Electricity has become a fundamental part of our daily lives and our demand is only increasing: global electricity production has grown continuously every year since 1974 - except for a blip between 2008 and 2009. Hong Kong, one of the world’s major commercial and financial hubs, unfortunately uses a lot of electricity: the commercial sector consumes the highest proportion of energy, at 42% of the total, followed by transport (32%) and then residential (21%).
The hospitality sector is also a large consumer of energy. Tourism growth has contributed significantly to growing electricity consumption. The use of energy in operations such as boilers, lifts, swimming pools, saunas and gyms is a significant consideration for environmental impact, as it is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Fortunately, electricity itself is a clean and relatively safe form of energy, but its production and transmission can have a negative effect on the environment. Electricity power plants leave a large carbon footprint due to the fact that the majority of electricity generation still comes from the combustion of fossil fuels. In 2016, 67.3% of total world production of electricity was produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. This contributes to the production of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and many other greenhouse gases that can have negative impacts on the environment.
The problem of excess greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is one of the largest that the world is currently facing. How is the energy sector helping to minimize this problem? Find out more this week on our website where we’ll outline how the energy sector and government organizations are reforming the way electricity is being produced.