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Environment
must store energy, which doubles the price of the system.” “I don’t think that green construc-
tion is a government priority right now in Macau,” said Mr Whitfi eld. “Rather than subsidies, I would like to see the government lead by example. There are a number of government buildings that could be improved with green projects.” Mr Whitfi eld said that by going
green, the university’s new campus con- struction budget
faced an increase of
“around 10 percent plus”. However, “the payback comes with the lower operating costs of the structure”.
Testing green cars António Trindade
Need for green T
Macau lacks strategy to promote environmental protection, says industry insider and academic
he Macau government doesn’t have a strategy to push forward environmental protection and ac-
cording to António Trindade, president of the Macao Association of Environ- mental Protection Industry, such a mas- ter plan is urgently needed. “We need to change the way the
market works and that is policy-driven”, he stressed. However, a strategy is need- ed in the fi rst place, “to set the basis for regulation”. Mr Trindade’s comments were made
during last month’s Delta Inter Chamber Event, which included a two-panel confer- ence devoted to environmental issues, be- sides a networking session (see Entertain- ment section). The event was organised by the Delta region publication Delta Bridges, Macau Business and the production com- pany Work In Progress Productions. Mr
Trindade in terms of emphasized that, sustainable development,
Macau “is in a unique situation.” Even given the central government’s acknowl- edgement that development and use of energy resources must become more sustainable in regards to growth, “in Macau,” he says, “this problem is even more severe: our energy and water all come from elsewhere. For Macau to have quality water, it must get it from
OCTOBER 2010
parts of Guangdong province which reg- ularly face severe shortages of water.” Panel moderator Paulo A. Azevedo,
from Macau Business, posed a question to the conference: “With Macau’s rapid growth,” he asked, “are we aware of the challenges?” “Everyone is aware,” responded
Trindade, “but a sense of urgency is not there, particularly in Macau.”
No green priority Professor Richard Whitfi eld, who is currently involved in a “green campus” construction project for the University of Saint Joseph, agreed. While noting that construction was proceeding, the project, which includes rooftop gardens to minimize use of air conditioning and rainwater storage to water gardens, has faced several hurdles. “We face many time-related diffi -
culties,” he said. “Approval for construc- tion, fi nding labour... all these things are diffi cult.” The project also includes the instal-
lation of solar panels to generate electric- ity. However, the university has bumped into an unexpected regulatory problem. “In Macau, you cannot sell power
back to the grid,” Mr Whitfi eld said. “If you cannot sell power to the grid, you
Professor Herman Ching, from the Uni- versity of Macau echoed calls for sus- tainable development while discussing his work on electric vehicles. “In 2008,” he said, “China became the second-big- gest market for automobiles.” Mr Ching is currently involved in
a project sponsored by local electricity utility CEM to study the performance of an electric compared to a similar fuel- powered one. The results have been im- pressive. Fuel costs were 70 percent less, while
carbon monoxide emissions were down 90 percent and carbon dioxide emissions, a gas linked to global warming, were down 40 percent. The calculations for the gas emissions already include the emis- sions needed to produce the electricity needed to power the electric vehicle. According to Mr Ching, electric
cars are a good option for Macau since the daily distance a local vehicle covers is short. Studies from the University of Macau show that private vehicles cover an average eight kilometres per day, while business vehicles go up to 20 kilo- metres. Special vehicles like those for fast food delivery, travel an average of 40 kilometres per day. Stephen Browne, CEO of Beepo, a
company in Shenzhen that develops and produces electric commercial vehicles, was cautiously optimistic that electric vehicles could provide one avenue to- wards increased sustainability. There are many issues to be resolved, he ac- knowledged, “for example, battery re- cycling, etc,” but “our company is fi rst developing, and bringing to the market, electric commercial vehicles, because their use and driving times are more easily predicted.”
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