Tsang’s Policy Address (II) - 19 Oct, 2005
The Air We Breathe
Not likely to improve soon enough
Dear Subscribers and Friends
Donald Tsang admits “creating a better environment poses a big challenge for the government” but he seems unwilling or unable to grasp what the real issues are to clean the air, which has become a daily embarrassment.
Hong Kong continues to have no energy policy, loves to build roads and feels unsure about how to collaborate with Guangdong on clean air measures.
*** Air pollution research reports can be downloaded from www.civic-exchange.org under publications.
A. Just how bad is the air?
1. It’s bad: Hong Kong’s API exceeded 200 on 12/9/04. On a daily basis, we are close to 100, which is considered unhealthily high.(Guangzhou’s exceeded 300 on 2/11/03).
2. Low visibility: Particulate matter (PM) is responsible for our visibility degradation.Small particles can penetrate our respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
3. How often: The number of bad visibility days has increased substantially over the past 3 decades - from 2-5 days (1978-88), to 5-10 days (1988-93), to 10-15 days (1993-98) and 15-28 days (1998-04). Technically, hazy days are defined as days with visibility reported to be less than 8 km and where the relative humidity is less than 80%.
4. High pollutant concentrations: In 2004, all Hong Kong monitoring stations except one reported annual mean PM above local air quality objectives, which is already more lax than those in US, EU, Canada and Australia. Our levels are 3-4 times the annual mean concentration in say the US.
B. Hong Kong’s problems …
1. Local sources: Not surprisingly, our own largest emitters are the two power plants burning coal and gas, with coal emitting more. Vehicular emissions are also a problem, as Hong Kong has an old commercial vehicle fleet. Continuous improvements on tightening emissions and using cleaner fuels are effective. Hong Kong is extremely slow in extending rail to more areas … such as Aberdeen, where there is high population density. Hong Kong also wastes a lot of energy and it has never managed to incentify the efficient use of energy.
2. PRD sources: However, as Hong Kong’s manufacturing industries have relocated to the PRD over the past 25 years, and as the PRD has become one of the world’s major export production centres, pollution has become a big problem with emissions affecting the entire region.
3. Insufficient power: In the last three years especially, due to the lack of grid power supply, manufacturers in the PRD have to buy their own generators to produce power. The widespread use low quality fuels to power the generators is significantly compounding the problem.
4. Cost of export miracle: Tsang acknowledges Hong Kong’s external trade is “outstanding”. Much of it is related to exports from China, particularly the PRD. Today, a good chunk of our exports and earnings is fueled by power coming from private generators burning low quality fuels.
C. Conclusion … can we use cleaner and less energy?
1. Cleaner combustion: Using cleaner fuels is the fastest way to reduce emissions - cleaner in, cleaner out. In the PRD, Tsang may wish to discuss with Hong Kong manufacturers in a high profile manner to use cleaner fuels for their generators, and at the same time, get Guangdong to agree to allow manufacturers to source cleaner fuels for self-use. Fuel distribution is a controlled industry on the mainland. Prices are also set artificially low, so there is a temptation from local distributors to mix fuels with lower quality combutible materials, including adding water to increase volumn. Our suggestion is not easy but if it works, it has a high and immediate impact.
2. Higher efficiency: In Hong Kong, Tsang has to focus on having an explicit energy policy that rewards efficiency so that the power companies can be paid for helping customers to use less electricity. This is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce emissions with the highest environmental benefits. However, Tsang is not focussed using efficiency to reduce emissions.
CHRISTINE LOH
Civic Exchange - HK’s independent think tank
For other publications: www.civic-exchange.org