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The Environment
Other Fuels
Town gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are the main types of fuel gas used for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. LPG is also used by nearly all taxis and more than 70 per cent of public light buses, while natural gas is used for electricity generation and production of town gas. Hong Kong has 1.86 million town gas and 430,000 LPG customers in the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors, of which town gas and LPG respectively accounted for 87.7 and 12.3 per cent of the total fuel gas sold in these sectors in terms of heating values in 2016.
Town gas is manufactured at plants in Tai Po and Ma Tau Kok, which have daily throughput capacities of about 10 million and 2.6 million cubic metres respectively. It is channelled to customers via a pipe network of some 3,600km.
LPG is imported into Hong Kong mainly by sea and stored at five terminals on Tsing Yi Island before being distributed to customers, including 67 LPG filling stations.
Natural gas is imported from the Mainland via submarine pipelines to Castle Peak Power's stations and Lamma Power Station for electricity generation and to the Tai Po plant, and onward from Tai Po to the Ma Tau Kok plant via underground pipelines, for the production of town gas.
Energy Saving
Energy consumption is closely related to greenhouse gas emissions. Improving energy efficiency helps combat global climate change. End users consumed 287,986 terajoules in 2015, with the commercial, transport, residential and industrial sectors taking up 43, 31, 21 and 5 per cent respectively.
The bureau's Energy Saving Plan for Hong Kong's Built Environment 2015-2025+ is the city's first energy-saving blueprint. It sets a target of reducing energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2025, and outlines the policy, strategies, targets and key actions that can help achieve that target. The bureau is also working with the built environment sector to promote energy saving measures.
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department's Energy Efficiency Office promotes efficient use of energy through legislation and public education initiatives. Its Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme requires prescribed products to bear energy labels informing consumers of the products' energy efficiency performance. The scheme covers room air conditioners, refrigerating appliances, compact fluorescent lamps, dehumidifiers and washing machines of 7kg or less in washing capacity. Coupled with an upgrading of grading standards for room air conditioners, refrigerating appliances and washing machines in 2015, the scheme would save annually an estimated 400 million kWh in electricity use. The scheme will be extended to cover more electrical products' and is expected to save more than 600 million. kWh a year after the extension.
The government's district cooling system at the Kai Tak Development provides chilled water to non-domestic developments for air conditioning. It is being completed in phases and now
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Televisions, washing machines with a washing capacity of 7kg to 10kg, room air conditioners for heating and cooling, electric storage water heaters and induction cookers.
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