natural daylight and airflow, and the application of solar energy for generating electricity and heating water. The energy saving performance of the University's buildings are well‐recognized. All new buildings completed in recent years have received "Platinum" or "Gold" BEAM (Building Environmental Assessment Method) or BEAM Plus ratings for their green building designs and management.
The campus has been a "living laboratory" for experimenting with various innovative energy saving technologies. To effectively monitor the electricity consumption of students living in hostels, the first-in-Hong Kong smart meter system has been installed to capture the electricity usage of air-conditioning, lighting and electric sockets separately in each bedroom which have drastically changed students' behaviour. Besides, CUHK's experience of retrofitting all street lamps with LED lights and dimming function, which has achieved considerable energy savings, has been used as a reference point locally. CUHK has also set up on its campus the first-ever Museum of Climate Change, with a generous donation from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and provides free admission for the general education of the community.
< Back