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Hong Kong environmental issues
OpinionComment
Edwin Lau
Edwin Lau

Opinion | What Hong Kong can do differently as power bills rise

  • Turning to the use of coal is not the answer, with the world – Hong Kong included – facing the worrying scenario of sea level rise
  • Across the city, however, home dwellers, commercial landlords and tenants can do their bit to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions

Reading Time:3 minutes
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An illuminated skyline of Hong Kong. As the cost of energy continues to rise, one practical step to take is to conserve energy. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
Edwin Lau
Hong Kong people and businesses will have to dig deeper from next month to pay higher electricity tariffs. Taking into account the rise in fuel clause charges, customers will effectively be paying CLP Power and HK Electric 19.8 per cent and 45.6 per cent more respectively by the coming January, compared with the start of the year.
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These are the highest increases I can recall in 60 years. Well-off people would not feel much financial pain, but for low-income households, it is a different story. They may have to cut spending on other essential items to cope.

Natural gas is a relatively cleaner fuel to use for power generation and while it is known to be more expensive than coal, the price gap is predictable in normal circumstances. However, soon after the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February, natural gas supplies became unstable and some parts of the world faced impending shortages. This made prices shoot up.
To cope with this energy supply crunch while maintaining economic recovery, some countries have reversed their energy policies by increasing the use of coal. This has led to a rebound in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists in the United States, the amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide broke a record this year. As measured at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii, the concentration of the gas reached nearly 421 parts per million (ppm) in May, an increase of 1.8 ppm over 2021. These levels have been described as comparable to the Pliocene Climatic Optimum, more than 4 million years ago, when sea levels were between 5 to 25 metres higher than today.

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When Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in September 2018, many places flooded. Tai Po Kau recorded a sea level rise of 3.4 metres as a result of storm surge. Coupled with astronomical tide, the highest sea level reached 4.71 metres, a touch lower than the record of 5.03 metres set by Typhoon Wanda in 1962.
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