envision issue 07 compressed

Envision Book 2.indd 1 26/9/2014 14:28:01

When I hang around IKEA and shopping malls, I cannot help picturing my future home – Iwant wooden table and chairs, just near big window, having the warm glow of sunshineflowing on them. I want white tableware and beige colored table cloth under them, and Iwant a photo wall, crowded with pictures of the people I love… I bet most of the peoplehave dreamed about their future home as I do. We work hard, try hard to get closer to ourdream house. However, here comes the inconvenient question that has been ignored forquite a long time –

“ What is the use of a house if you don't have a decent planet to put it on ? ”

- Henry David Thoreau

2 ENVISION


Green building, refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's whole life-cycle, including siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance,refurbishment, and demolition. Now, look around.

Can you tell the building you are in, or the buildings surround you, are green or not? How green are they? How much do people know about it?

As the biggest power consumer in Hong Kong, building partakes alarmingly as much as 90% of the city’s powerelectricity usage. This inconvenient truth combined with the ever growing energy price presents a silent crisis toour life. Therefore, the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) has launched the HK3030 Campaign, whichtargets at reducing 30% of the absolute amount of the electricity used in buildings in 2030 as comparedto 2005 level.

This is an ambitious goal. But is it feasible? What challenges do we face?How is it going so far?

This new issue of Envision will give you the answers, and more. In this issue, we are honored to interview seniorarchitect Tony Ip, which will provide you with the insights of green building industry in Hong Kong. We alsoinvite members from EVMT to share their observations. In addition to discussions on green building, we alsohave inspiring internship sharing from EVMT students, refreshing photo gallery, interesting facts aboutenvironment which you might find helpful, and so on. Please see it as an invitation to “come in here” to find thegreen voice from city, to find your interest and inspiration.

We sincerely hope Envision will be a platform where people show their talent and great insights, where peoplebeing connected and inspired. Enjoy your reading and look forward. The outlook and opportunities for greenbuilding in Hong Kong, Asia and even the world will continue to grow steadily for sure. And you, need to be wellprepared.

Stacy HEEditor-in-Chief

Picture Credit: Bryan Leung – Street of Hong Konghttp://onebigphoto.com/streets-of-hong-kong/

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6 ENVISION


公共空間的沒落

實體社交生活的倒退不只出現在個人層面；早在智

能手機出現前，香港的公共生活已經變質了。要了

解人和城市的關係，先要思考其空間，才能再探討

智能手機的影響──始終，空間是人和城市交流的根

本媒介。一個城市，可二分為公共和私人空間，亦

可分為室外和室內空間。香港主要的公共空間位處

室外，如街道、公園、海滂；室內的公共空間則以

市政設施為主。相反，主要的私人空間位處室內，

如商場、住宅、辦公室。

雖然社會上存在偏好足不出戶的人口，但香港的住

宅寸金尺土，消遣社交多要外出。隨著大型商場林

立，社區關係疏落，香港人主要的消遣基地漸漸由

公共空間，轉移至大型商場和食肆。每次和朋友相

約外出，我也第一時間想到咖啡室、電影院、卡拉

ＯＫ和商場；間中走出城市，則會探索郊野公園和

海灘，尋找有質素的室外空間。但城市裡，室內的、

私人的、消費主導的商業空間，佔據了我們的消遣

社交生活。大部分的街道成了純粹的接駁工具；公

園亦只是路途上的過客。城內免費的公共空間，被

邊緣化了。這代香港人和城市的關係，被商品化了。

Photo Credit : julieannmartin.wordpress.com

智能城市的面貌

每當一個人拿起智能手機，他就在自己面前築起了

一道牆。這道牆不必寬闊──只要手掌般大的熒幕，

就足以完全佔據一個人的視覺和思維。無論身在何

處，我們也能輕易從３Ｄ的現實中抽離，進入更加

有趣的２Ｄ世界。每次和朋友聚餐，我也深切體會：

在二十一世紀，「心在曹營身在漢」已平常得欠缺

慨嘆的意義。我們的意識真正被操弄在自己股掌之

間，把個人主義發揮得淋漓盡致──對不起，我忘了

我們在２Ｄ的世界裡還能關心社會、與人連結。我

收回關於個人主義的言論。但無容置疑，智能手機

改變了人與人之間的關係。

智能手機打破時地人的界限，讓人精神自由；但精

神太自由是人與人之間的隔閡。人在你眼前，你卻

留不住他的注意力。試過一次飯聚，有朋友突然拿

出手機陶醉其中。開始時，大家耐心問她在傻笑什

麼，希望把她「拉回」現實的交流；然後朋友一個

個拿出手機，忽然宣示自己的忙碌，回敬他的不投

入；直到飯桌靜了，每個人也自我陶醉了。精神太

自由，便卸下了社交專注力的責任。這就是智能城

市的面貌。

7


現時在香港的街道上行走，其實像參與一場越野障

礙賽──香港街道狹窄，地少人多，低頭玩手機的人

仍左穿右插，以技巧展示自己邊緣視力的發達，心

安理得把看路的負責推卸給其他路人。當一條街道

上有三數個低頭者，我便提心吊膽，步步為營。我

建議香港運輸署在行人路劃設智能手機專區，保障

老幼的安全，減少路面上不必要的衝突。

記得在九十年代的香港電影中，還可隱約聽到路上

的伯父問候 : 「睇路呀哥仔，行路唔帶眼 ! 」

我懷念那些年，當這句說話還是正當的日子。

低頭者的需要

於是，當我思考主流香港人對公共空間的需求和展

望，亦不禁反問：再高質素的公共空間，與這些低

著頭、精神長期浸淫２Ｄ世界的城市人又有何干？

對於那些在大年初二晚，仍選擇透過手機鏡頭觀賞

煙花的城市人，再有特色的公共空間，也只是一個

新鮮的自拍佈景，在「朝聖」心態下變成facebook的

另一張２Ｄ照片。所以主流香港人需要的並不是有

質素的公共空間，而是更新鮮的自己佈景──因為低

頭者的世界，只是個２Ｄ世界。反而週末在銅鑼灣、

中環「聚腳」的外傭，比香港人更懂利用公共空間

作社交消遣。

政務司司長林鄭月娥是一個敢言的人。她早前在立

法會表示，在文化水平未趕及前，興建西九第三批

文化設施是浪費社會資源。我認為公共空間亦然：

在大部分香港人的３Ｄ意識水平未趕及前，興建有

質素的公共空間是浪費社會資源。社會更需要的，

其實是更安全的行人路。

Photo Credit: www.ssa.uchicago.edu

「復活」公共空間的思潮

有趣的是，香港近年對宜居城市的討論十分熾熱。

在多場研討會和厚厚的研究報告中，學者和民眾一

再認定，公共空間乃宜居城市的基石。這對於香港

而言是一個「反高潮」。有人不禁問：我們應該提

升香港公共空間的質素，使其可以和私人空間競爭

嗎？在智能手機佔據精神世界的時代，我不敢奢想

公共生活「復活」的可能。

雖然理論上，公共空間的質素對一個城市的宜居性

十分重要，但研究宜居城市需要使用角色代入法，

並不能單靠翻閱文獻。每當我思考宜居城市，也會

切身處地從一個「使用者」的角度出發，想象自己

對空間設計的需求。譬如我會把自己想象成行動不

便，坐著輪椅的長者，然後自問：我對城市有什麼

需求和展望？

代入角色後，我便能敏感地察覺到，很多佐敦的舊

街崎嶇不平，部分空間被雜物佔據，行人甚至不時

和手推車爭路──一個坐著輪椅的長者，根本無法輕

易使用佐敦的舊街。這些問題對一個健步如飛的年

青人來說，卻是若有若無的。由此可見，以角色代

入法研究宜居城市，才是最實際的做法。

那麼，就讓我們代入主流香港人的角色，模仿他們

日常生活的習慣，然後自問：我對城市有什麼需求

和展望？可能讀者已經聯想到，角色代入法引來的

結論。每天我們在街道上、港鐵上、商場上，若舉

目掃視，也能察覺到大部分的香港人，不論年幼，

都自顧沉迷在智能手機中。就算在今年七一，在抬

頭吶喊的遊行隊伍中，也能看到零星的低頭族，憤

怒地用指頭滑動熒幕，宣洩不滿。謝謝您們國務繁

重，日理萬機，也在百忙之中抽空出來遊行。一個

個低著頭的身影，在我們的城市中遊走；就算在抬

頭之際，他們仍是時刻緊握手機，對３Ｄ世界心不

在焉。

8 ENVISION


現時在香港的街道上行走，其實像參與一場越野障

礙賽──香港街道狹窄，地少人多，低頭玩手機的人

仍左穿右插，以技巧展示自己邊緣視力的發達，心

安理得把看路的負責推卸給其他路人。當一條街道

上有三數個低頭者，我便提心吊膽，步步為營。我

建議香港運輸署在行人路劃設智能手機專區，保障

老幼的安全，減少路面上不必要的衝突。

記得在九十年代的香港電影中，還可隱約聽到路上

的伯父問候 : 「睇路呀哥仔，行路唔帶眼 ! 」

我懷念那些年，當這句說話還是正當的日子。

低頭者的需要

於是，當我思考主流香港人對公共空間的需求和展

望，亦不禁反問：再高質素的公共空間，與這些低

著頭、精神長期浸淫２Ｄ世界的城市人又有何干？

對於那些在大年初二晚，仍選擇透過手機鏡頭觀賞

煙花的城市人，再有特色的公共空間，也只是一個

新鮮的自拍佈景，在「朝聖」心態下變成facebook的

另一張２Ｄ照片。所以主流香港人需要的並不是有

質素的公共空間，而是更新鮮的自己佈景──因為低

頭者的世界，只是個２Ｄ世界。反而週末在銅鑼灣、

中環「聚腳」的外傭，比香港人更懂利用公共空間

作社交消遣。

政務司司長林鄭月娥是一個敢言的人。她早前在立

法會表示，在文化水平未趕及前，興建西九第三批

文化設施是浪費社會資源。我認為公共空間亦然：

在大部分香港人的３Ｄ意識水平未趕及前，興建有

質素的公共空間是浪費社會資源。社會更需要的，

其實是更安全的行人路。

9


10 ENVISION


11


Picture Credit:TRAVEL-YOUNG-canadianyouththinktank.ca/gen-y/www.facebook.com/locoexperience

12 ENVISION


1313


THE RISE OF TRANSITWith the a growing emphasis on sustainable development, Transit Oriented Development(TOD) has attracted more and more attention.

WHAT IS TOD ? TODs are pedestrian-friendly, mixed use communities that encourage residents and workers within the district to use transit as their transportation tool instead of cars.

WHAT IF TOD IN A REVERSED WAY?Having development first, then establishing transit network, can be a nightmare for those who live far away from work.

CHALLENGES AHEADTOD is a more sustainable development

mode in long term, yet people might suffer from much higher housing price along the

transit line.

Sustainable development has been increasingly important throughout the world, it

has been as placed in a higher priority in the sustainable development goals decided

by the United Nations. In respond to the development goals of United Nations, a lot

of new cities have included sustainability in their development direction, and transit

oriented development (TOD) has been increasingly popular in a lot of major cities

around the globe.

Text by OlesDesign by Stacy

14 ENVISION


Before We Start: What is TOD?

TOD was first introduced by Peter Calthorpe, a California planner and architect, in the late 1980s and it startedto develop in the major cities of Europe after World War II. TODs are pedestrian-friendly, mixed usecommunities that encourage residents and workers within the district to use transit as their transportation toolinstead of cars. The lifestyle under TOD will no longer be completely automobile-dependent. TOD has simplifiedlife and allow people to have a stronger sense of the community.

In a TOD neighborhood, a transit station will be located in the center, surrounded by high density developmentwith progressive reducing density spreading outward from the center. The TODs are generally located within aradius of 400-800 meters, keeping the railway stations and final destinations within a“walkable” distance.

Under TOD, the major transportation tool will be transit, along with other public transport tools such as buses,trolleys or even bicycles. By comparing to the car-oriented city design, TOD will be more environmental friendlyas less air pollutants will be emitted due to the reduction of car use. The fewer cars on the road may also leadsto less traffic congestion in a TOD designed city, showing that the transportation system of TOD ismore efficient thus the citizens can have a greater mobility in moving around

Reversing the order: Development first?

What if the entire TOD is developed in a reversed process? Having development first, then establishing transitnetwork, would cause serious negative impacts on people’s life. These type of development could be seen in thesatellite cities in Hong Kong such as Tin Shui Wai. Tin Shui Wai developed a lot of residential buildings firstbefore constructing a railway station in the satellite city. As the location of the city is remote from the centralbusiness district and other urban area of Hong Kong, citizens have to travel a long distance from Tin Shui Wai towork, which means they have to spend a lot of time to travel from places to places and it is ahuge inconvenience to them.

Challenges ahead

Although TOD maximizes the efficiency of transportation, it is not a perfect system and will still createunfavorable conditions for the society once it has pasted its tipping point. For example, under TOD, the landprices will be higher due to the improvement of convenience in the area. The increase of land prices will alsodrive up the housing price in these areas as well, citizens with lower income may not be able to afford the priceof housing in the area which is close to the train station.

Therefore, one of the keys to achieving successful TOD is to provide diverse housing options. Affordable andlow-income housing which has been isolated from market rate units are favorable to low-incomehouseholds. By creating a mix of low, affordable and market rate units, cities allow greater opportunity to lower-income households to attain a more prosperous life for their families. By locating housing close to transitstations, lower income households can reduce their transportation costs, gain greater access to employmentand education and help stabilize communities.

TOD is with no doubt a more efficient transportation system and its getting more popular in the cities in Asia. A successful TOD has to it is a collective effort of all stakeholders of the society, from governance to infrastructures to public participation, every stakeholder is important in order to make the whole idea works efficiently. Despite it is not perfect, but with TOD, the world can be more sustainable.

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FOCUS: FOCUS:

GREEN

16 ENVISION


FEATURING:Overview

ChanllengesGreenest Buildings

BUILDINGDesgined by Alex

17


O V E R V I E WNowadays, the industry is adopting integrated design. It is a more holistic approach which takes into accounts of the needs of the users, green building concern and opinion of construction experts. It brings in all stakeholders, such as architects, engineers, environmental consultants, property management companies, town planners and neighbor, to construct a localized, adaptive and sustainable building.

TheThe green building trend is expanding across the globe. According to the “World Green Building Trends” report published by McGraw Hill Construction and United Technologies, the green building trend is not limited to developed countries or geographic regions but throughout the world. The report also shows the 51% of the architects, engineers, contractors, owners and consultants participating in the study anticipate that more than 60% of their work will be green by 2015. 2015.

Among all the countries, Singapore’s firms have the highest level of green building activities. With similar urban context and climate, Singapore is doing much better than Hong Kong. Singapore aspires to be “a City in a Garden”, with the aim to balance urbanization and natural conservation and improving citizens’ quality of life. Specializing and constructing sky gardens, vertical greenery and Park Connector Network increases the country’s green coverage and connectsconnects people to the nature. With mandatory green building policies and subsidies for particular green practice, the industry has more incentive to go green.

While in the UK, the government has been putting much effort in green home as it is found that the housing sector contributed around 30% to the UK’s carbon emission in 2004. The government launched Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which contains information about the property’s energy use, energy costs and recommendations about how to reduce energy use. The seller must provide EPCs for the property that is being built, sold or rented.

GREEN BUILDING DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES

By Serena Wong

The green building momentum is building up in Hong Kong. There are over 500 BEAM Plus projects.

TheThe government is taking the role of giving guidance and enacting regulations. A set of Sustainable Building Development Guidelines (SBD Guidelines) was developed in 2011 to promote building separation, building set back and site coverage of greenery. Dealing with energy use in building, the government enacted the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance (Cap 610) in 2012 which requires the newly constructed buildings and buildings under major retrofitting worksworks to comply with the design standard of the Building Energy Code. The ordinance also requires commercial buildings to carry out energy audit every 10 years. Yet, comparing to countries like Singapore and the European countries, the regulations in Hong Kong still need to be strengthened.

Although the cost of construction a green building maybe higher, there are more incentives for construction companies, property management companies and business to go green. Lowering the building’s operating cost is of course one of the economic incentives.

RealizingRealizing climate change, reducing carbon footprint and fulfilling corporate social responsibility, many companies would like to engage in “green lease”. Landlords and tenants join hands to engage in environmental-friendly practices. In Hong Kong, there is green lease in Phase Three of Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks. One feature is that there are separate metering for tenants’ air-conditioning and electricity consumption. Tenants would be informedinformed of their energy consumption and encouraged to reduce their consumption through adopting energy conservation measures.

Good changes in building and construction industry have been observed. In the routine of conventional building design, developers only go to architects for the design and construction.

GREEN BUILDING TREND IN HONG KONG

O V E R V I E WIn Hong Kong, buildings account for over 90 percent of the total electricity consumptions and electricity generation accounts for over 60 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions. As such, green building is an essential part when it comes to reducing Hong Kong’s carbon footprint and confronting climate change. Green building does not simply mean buildings with more plant coverage and less electricity consumption. So, what does “Green Building” actually mean? In this feature, we are going to introduce what green building is, its trend in Hong Kong and around the world, the challenges that the industry is facing and our green buildings picks.

According to the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC), it states that “Green building is a practice of reducing the environmental impact of buildings by planning throughout the life-cycle of a building, from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition; optimizing efficient use of energy, water, and other resources and; reducing waste and pollution.”

Looking beyond the definition, green building is actually a regional issue. As different cities and countries have different characteristics, such as built environment, regulations, climate and the living style of its people, the design of green buildings have to be localized so as to fulfill the needs of the city and its people. Hong Kong is a vibrant 24/7 global financial metropolis with high-density and high-rise built environment, hot and humid summer. A sustainable buildingbuilding should balance and fulfill the needs of the society, environment and the economy. In Hong Kong, we have our own holistic green building standard.

GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION IN HONG KONG

"BEAM Plus" is a widely used certification system developed by the BEAM Society in Hong Kong. It assesses buildings mainly in six aspects, namely site aspects, material aspects, energy use,

water use, indoor environment quality, innovations and additions. These aspects are being measured throughout the life cycle of the buildings which includes the initial concept, design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition. The building will be given a

rating of platinum, gold, silver, bronze or unclassified after the assessment. BEAM Plus for New Building & Existing Building and for Interiors are currently available. IFC Mall and Hysan Place are both examples of BEAM Plus Platinum certified buildings.

LeadershipLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is another common green building certification in Hong Kong. It is a certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It rates green buildings, homes and neighborhoods based on their design, construction, operation and maintenance. The building will be given a rating of platinum, gold, silver, certified or unclassified after the assessment.assessment. China Resources Building is the building renovation project in Hong Kong achieving the LEED Core and Shell Gold rating.

WHAT IS GREEN BUILDING?

18 ENVISION


O V E R V I E WNowadays, the industry is adopting integrated design. It is a more holistic approach which takes into accounts of the needs of the users, green building concern and opinion of construction experts. It brings in all stakeholders, such as architects, engineers, environmental consultants, property management companies, town planners and neighbor, to construct a localized, adaptive and sustainable building.

TheThe green building trend is expanding across the globe. According to the “World Green Building Trends” report published by McGraw Hill Construction and United Technologies, the green building trend is not limited to developed countries or geographic regions but throughout the world. The report also shows the 51% of the architects, engineers, contractors, owners and consultants participating in the study anticipate that more than 60% of their work will be green by 2015. 2015.

Among all the countries, Singapore’s firms have the highest level of green building activities. With similar urban context and climate, Singapore is doing much better than Hong Kong. Singapore aspires to be “a City in a Garden”, with the aim to balance urbanization and natural conservation and improving citizens’ quality of life. Specializing and constructing sky gardens, vertical greenery and Park Connector Network increases the country’s green coverage and connectsconnects people to the nature. With mandatory green building policies and subsidies for particular green practice, the industry has more incentive to go green.

While in the UK, the government has been putting much effort in green home as it is found that the housing sector contributed around 30% to the UK’s carbon emission in 2004. The government launched Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which contains information about the property’s energy use, energy costs and recommendations about how to reduce energy use. The seller must provide EPCs for the property that is being built, sold or rented.

GREEN BUILDING DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES

By Serena Wong

The green building momentum is building up in Hong Kong. There are over 500 BEAM Plus projects.

TheThe government is taking the role of giving guidance and enacting regulations. A set of Sustainable Building Development Guidelines (SBD Guidelines) was developed in 2011 to promote building separation, building set back and site coverage of greenery. Dealing with energy use in building, the government enacted the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance (Cap 610) in 2012 which requires the newly constructed buildings and buildings under major retrofitting worksworks to comply with the design standard of the Building Energy Code. The ordinance also requires commercial buildings to carry out energy audit every 10 years. Yet, comparing to countries like Singapore and the European countries, the regulations in Hong Kong still need to be strengthened.

Although the cost of construction a green building maybe higher, there are more incentives for construction companies, property management companies and business to go green. Lowering the building’s operating cost is of course one of the economic incentives.

RealizingRealizing climate change, reducing carbon footprint and fulfilling corporate social responsibility, many companies would like to engage in “green lease”. Landlords and tenants join hands to engage in environmental-friendly practices. In Hong Kong, there is green lease in Phase Three of Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks. One feature is that there are separate metering for tenants’ air-conditioning and electricity consumption. Tenants would be informedinformed of their energy consumption and encouraged to reduce their consumption through adopting energy conservation measures.

Good changes in building and construction industry have been observed. In the routine of conventional building design, developers only go to architects for the design and construction.

GREEN BUILDING TREND IN HONG KONG

1919


There are a couple of programs ongoing in foreign countries, one of them is Green lease. In UK, the Green lease programs were launched with the aim of driving CO2 savings in commercial properties.

Under traditional leases, building owners are responsible for providing the energy the Tenants are the consumers and they pay a fixed fee to the owner. Tenants aren't interested in energy conservation because only the owners benefit.

TheThe building owners don’t see the immediate benefit and are less likely to invest in energy upgrades because it costs money up front and they don’t see the benefits until years later.

Under the green leases, the lease is issued between the landlord and tenant of a commercial buildings, obligations on both parties to minimize adverse environmental impact in areas such as energy, water and waste, including carbon. The landlord is incentivized to make capital improvements, resulting in lower operating costs for both parties. The lease can be issued during a lease period as well as new leases and lease renewals.

Currently,Currently, Green lease practices are being studied by the Hong Kong Green Building Council, it is even being implemented in the phase 3 buildings in the Hong Kong Science Park, and it could be a nice way to start for Hong Kong in improving the existing building’s performance.

Picture Source: Wikipedia user -Wing1990hk

G r e e n L e a s eO n e o f t h e s o l u t i o n s :

C H A L L E N G E SG r e e n B u i l d i n g

In Hong Kong, the promotion of green building is facing a lot of challenges. One of the problem lies on the existing buildings of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a lot of buildings in the city, the number of buildings exceeding 90 meters of height is more than 3000. Most of the buildings are constructed decades ago where the architects and builders did not take environmental factors into account. Therefore these types of buildings are not energy efficient.

TheThe energy performance of the existing buildings can be measured by a couple schemes in Hong Kong. For example, Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance and BEAM plus for Existing Buildings. These schemes include Energy in its assessment. Yet the standard for the assessment is so high that the performance of the some existing buildings, such as the ones which are 30-40 years, would not be able to meet the standards. The standards will also improve as time goes by, further widening the gap between existing buildings and to “be green”.

SoSo what about tearing down the existing buildings and build green ones? It might not be a sustainable way. The existing buildings, mainly made of steel and concrete, requires a lots of carbon-induced process in producing these materials. The total amount of carbon dioxide emitted from every stage of the item’s production and distribution from source to store, also known as, "Embedded Carbon", has to be considered as well. The construction of green buildings after the demolition of the old ones will significantly increase the embedded carbon of the building, therefore it I much better to renovate existing buildings.construction of green buildingsbuildings after the demolition of the old ones will significantly increase the embedded carbon of the building.

By Oles Kwong

20 ENVISION


21


GREENEST RENOVATION PROJECT:

CHINA RESOURCES BUILDING

Built in 1983, China Resources Building was one of the top of the standard commercial buildings in Wan Chai. However, time shifts and the intensified global warming fostered the renovation of China Resources Building, one of the most successful green building retrofits in Hong Kong. The whole building envelop and the podium area are being retrofitted to create a more energyenergy efficient building as well as a more accessible neighbourhood. More importantly, it applies a renovation process which allows the building to operate normally. It minimize the disturbance to the user and hence the economic loss.

FIRST BUILDING RENOVATION PROJECT IN HONG KONG ACHIEVING LEED® CORE AND SHELL GOLD RATING

BEAM PLUS REGISTERED PROJECT

Façade renovation and Glazing system

To optimise daylight and energy consumption. The glazing system

and new glasses installed allows only 5% of solar energy to pass

through

Refining Podium area

TTo facilitate the connectivity of the neighbourhood, the original

podium area is transformed into a pedestrian bridge link

connecting to a park, maximising the use of open area.

Renovation process

NotNot being demolished, China Resources Building was

retrofitted in a non-disturbing yet effective way. The retrofitting

was separated into phases to allow partial building could be

operated during the process. Installation of the exterior

facade and also the new lighting and air units in the whole

building achieves saving 1.65 Gwh of electricity per year. This

case fully demonstrate a perfect balance between the

economieconomic, environmental and human aspects in modern

green building.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia User - Powfreytmn

“...it achieves an energy saving of 1.65GWh every year, reduce CO

2

emission by 1,370 tonnes - the equivalent CO

2 absorbed by 63,000

trees in one year.”

22 ENVISION


Photo Credit: Andy MilfordPhoto Source: www.american-architects.com

OMEGA CENTRE OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING NEW YORK

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE™ CERTIFICATION - CASCADIA REGION GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL

LEED® PLATINUM CERTIFICATION - USBGCNEW YORK STATE ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARD - THE NYS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

ECO MACHINE™ EcoEco Machine™ is a water reclamation system which mimics the

process of natural world. All the water and wastewater from

Omega’s Campus, including OCSL, will be treated by the Eco

Machine™ and returned to the aquifer beneath the campus. The

process cleans the process with zero chemicals which generally

includes settling, oxidation and filtering. All water used by OCSL is

harvested and the machine is fully powered by the PV panels in

the centethe center.

NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING Omega Center of Sustainable Living is a net zero energy building

because of its energy efficient design and utilization of renewable

green energy. OCSL is LEED® Platinum-Certified proving its effort

in green building design. It has installed over 200 photovoltaic

solar panels to generate sufficient or even exceeding electricity.

Over the course of the year, OCSL generates more electricity

than it needs and it is able to sell the excess back to the grid.

GGEOTHERMAL ENERGY

OCSLOCSL has also utilize geothermal energy to support 100% of its

heating and cooling system. The constant temperature of the

earth (approximately 11 degrees Celsius at 50 feet) is being

used for cooling and heating the circulated water into

geothermal heat pump. Complemented by green interior designs

like green roofs, indoor temperature is further regulated into a

desired state.

Located in Rhinebeck, New York, the Omega Center of

Sustainable Living (OCSL) is a water reclamation facility. OCSL

also serves as an educational center for more than 5,000 visitors

each year, demonstrating and practicing regenerative features

and knowledge on one’s lifestyle. OCSL is a net zero energy

building which it can fully self-sustain its daily operation and its

award-winning water reclamation machine - Eco Machine™. Every

yeayear, Eco Machine™ treats roughly 3 million gallons of water from

the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, making OCSL a truly

sustainable and practical building in reality.

As a LEED® Platinum-certified building, the whole life-cycle of the

building including processes of construction, operation and

maintenance are proved to be beneficial to social and

environmental aspects. Except passive designs, the rainwater

collection system captures nearly 5,000 gallons of rainwater

enough for a year ’s usage, and there is a comprehensive waste

reduction program ongoing to recycle and compost waste.

23


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26 ENVISION


2727272727


Introduction

People always perceive environmental services only as environmental awarenessprogrammes and greenwashing rather than a profit-earning business. On the contrary,environmental industry could in fact involve multinational companies which take animportant role in improving business models, altering the environment and earningprofit.

To identify these opportunities raised by the environment, it is worth to take a snapon how the world’s biggest environmental companies operate their business.

Companies on this article are based on different criteria including rankings of famousmagazines like Fortune, their grass revenue as well as their business nature.

Photo Credit: upload.wikimedia.org

28 ENVISION


Revenue: USD$28.4 billion

Target: Public Sectors

Services: Water, waste, energy, transport management

Features: Veolia Environment employed over 300,000 employees in 48 countriesproviding comprehensive solutions from designs to delivering services forpublic sectors. Veolia is ranked first among the industry and has beensuccessfully helping its clients making the best uses of resources.

Veolia has been merging the idea of sustainability with its services. “Acircular economy” is a strong belief of Veolia that refers to an economythat can self-sustain without unnecessary strain on the externalenvironment. Most importantly, Veolia applies this idea in its businessactivities. It specializes in turning waste to treasure that it is famous forits food and municipal waste recycling and waste-to-energy services.

Environmental services always involve an integrative system that combinesboth infrastructures and humans’ behavioral management. For wastemanagement, innovative logistic systems could facilitate the collectionprocess. Humans’ incentives are also one important element for recycling.It is not an uncommon thing for Veolia to partner with differentstakeholders to provide awareness raising programs. In order to furtherencourage sorting and recycling, an incentive pricing depends on theproportion of residual waste is being developed by Veolia.

Veolia Environment focuses on cutting-edge clean technologies and it haslaunched the “Veolia Innovation Accelerator” program to discoverpotential researches. It sets call for proposals every year for researches andcompanies and then it generates partnerships with innovative projects. Thisyear, two challenges about waste logistics and measurement on fuel’smoisture are called for proposals.

Talent they want:

Environmental engineers, Logistics system experts and Good communicators

29



Target: All corporations

Services: Testing, inspection and certification

Features: “When you need to be sure.” is the tagline of SGS S.A.. “Being Sure” is oneof the biggest thing for business: the quality, risks, information coulddecide the fate of an enterprise. SGS, as a corporation possesses over 80,000employees worldwide, provides a wide range services of “ensuring”,including inspection, consultation, training and third party certificationfor all business in assuring their brands and performances.

Clients and public sectors are always concerned on safety, quality,reliability and environmental impacts incurred in their operation. With thehelp of a quality-ensuring company, services providers ensure theircompliance on legal and clients’ requirement and get reliable suggestionson their business.

In this century, the intensifying concerns on global warming have givenrise to various services regarding a sustainable and eco-friendly businessmodel. SGS provides training and execution on environmental impactassessments (EIA), carbon audits, environmental and energy managementsystems (ISO 14001 & 50001), eco-design and etc. to all business, no matterthey are the food manufactures, construction firms or even banks.

As a company to “ensure”, integrity lies at its core values to provideservices. A code of integrity is therefore established by the SGS ChiefCompliance Officer. For examples, to avoid conflict of interests, employeesare not permitted to invest in clients’ companies and hiring close relativerequires various processes of approval; Gifts and donations are strictlyrestricted and findings from researches and inspections have to beabsolutely objective and free from bribe. A true and unaffected opinionmay be unpopular for clients, however, it helps develop a realistic solutionfor the companies as well as a trusted relationship between SGS and itsclients.

Talent they want:

Auditors, Consultants, Technical laboratory analysts and Inspectors

Similar companies:

Bureau Veritas, Intertek, Germanischer Lloyd

30 ENVISION



Target: Government, commercial body

Services: Contract research and development

Features: Battelle is the world's largest non-profit research enterprise with 22,000employees at more than 60 locations globally. The core value of Battelle isto make a good use of the profit for contributing to society, educationalaspect especially. Its services range from consumer & industry research tonational security and laboratories operation. Moreover, company providesenvironmental services not only limiting to remediation and infrastructuremanagement, but a wide range of analytical services like technologies thattrace the source pollution. The solid scientific background and abundantexperiences allow Battelle to provide trustworthy testing of new technologyfor government and commercial body.

As a non-profit organization, it does not only satisfy clients’ needs but aimto contribute to the society. Every year, most of the profit of the companywill be spent on the philanthropic activities such as education.

Past Research Topic:

1. GM microbial solve oil spill problem

Oil spill destroys marine environment by suffocating marine lives. Direct combustion of those oil further threatens the ecosystem by smoke and heat. Therefore, a more eco-response solution is needed for oil spill. The GM microorganism could produce enzymes which involve in the process of the degradation of organic materials. Battelle applies genetic modification technology to further maximize the number of the enzymes each microbial produced.

2. Testing Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies in commercial level

Battelle work with American Electric Power (AEP) to set up the world’s first fully integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) test at a coal -fired power plant. This time, the power plant has two injection wells and three monitoring wells. After the test, it demonstrates CCS could be a safe system and scientists acquire important information such as the suitable operating pressure.

3. Advance source of pollution tracing technology4. Better power grid management system5. Rapid screening for agrichemical residues

Talent they want:

Research associate, Engineer, Environmental Data Management Specialistand Research contractor

31



Target: government, commercial body

Services: consultancy and construction

Features: CH2M is one of the most famous consulting firms and the top-rankedenvironmental firm in Engineering News-Record. It has more than 26,000employees. The company focuses on five key environmental markets: energy,nuclear and environment, facilities and urban environment, transportationand as well as water. In each market sector, CH2M provides in-depthservices associated with their core value - delivering sustainable excellencein engineering, consulting and management. For example, in the nuclearand environmental sector, the firm specializes in nuclear liabilitiesmanagement, which includes nuclear waste handling and site remediation,air pollution control and mining etc.

About the success formula of CH2M, one of the vital elements driving thefast growth of the company is giving a and fair respected workingenvironment to its employees. CH2M was awarded in the Fortune’s “100 BestCompanies to Work For”. To be more specific, there are no privilege ofmanagers, executive dining rooms, parking area etc. This policy engagesemployees working in the company since there is no special treatment fortheir boss. Employees are willing to share opinion and give out suggestion.

Talent they want:

operation manager, environmental planner, quality assistant, Senior schedulers

32 ENVISION



Target: -

Services: Development and production of sustainable food, feed and fuel ingredients, commercial food residue and used cook oil recycling services

Features: Darling Ingredients was originally an animal by-product renderingcompany which collects and process the carcasses and waste of farms andturns them into useful fertilizers. Since the past few decades, it hasacquired over 10 renderers in transforming animal by-product into differentproducts including valuable ingredients, food, fuel, fertilizers, hides andchemicals.

Darling has also provided solutions towards recovery of kitchen residuals,grease trap services and environmental services to food processors. DARPRO, one of the Darling’s entities, provides complete grease managementsolutions to restaurants, and supplies low-cost feedstock.

Brands of Darling Ingredients have taken the lead in biofuel development.In 2013, Darling, partnered with Valero Energy, began production ofDiamond Green Diesel at North America’s largest facility to producerenewable diesel from animal fats, used cooking oil and vegetable oils.

Darling’s success could be attributed to its geographic diversification andvarious end-use for by-products. In the last 10 years, Darling transformeditself from a U.S.-only company into a global company. Locations inEurope, China, Australia, and South America have not only given Darling amuch larger end-market, but have also created much greater access to rawmaterial. By-products could be transformed into increasing kinds of goodslike gelatins, plasmas, blood thinners, and organic fertilizers.

Talent they want:

Plant facility experts, research associates

Conclusion

Environmental industry is truly expanding with the scale of global warming. Undoubtedly, there arecountless job opportunities for environmental students: consultants who assist clients to catch up withrapid-changing green standard, engineers who provide comprehensive solutions to customers and etc..Communicating environmental issues and between sectors are important even with the best technologies.For sure, these jobs also require in-depth and multi-sectoral knowledge. To prepare for the emergingenvironmental market, we have to always be updated with our surrounding. Instead of focusing inknowledge in books, it is more important to keep an eye on the trend and drill into it. Environment ishighly interconnected with policies, economy, technologies and it is genuinely an interdisciplinary field.An attitude to get exposed to different expertise may be a good way to start your environmental career.

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Internships provide an opportunity for us to reinforce academic and career aims and personalvalues related to work, gain practical and real work experience to balance classroom training,and sharpen our edge in a competitive job market…

Have you ever considered about taking up an internship during holidays? Or you might alreadyhave had a taste of working experience. But you may still wonder, how did your friends do duringthe summer? What does it feel like to work in a different guilt which is not environment-related?Or you may wish to explore the many career directions or opportunities and get some tips bylistening to others’ sharing.

Hope you enjoy these sharing from EVMT peoples and be inspired!

Design by Serena

Text by Cynthia,Kay, Monica,

Stacy and Polly

34 ENVISION


Cynthia ChongCompany: Swire Properties

Department: Technical Service and Sustainability Department (TSSD)

Title: Summer Intern

Period of Time: 16/06/2014 - 08/08/2014

My job is mainly about working in the sustainability team,and my supervisor will assign me works to do. Daily workincludes making phone calls, organizing events,communicating with different departments, and so on.

During my internship, we had one special event,called ”World Environmental Day Survey”, an employeeengagement activity. This campaign targeted at raisingemployees’ awareness of energy saving. It required everyemployee to contribute their ideas or smart tricks in termsof energy saving methods in office. I was in charge ofdesigning posters, urging people to submit their ideas,reorganizing all the ideas and submitting all the information,selecting candidates for the best three ideas, and herecomes the most challenging thing- to select the souvenir forparticipants. I need to submit all the potential options withdetailed reasons after doing sufficient research andthinking. It was hard because choosing a gift is verysubjective, people will have different preferences. On thesouvenir list, I recommended recycled soap made fromoil refined from swill and cooked oil, because I thought itcould help to change people’s stereotype that cooked oil isdisgusting and useless. But this option was turned down bymy supervisor due to many other concerns, like images,popularity, etc. Finally, they decided to use fair tradehandkerchief, made by craftswomen from Gansu Province.Here comes another challenge- to design the logo that willbe printed on the handkerchief. It is far more complicatedthan it looks like. Swire Properties is a really big company,so they take their image really seriously. That makes thisdesign work very hard- the logo, the color, the size ratio,the brand name, the location, and many other details ofthis little souvenir were being discussed and changed overand over again before making the final decision.

Another interesting experience is taking thermal photos. Itis an annual record work of Swire Properties, in order tokeep a good track of the temperature for further researchand projects. After taking photos, we compared thetemperature difference between air under trees and streetswithout any shelters. And what surprised me was, thebiggest difference can be over 13℃!

I really feel the workload of this internship is quitechallenging. I always worked overtime and that was tiring.But I feel what I learned in EVMT helps me a lot during thework. For example, the work requires interns to have basicconcept of business. And when we worked on thesustainability report, we need to understand informationabout financial performance. For instance, if I do notunderstand “turnover rate”, it would be hard to get theideas of report and convert them into info graphics

efficiently. Meanwhile, I also feel it challenging when I dealtwith the sustainability report and I think it would be reallyhelpful if there can be more courses related to this topic.

This internship is challenging, but also rewarding. I learnedthat image of company is valuable intangible asset, bigcompany cannot put too much emphasis on it. I learnedthat Swire Properties has done a lot of jobs in sustainabilitydevelopment. They have green garden on the top of theiroffice building, they have many recycling points in theoffice, and they recycle waste under so many categories,including second-hand clothes and e-waste, which is farmore than what we see in a regular recycling bin. Whatsurprised me is their attitude towards environmentalprotection. They believe sustainability is a must, and theyaim at taking up the leading role in this industry. They willstill choose to do it even though the cost is high, thepayback period is long. My supervisor told me “You cannotcount everything by money.” when being asked about thecost of going green. And I also found continuing educationis really important, because new information keeps comingup, and we need to deal with works related to differentsubjects, which require us to keep learning actively. What’smore, good writing skill is also really crucial incommunication with clients and supervisors. My supervisorrefused to assign one young intern important work justbecause he did not know how to write email properly, andmy supervisor though he is not reliable. Also, presentationskill is also important. Here I would like to say thank you toMike for being strict with our presentation skill learning.Thanks to Mike, top managers appreciated my PPT a lot! :P

My supervisor, colleague and I having lunch together.

35


Kay YungCompany: The Mass Transit Railway(MTR)

Corporation

Department: The Project and Development Division

Title: Summer Student Intern

Period of Time: One Month

My main job duty is to learn there :P, and each week wehave one core topic. First week is about the utility inconstruction sites, second week is about Temporary TrafficManagement Scheme (TTMS), third week is aboutExcavation and Lateral Support, forth week is aboutStructure Engineering.

Basically, I did my own research and asked around mycolleagues, who were all chartered engineers. And on thelast day of each week, I needed to do a 30-mininutepresentation based on my findings. All civil engineerswould be there sitting, listening and commenting.

The best part of this internship is that I got to hear whatthe civil engineers talk about the environment and whatthey are most concerned about, which is mainly about thenoise and waste they have in the sites. I had chances to gowith them to construction sites and meetings. I heard theyhave an environment scheme, in which MTR is basicallygiving out money as bonus to the projects that handle theconstruction sites well. They have a lot of concerns duringproject work, and they have different specialized divisions.For the environment division, they have environmentalconsultants, inside the construction sites, to offer expertiserelated to waste disposal, environmental protection andconstruction safety matters.

The challenges and difficulties I faced are that I am not acivil engineering student, so in many cases I did not knowwhat they are talking about. So I had to put a lot of effortsand time to do extra research and learning to catch up withthem. Therefore my work was more about civil engineeringwith only little touch on environment. But my boss is reallygood, he knew my major and he would always bring mewhen there are environment related meetings.

I think internship is more like a learning process. If yourboss does not assign you stuff to do, you should alwayslook for questions and things that interest you and askpeople around you, trying to make the most of the

resources you have in this internship.

MTR is a really big company, so everything is assigned byheadquarters. You do not really know which section ordivision you will be put in. For example, I am in the projectdivision, but my sister is in the public relationship division.Even though we all work in the construction sites, thenature of work can be really different. Mine is more aboutcivil engineering, while my sister is going outcommunicating with legislators, or taking consult minutes.You need to prepare to do things that you do not reallyexpect.

I personally really enjoy working in my office, because myoffice basically has no women, and I have been followingthese man around. So it is kind of fun, because I am theonly girl, and they are often surprised by me, a little girl,knowing many things actually. And I got to see how typicalengineers do presentation, which is really fun. They havereally bad presentation skills :P So they always find mebefore the presentation for advice, thanks to which I havegot to learn a lot of things. It is a very good mutual learningprocess. They taught me a lot of good stuff, and the time Ireally value the most, is when I talked with my boss. Hereally shared a lot of his life experience (人生道理) withme.

One thing that my boss had really hit me on is that he toldme we need to reconsider on what we are doing right now,because in many cases, we think we are doing somethingright, but it is just we are making excuses for ourselves tobe slacking off or get away of what we actually dream of.

Civil engineering is like a big puzzle. There is someonegiving you money and materials for you to set up a buildingbit by bit, it is really challenging but really rewarding.Problem solving is just similar, you just have to puteverything like Lego together. When time goes by, you willsee what is going on and you will realize you have achieveda lot of stuff.

My supervisor and colleaguesThe kind of map I had to read during my internship36 ENVISION


Monica DeluciaUniversity: HKUST

Department: HSEO Department - Sustainability Unit

Title: Research Intern

Period of Time: 17/06/2014-08/08/2014

The goal that Sustainability Unit had during the summeris to identify a number of ways sustainability unit can bemore active and involved in engaging new students asthey arrive for the Fall semester. This is a goodopportunity to impress them with sustainability at HKUST.

What I have accomplished within 2 months:

• Developing a plan of action for incorporatingsustainability into the Orientation activities forincoming Freshmen, and setting up times andschedules for talks

• Developing a social media strategy for theSustainability Unit to utilize Facebook better as ameans for engaging the HKUST student body

• Conducting research into ideas, quotes, and otherinformation of relevance that can be posted to socialmedia throughout the year

• Developing a PPT slide deck that will be run in theEngineering department during their orientationactivities so that their incoming students will gain theinsights of sustainability tips and tools

• Making guidelines of reducing paper waste incomputer barn and turn paper waste into draft paperbecome one of the helpers’ duties

• Gathering the information about green actions thatHKUST students and staffs can do on campus andtransform it into PPT

• Designing an activity called “Surplus Materials Day”for orientation day with the partnership of StudentUnion and HKUST Connect

In addition to the assignments specific, there are severaltasks that the interns need to work on together. Theseare assignments that benefit from group brainstormingand collaborative work:

• Develop a series of creative new ideas and strategiesfor increasing the reach and impact of social media,including increasing the number of Facebook fans,suggest new ideas for content that will be appealing

and “likable,” and explore new ways of using socialmedia tools that might be beneficial (e.g., Pintrist,Instagram, Linked-In)

• Complete a campus recycling bin audit to locate andplace all recycling bins on a campus map (coordinatewith website development)

• Complete a water use audit of campus restrooms

The interview is the key to get the job. You have to bepassionate about the job, active in answering thequestions and you have to be creative in answering thequestions and share a lot of ideas or solutions to theproblem given by interviewer . Do not be nervous andjust be yourself.

At the very beginning of the internship, the supervisorgave each intern specific job and duties. And then eachof us need to make a detailed list of our plan about howto achieve these goals. The details include the what-to-do list (step by step), whom you will contact, when youwill execute the plan, and how you are going to pass thejob if your internship ends.

During this internship, I found it hard to encourage somedepartments on campus to disclose their leftovermaterials and other data related to sustainability. Weneed the data to help them, however, every time wecome to their office and talk to them, they would thinkwe are coming to judge on them because of their poorperformance in sustainability.

The internship is great, which is related to what we havelearned in EVMT and the job itself is not too demanding.So you can still have a lot of fun while working. Moreover,it is on campus so it is really convenient for studentsliving on campus :P

Overall speaking, it is a very flexible internship. You mayhave some duties, however, it is not really specific. So itis you who decide how much you want to achieve. But doremember, the more you do, the more you learn.

My supervisor, colleagues and I having a meetingMy colleagues and I in the “GREEN! OCAMP” event37


Chris KoCompany: Hejun Consulting in Beijing

Department: Strategy Department

Title: Summer Intern

Period of Time: 30/05/2014-27/08/2014

In the strategy department, job is more like doing“treatment” for corporations - spotting problems,challenges and opportunities, and provide solutions.Strategy is about finding the development direction forcompanies for the next 5-10 years and help them makebreakthroughs during developing, telling them whetherthey should expand or get rid of bad businesses.

Part of my job is doing research. For example, whenclients come to us, we need to be really well preparedbefore meeting with them. Doing researches about theclient company background, business analysis, industryanalysis, potential solutions and strategic advice, andmaking them into PPT, reporting them to our boss.Usually all of those should be finished within two days, soit is really challenging and intensive in terms of workload.Research here is not all about Google them in the internet.We need to read massive annual reports, prospectus andstock performance, etc. In addition, I got to go out withmy boss to meet with clients.

What I appreciate the most is that in this internship, wegot to focus on our works, without spending time in doingphotocopies or other odd jobs. They are all taken care ofby specialized department.

Another good thing of this internship is that it has greatresources for learning, like online courses, and tests toenhance our learning. I learn a lot from my boss aboutleadership, respect, values and management matters.And I can really feel that I am improving, which is great.

I found thinking from multiple perspectives that we learnin EVMT is really helpful in doing analysis for our clients.Because in most cases, problems of companies lie inmany aspects. For example, a decrease of profit comesfrom a variety of reasons: it could be due to inappropriatemanagement, or human resources problem, or maybe themarketing is also responsible. Knowledge we learnedfrom FINA2203 will be enough when we deal with basicfinancial or accounting matters, so actually I do not feelthere is any disadvantages that EVMT people will have indoing this job. Besides, our presentation skills are quitegood compared with many other colleagues frommainland, so I think EVMT is great :P

There are mainly three methods to get this internshipopportunity, joining SOAR in HKUST, being introduced bythe company employees, and sending CV to apply. Thelast one will be really challenging because of a greatnumber of competitors. They recruit interns twice everyyear, and another round this year will start in September.I really feel we should get as many internshipopportunities as we can, to try more and know betterabout what we really want to do in the future. Thereforewe can better prepare ourselves by choosing the rightcourses. And also we need to appreciate and enhance theadvantages of different majors, like EVMT, the multi-discipline curriculum really gives us ability of thinking andsolving problems from different angles. Also, I realize thebreadth of knowledge matters more and more. Moreover,GPA is never the top important thing in real work; whatmatters more is that whether you have at least one corecompetence and know how to make the most of it. Weneed to reflect on ourselves a lot, always being brave toface our weakness and faults. One should feel responsiblefor every failure and find solutions to improve. I alsofound attitude and values are important. In addition,remember not to bother about how much you contributeto the team. Do not make silly mistakes like spelling errors,or make the same mistakes again. Work is not like school,one should always live with the consequences and beresponsible for what he or she has done.

My colleagues and I

38 ENVISION


Polly LokCompany: Environmental Resources

Management (ERM)

Department: Landscape team

Title: Student Intern

Period of Time: 16/06/2014- 30/07/2014

Landscape actually means any visible area, usually greenarea of land and our team is doing the landscape designand consulting job, former is to design a functional andbeautiful garden for properties while latter is to givecomment on the tree treatment, for example whether weshould prune this tree down or not, etc.

My job duties are to assist the landscape design andconsulting job, including helping to type the tree surveyreport, helping to Photoshop a landscape design drawingfor presentation, organizing the emergency tree fellingreport updates and helping to type the consulting reportfor clients. This job is just similar to most of the officepeople, we sit in office and work, ha-ha. But you usePhotoshop more often than word.

There are 2 ways for you to get this internship. One is to askchemical engineering students to help you to send the CV(this is what I did), because ERM prefer Chemistryengineering students and only contact ChemistryDepartment for internship placement. The other one is toattend ERM HK head’s lecture (I am not sure about whichcourse is he teaching because this was told by my friendwho was working in ERM internship with me) and sendyour CV directly to him. (this is what my friend did). Pleasemake sure you know at least one of the three software(Corel drawing/AutoCAD/Photoshop) before you apply thelandscape team internship.

I really enjoy the time when I was meeting with myteammates, especially my supervisor. I have no backgroundin landscape but my supervisor taught me a lot of this areaand my teammates helped a lot. Yet there is just a little pitythat I did not have the chance to go on site to do treesurvey by myself because of the insurance issue.

To be honest, EVMT students do not really have anadvantage over others for doing this internship becauseyou will came across many new technical words likefoliage/ live crown ratio and you have to learn them byyourself. Moreover, a lack of computer skills is anotherdisadvantage. Like in landscape team, they need to useAutoCAD, Photoshop and Corel drawing. However, thoseare not taught in EVMT curriculum.My suggestion is to learn the computer software on yourown, for example, make use of free electives to take CScourse or take courses in other institution if you are reallyinterested in working in ERM.

I guess when people see the above disadvantages, many ofthem might urge division to add more computer course incurriculum. However, I think, first, you cannot always rely

on the curriculum to learn. Second, despite the agreementissue with CS division, adding computer courses may haveto sacrifice other courses. Third, the importance ofcomputer courses is smaller compared to other for EVMTstudents. Last but not least, different aspect requiresdifferent computer tools, it is impossible for department toadd all those in curriculum. So try to learn on your own!

This internship brought me to another dimension whenlooking at the environmental issue. In EVMT curriculum, weare trained to be a leader that we always see the big picturein a high position, for example fuel mix/urban planning.However this internship scales down the perspective onone single tree/plant to really try to see how theorientation/species/condition of one single tree affects theenvironment. It is like seeing things from the whole humanbody down to cellular level and this does help you to seethe issue more clearly. For example, you would get tounderstand the reason for no breakthrough in landscapedesign is needed because of government restriction on treeplanting. The processes of applying for pruning of one treeand the design of its compensatory plan are so complicatedas it will affect the soil quality.

As ERM has earned ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certificate, ithas many trainings about work safety, corruption andsustainability for staff including interns. Also, they organizeparty once a month for reporting the sustainability andwork safety issue, gathering staff with food and drink. It isreally a good opportunity to experience how ISO certificatesystem works and the company's culture.

Photo Credit: veddw.com

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