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The Environment
efficiency standards had been upgraded and were released in December 2015. It is expected that up to 2025, energy savings from all new buildings will amount to about 5 billion kWh.
The Environment Bureau published in May an Energy Saving Plan for Hong Kong's Built Environment 2015~2025+, the first-ever energy saving blueprint for Hong Kong. It set a new target of reducing energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2025, and set out the policy, strategy, targets and key actions that could help achieve the new target.
Pollution Prevention
Air Pollution
The bureau's Clean Air Plan sets out air-quality improvement measures aiming to broadly achieve by 2020 Air Quality Objectives that took effect in January 2014. The government has a statutory obligation to review the objectives at least once every five years. The bureau will embark on a review of the objectives in 2016.
The EPD has been taking action to reduce emissions from local air pollution sources. Between 1997 and 2013, emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), respirable suspended particulates (RSP) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) dropped 24 per cent to 64 per cent.
From 2005 to 2015, ambient concentrations of RSP, NO2 and SO2 dropped 31 per cent, 12 per cent and 59 per cent respectively, and roadside concentrations of RSP and SO2 fell 40 per cent and 64 per cent respectively. However, ambient ozone increased 29 per cent, reflecting worsening regional photochemical smog, and roadside NO, increased 3 per cent because of excess vehicle emissions and a rise in regional ozone concentration.
Land Transport
Vehicle emissions are the major source of roadside air pollution. The government's policy is to apply the most stringent practicable motor vehicle fuel and emission standards. All newly registered vehicles are required to comply with Euro V standards. Preparations are under way to tighten the emission standards to Euro VI levels.
Nearly all of Hong Kong's taxis and more than 69 per cent of public light buses now run on LPG. To encourage the use of environment-friendly commercial vehicles with low emissions, the First Registration Tax is reduced for buyers of newly registered environment-friendly vehicles. On 1 March 2014, an incentive-cum-regulatory scheme was launched to phase out by the end of 2019 some 82,000 pre-Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles. By the end of 2015, about 39,000 pre- Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles had been retired under the scheme.
To promote the use of electric vehicles, the First Registration Tax for such vehicles is waived till March 2017. Compared with 2014, the fleet grew 171 per cent to 4,198 in 2015. More than 1,200 charging points are available for public use, including some 130 quick and more than 190 medium charging points.
The government has stringent controls against diesel vehicles with excessive smoke. Such vehicles must pass a smoke test with the aid of a chassis dynamometer to ascertain whether
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