Three local green groups have jointly urged the government to set aside plans to increase the nuclear component of Hong Kong's power supply and called on candidates for chief executive to include energy conservation in their election platforms.

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Hong Kong published a joint survey to support their position.

When asked about the government's plan to increase the nuclear component to 50 percent by 2020, about half of respondents declared themselves opposed, while 15 percent supported the increase.

Commenting on the groups' claims, Leung Yiu-cheong, a professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong, commented that it is "unnecessary" to increase the usage of nuclear power for the time being.

"Nuclear power is high-risk energy. Once out of control, the influence would be tremendous, more so than any other forms of energy," said Leung.

Leung added people's faith in nuclear power has eroded.

Without proper evidence for the benefit of increasing nuclear usage, or measures to improve the transparency, the government should not carry forward the plan, emphasized Leung.

The survey revealed about 56 percent of respondents consider nuclear power "unsafe and unreliable", compared with 25 percent holding the opposite view.

Leung suggested much can be achieved via energy saving, which does not require an increase in nuclear power.

"Every building in Hong Kong has a capacity to cut down 10 percent of its energy consumption," Leung said.

The government has estimated Hong Kong's electricity consumption will grow by 40 percent within ten years.

The green groups said they believe the government has exaggerated the annual growth, which they claimed should be only 1 percent each year.

"If the government strikes hard enough on the energy conservation plan, it would be possible that Hong Kong would retain the same electricity consumption in 2020," said Leung.

Leung also proposed the government make a long-term target, developing a more comprehensive energy-saving policy to adjust the fuel mix.

He said "a twenty years' plan at least" will be needed.

Green groups also predicted greater energy problems in the future, noting that some of the coal generators have a lifetime of 25-30 years. Therefore some generators belonging to China Light and Power Company Syndicate, would be ready for retirement in about 10 years. The government forbade building of new coal-fired generators in 1997, but allows generator to use the natural gas.

In response to the survey, the Environment Bureau cited its top consideration as "safety".

The bureau said it views "combating climate change" as the goal - therefore, to reduce to use of coal-fired power, importing nuclear power is a must, it concluded.

The survey, conducted in August by University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme, interviewed 1,025 people.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/17/2011 page1)