Lam Tin Estate attains Gold Award for environmental management excellence (with photos)
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The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) strives to promote environmental awareness on public rental housing estates. Its Lam Tin Estate has won the Gold Award for Property Management (Residential) at the 2016 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE).
"The winning of the Gold Award presented by the HKAEE recognises the HA's performance in environmental management and its efforts in promoting green living in daily estate management," a HA spokesman said today (May 6). The HKAEE are overseen by the Environmental Campaign Committee along with the Environmental Protection Department and in conjunction with nine organisations.
The HA has adopted many green elements in the daily management of Lam Tin Estate. For example, the management team disseminates environmental information through different channels including the promotion of green messages on notice boards and electronic display panels, and distributes pamphlets with Green Living Tips to new tenants. Some security guards also act as Green Ambassadors to share environmental messages with tenants at the frontline. In addition to organising carnivals and publicity initiatives to enhance tenants' environmental awareness and encourage them to practice green living in their daily lives, the HA also arranges various environmental training events, visits, seminars and workshops for management staff, tenants and contractors.
On waste reduction, the yard waste collected in Lam Tin Estate is turned into compost for estate gardening through natural decomposition. In general, around 40 kilograms of compost can be produced each month. Moreover, there are also over 160 collection points on the estate for the collection of recyclables.
With the planting of about 20 000 plants and shrubs and the installation of vertical green walls and a green roof on the pedestrian covered walkway, the greening ratio of Lam Tin Estate is 26 per cent. To save water for irrigation, an automatic irrigation system with rainwater sensors has been installed on the aforementioned green roof, and the irrigation volume can be adjusted automatically according to the weather conditions.
On energy saving, grid-connected photovoltaic modules on the rooftops of the domestic blocks and on the roof of the pedestrian covered walkway are able to provide around 32 000kWh of electricity annually, accounting for around 2.6 per cent of electricity demand. Equipped with timers and photo-electric sensors, the lighting systems on the estate are adjusted regularly to match with the illumination angle and duration of sunlight, and thus reduce unnecessary energy demand. The estate also encourages tenants to reduce household electricity consumption through community activities.
Lam Tin Estate's performance in environmental management is also recognised by the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and the ISO 50001 Energy Management System certifications. It also attained the award of "Best Performing Estate - Kowloon East Region" in the 2015 and 2016 Public Housing Waste Reduction Campaign.
Ends/Saturday, May 6, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:00
Issued at HKT 15:00
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