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Energy Policy and Projects
9 September 2019

John Herbert
Registered Energy Assessor (REA)

It is a bright summer day, but the external lighting
burning, that is an excellent demonstration of the actual
energy and environmental policy in action.
Profligate energy waste is common, practically an epidemic
in cities, but it need not be.
Missing Code
Wasting energy is unforgivable, and demonstrates the lack of
imagination of designers, digital switches, and failed
building automation systems also called building management
systems.
And let's be clear, it's not rocket science, the building
interface must match the needs of the users, the latest
digital time switches are not intuitive or user friendly.



If we take a step back, in the past the building
staff took care of the building including tasks such
as adjusting time clocks, etc. Then, to save costs,
employees were replaced by sub-contractors whose staff
were often not familar with the installed plant nor
the complex digital timeclocks installed.
I don't advocate a return to the good old days, I
do advocate for smarter thinking, for buildings with
a building automation system with a few lines of
extra code could help cure an epedemic.
pseudo code:
888 IF daylight outside = TRUE
889 AND external lighting amps > 0
890 THEN raise fault condition
891 AND switch OFF external lighting
892 END IF
We need smarter thinking to achieve smarter and
more energy efficient buildings.

We have more than 20 years energy efficiency in-house
experience, and a EMSD Registered Energy Assessor, to
help tackle these problems, call us
on +852 2335 9830 today!
About the Author
John Herbert is a
veteran chief engineer with more than 30 years international engineering experience, educated in
the United Kingdom, he has worked in the United Kingdom and then across Asia for more than two
decades engaged by international and local companies. He is a Hong Kong Registered Energy
Assessor (REA), a BEAM Professional, and stationed in Hong Kong.