Buildings account for about 89% of the total electricity consumption in Hong Kong. To reduce carbon emission, it is imperative to improve energy efficiency in buildings. Since 1998, the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) has issued a series of Building Energy Codes (BECs) and has also launched the voluntary Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Registration Scheme for Buildings to promote compliance with these BECs in order to improve the energy efficiency in buildings. These BECs stipulate the minimum energy efficiency requirements for building services installations such as lighting, electrical and air-conditioning system, as well as lift & escalator. These four types of building services installations have accounted for around 80% of the total electricity consumption of a modern office building. However, the participation rate of the private sector to the voluntary Registration Scheme is always on the low side.

Consequently, the Government has no better choice but to mandate compliance by means of legislation similar to that in the Mainland and in many overseas countries where mandatory compliance with some certain minimum energy efficiency standards for buildings has been implemented for years. The public consultation on the Mandatory Implementation of the BEC was launched on 28 December 2007 and ended on 31 March 2008 (please click the right diagram for the Consultation Paper). The vast majority of the views received in the consultation supported the proposal. Please click here for the report on the results of the consultation exercise [PDF format (236KB)]. ¡C

Under the efforts of all parties, the Buildings Energy Efficiency Bill for mandatory implementation of the BEC had been completed on schedule. It was then published in the Gazette on 4 December 2009 (please click the right diagram for the Bill) and was introduced into the Legislative Council on 9 December 2009 to commence the vetting procedures (please click here for the Legislative Council Brief [PDF format (332KB)]. Please also click here for the press release). The drafts of the mandatory BEC [PDF format (411KB)] and EAC [PDF format (55KB)] may also be viewed here for reference. However, please note that the two drafts are for reference only but not the effective version. The implementation of the effective version will only be promulgated in the Gazette in due course after the Bill is passed by the Legislative Council. The Bill and the drafts of the two codes are subject to amendments without prior notice due to the comments collected during the vetting by the Legislative Council.