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date: 21-01-20
Building and Engineering News in Hong Kong and Asia
John Herbert
Director
Building, Energy, and Engineering News, articles and media in the region
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2020
16 January 2020 - Has the time for embodied carbon arrived? ....READ MORE
1 January 2020 - Happy New year!
2019
9 November 2019 - Any Regulations for Renovations?....READ MORE
25 October 2019 - BEAM PLUS NB v2 compared with v1.2....READ MORE
10 September 2019 - EPD's standard for IAQ in public spaces
comparing version 2019 vs 2003 ....READ MORE
9 September 2019 - Wasting energy is reaching epidemic proportions ....READ MORE
4 September 2019 - BEAM PLUS New Building NB v2
launched ....READ MORE
13 August 2019 - Recycling construction plasterboard (gyspum) needs to
be part of the circular economy ....READ MORE
8 August 2019 - Dont forget the latest Hong Kong Building
Energy Code, BEC 2018, adopts variable speed cooling tower
fan motor control....READ MORE
Comparing BEC 2015 with the latest code BEC 2015 v BEC 2018
25 July 2019 - Kelcroft discovers unintended
night time (non-occupied) operation of the air conditioning
system wasting energy....READ MORE
18 July 2019 - Greening Existing Buildings PPT....READ MORE
18 July 2019 - Mould in Air conditioned Buildings PPT....READ MORE
9 July 2019 - Fire doors are key for fire safety....READ MORE
6 July 2019 - Consulting services Kelcroft provides....READ MORE
3 July 2019 - Warmer weather means increasing use of air conditioning,
causing increasing temperatures, causing increasing use of air
conditioning, so the loop continues, expect higher air
conditioning bills as temperatures increase....READ MORE
24 June 2019 - Buyer beware, third party property inspection could
have saved hongkong buyers millions must read factwire report ....READ MORE
15 May 2019 - Hong Kong's Building Energy Code BEC 2018 version
comes into effect tomorrow, we highlight the key differences....READ MORE
12 May 2019 - Halve your air conditioning electricity bill with High
Efficiency Chillers......READ MORE
6 May 2019 - Prepared your climate change excuse yet?....READ MORE
12 April 2019 - Energy Efficiency works funding from HKE ....READ MORE
25 March 2019 - Hong Kong becomes smarter dumb city....READ MORE
Feb 2019 - Happy Lunar New Year 2019
29 January 2019 - Who can prepare BEAM PLUS EU P1 submissions?....READ MORE
14 January 2019 - EPD's new air quality guidance 2019 with mould....READ MORE
12 January 2019 - Hong Kong Legionella 2018 Summary.....READ MORE
1 Jan 2019 - Happy New Year
2018
TOP OF PAGE
5 December 2018 - Legionella Outbreak Hong Kong three cases....READ MORE
22 October 2018 - Infrared Thermal survey....READ MORE
4 October 2018 - Hong Kong mouldy hotel....READ MORE
9 August 2018 - Fire doors.....READ MORE
4 July 2018 - CLP and HKE will electricity raise tariffs....READ MORE
27 June 2018 - Air Conditioning Energy Usage set to increase.....READ MORE
19 April 2018 - Hong Kong's RE feed in tariff for Photovoltaics.....READ MORE
8 March 2018 - Fresh air causes havoc in buildings....READ MORE
11 Jan 2018 - A backup that does not
work is not a backup.......READ MORE
1 Jan 2018 - Happy New Year
2017
TOP OF PAGE
30 Dec 2017 - Hong Kong's 2017 Building Energy audits mapped......READ MORE
19 Dec 2017 - What caused 1,180 flights to be cancelled
at Atlanta airport USA, and is your infrastructure next? ....READ MORE
14 Dec 2017 - Kelcroft's Director John Herbert
attended the Hong Kong green building awards dinner.......READ MORE
13 Dec 2017 - 2018 Electricity Tariffs increasing.......READ MORE
9 Dec 2017 - Vinyl wallpaper and air
conditioned rooms don't match.....READ MORE
5 Dec 2017 - Lost Ductwork.....READ MORE
28 November 2017 - A neat video
provides an introduction to BEAMPLUS rating tools....READ MORE
25 November 2017 - Renewable Energy targets
for Hong Kong.........READ MORE
13 November 2017 - Rising Carbon Emissions.....READ MORE
15 October 2017 - "Must be getting old" Herbert said, Linkedin friends
reminded us that Kelcroft is 18 years old!
8 October 2017 - Our director Mr John Herbert, also a director of BEAM Society Limited,
and he attended BEAM Society's Board meeting and 7th Anniversary dinner.
28 September 2017 - Hong Kong Water Quality
Water Quality, new requirements for water testing have were introducted
with the WSD Circular Letter No. 9/2017,
here is the LINK
The new criteria is worthy of note because it requires testing of
stagnant water to identify metals leaching from the water piping or
fittings into the potable water supply.
However, it's only applicable to new buildings and in Hong Kong
some buildings can remain vacant for years after completion.
15 July 2017 - Hong Kong energy expert John
Herbert was interview for German publication https://www.oav.de/fileadmin/user_upload/ZMA_EE_Hongkong_Klimatechnik_2017_FINAL.pdf
15 June 2017 - Our director, Mr John Herbert attended
the BEAM Society AGM on 15 June 2017 and he was elected as BEAM Society Director.
22 April 2017 - Energy Targets for building energy performance article by John Herbert.........READ MORE
20 April 2017 - Sustainability is difficult where systems and economies are irreversible by John Herbert .... READ MORE
7 April 2017 - Green Building design is a core issue, but ask any building owner materials are critical for quality..........READ MORE
1 February 2017
Hong Kong requires mandatory energy audit every ten years, undertaken by Registered Energy Assessor (REA). EMSD website publish the basic results of the energy audit {http://www.emsd.gov.hk} and we plotted the EMSD data on Google Map for easy reference: Hong Kong Building Energy Mapping
4 January 2017
One less excuse to delay energy improvement works..
Lack of funds is cited as the number one reason for delaying energy improvement work, the good news is that upto HK$ 200,000 is available for Incorporated Owners of residential buildings on Hong Kong Island, on matched funding basis (that means dollar for dollar basis) for energy saving improvement projects......call Kelcroft today.
2016
TOP OF PAGE
16 December 2016
The BEAM Neighbourhood rating tool, or BEAM ND, is the latest member of the
suite of BEAM Hong Kong Green Building rating tools. This rating tool covers
community-wide developments, and is designed for assessing and rating the
master plan stage.
If you're familiar with BEAM rating tools, the format and content of BEAM ND
is easily recognized, using the same system for scoring points, in each
of the categories.
14 December 2016
Kelcroft's director, John Herbert, attended the BEAM Society Limited (BSL)
annual dinner.
18 November 2016
More than your ordinary consultant, we helped our client avoid a PR
disaster and jail time. In Hong Kong new construction requires signed
EMSD COCR stage 1 within 2 months of consent, and EMSD COCR Stage 2
within 4 months of OP, both signed by Registered Energy Assessor,
call the expert John A. Herbert +852 2335 9830 today!
To engage EMSD REA for your project call Kelcroft today!
14 November 2016
Condensate from steam system is often dumped, wasting energy and water, recover condensate, it is not rocket science #EnergyEfficiency pic.twitter.com/d0EuFRVxZb
— John A. Herbert (@johnherbert) November 14, 2016
A byproduct of the steam systems is the condensate often dumped into the drain, what a waste of "high grade" energy.....learn more
8 August 2016 - A power outage at Delta Airlines USA caused their datacenter and then the IT system
to fail, creating worldwide problems. "This is not the first major incident,
and surely it will not be the last, the approach to risk is simply
ignore it." Herbert said.
The costs, well the cost is unknown at this stage, the backlog of flights and
passengers is on-going, but it will run into many USD millions. There are media
reports indicating that a switch failed, which seems odd since an obvious single
point of failure should have planned redundancy.
Don't ask me, ask Delta airlines, what is the cost for ignoring your IT infrastructure #delta #powercut
— John A. Herbert (@johnherbert) August 10, 2016
#delta #poweroutage #design
1 July 2016 - Summer has offically arrived, with outdoor temperature reaching 35 Deg C, and high
humidity to match, the air conditioning chillers will be operating at full blast, but...
HKO Hot Weather Warning
Chilled Water Piping Losses
Polystrene thermal insulation, banned due to fire and smoke risk, were replaced by glass fibre, the only and therefore preferred choice at that time. But glass fibre was never intended for chilled water applications, it was developed and used to insulate walls.
Chilled water piping cladding covered with condensation
indicating a serious problem, wasting energy
In the event that the vapour barrier installation is not
100% perfect, moist air condenses on chilled water piping,
destroying the thermal resistance of the insulation.
Capillary action and gravity causes the water damage to widen,
but it is difficult to notice the losses, the concealed chilled
water gets warmer and warmer.
Modern piping thermal insulation is less likley to be damaged
by condensation.
28 June 2016 - What can we do about Hong Kong's rising green house emissions, the 2013 data shows its increasing........read more
3 June 2016
#energyefficiency #HongKong pic.twitter.com/EavyVWKr5u
— John Herbert (@johnherbert) June 4, 2016
3 June 2016
reflective white roof outperforms a lawn every day of the week #greenbuilding #carbonreduction #reflectiveroof pic.twitter.com/aV7t8YCefu
— John Herbert (@johnherbert) June 4, 2016
27 May 2016
The sports hall roof collapse at City University on 20 May 2016 has caused alarm bells about green roofing in Hong Kong. Energy expert John A. Herbert speaking on RTHK radio news explained "A reflective white roof is a better alternative for existing buildings it can lower the cooling load and reduce the cost for air conditioning space below" Herbert said.
A white roof works by reflecting the energy from the sun, it avoids absorbing energy, more effectively than a regular lawn used in Hong Kong, it will cost less to maintain, and does not add weight which is an important factor for an existing structure.
Whilst it does mitigate the urban heat island effect, just like a green roof, he agreed that a white roof does not tick the biodiversity box "a lawn is not meadow of wild flowers providing habitat for countless species, its just a lawn" Herbert said.
27 May 2016 - A reflective white roof is better than a lawn, a white roof is not expensive solution, it protects the waterproofing membrane, increasing roof longevity, and reduces the solar gain from the by more than 50% for air conditioned areas beneath
30 April 2016 - The dirt in cooling tower audit, clean your cooling towers!
EMSD cooling tower audit uncovers poor tower conditions #legionella #HongKong pic.twitter.com/0xAAClqAI2
— John Herbert (@johnherbert) 8 May 2016
4 April 2016 - Kelcroft's director John A. Herbert will be guest on the RTHK Backchat programme
on 5 April 2016, regarding light pollution. Herbert said "Hong Kong BEAM rating tool
already has criteria, under SA15, for controlling light pollution measures at
the design stage.
31 March 2016 - Our director, Mr John A. Herbert attend the opening of 2016 MIECF in Macau SAR.
24 March 2016 - John Herbert, a long standing member of the Hong Kong Green Building leaders
attended the launch of the new BEAM PLUS EB v2, with Sec. for the
Environment Mr K.S. Wong at the ZCB in Kowloon Bay.
John Herbert attended BEAM Existing Buildings EB launch
with HKSAR Sec. for Environment Mr KS Wong presenting
17 Feburary 2016 - Kelcroft was a supporting organisation for the HKGBC Recognition Scheme Award Presentation Ceremony held
on 17 February 2016.
29 January 2016 - John A. Herbert attended the BEAM event honouring contributions from past BEAM members, including Mr Cary Chan.
26 January 2016 - John Herbert, a long standing member of the Hong Kong Green Building Faculty, attended the faculty annual dinner at YMCA. Since posting photos of food is popular in Hong Kong...
John Herbert attended HKGBC Faculty Dinner
21 January 2016
Cooling tower with dirt and debris in the basin, keep towers clean to reduce #legionella risk #hongkong pic.twitter.com/gU8AWHcEJ2
— John Herbert (@johnherbert) January 21, 2016
7 January 2016 - Chinese only, a rough translation: the Hong Kong Lead (Pb) in water inquiry finds a firm involved with procuring plumbing materials forged documentation for Lead (Pb) solder to state it was Lead (Pb) free
Yahoo reports Chinese Only
1 January 2016 - Happy New Year!
2015
TOP OF PAGE
31 December 2015
Besides the hottest year on record in terms of temperature, Hong Kong also achieved another record, the highest number of Legionairres' Disease cases, 66 cases
were reported in 2015, significantly more than 28 cases in 2013 and 41 cases in 2014. the majority 79% are believed to be local (legionella case breakdown). And as we know Legionella is generally under-reported. Many of the patients were treated as Pneumonia cases
before the Legionella diagnosis was made, again not a surprise given that it generally presents as a pneumonia.
Furthermore, Legionella cases both worldwide and locally occurred in the colder months, hopefully dispelling the myth
that Legionella is only a summer time risk.
Although EMSD has been monitoring cooling towers in Hong Kong, still high and very high Legionella counts persist.
EMSD reported in 2015 that eight (8) cooling towers exceeded 1,000 cfu/ml
2015 was also notable because ASHRAE published ASHRAE Standard 188-2015 Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems
Click here to read more about
the Kelcroft Legionella Risk Assessment
tag: legionella
27 December 2015
WSD has upgraded its potable water quality scheme to become the Quality Water Recogintion Scheme for Buildings - Fresh Water PLUS. This voluntary scheme has been updated and extended, and now includes additional water quality test parameters, including testing for heavy metals, and copying the BEAM and BEAM PLUS requirement, now demands sampling from water tanks, refer to the WSD website for further information. http://www.wsd.gov.hk
tag: waterefficiency
20 November 2015 Kelcroft's director Mr John A. Herbert attend the 6th HKGBC anniversary at Central Plaza, Hong Kong......
Dan Rusu and John Herbert
17 November 2015
Kelcroft provides independent datacentre auditing for facilities in Asia, if you need operation you dont ask for the cheapest Doctor, right? same applies for your building.
Lightning Protection Installation
Indeed you may have read that lightning recently struck a Google
data centre, but is your data safe? Has you operation been checked?
All too often, the investigation starts after the incident has already
occurred.
Perhaps Kelcroft's attention to detail does count
The cable connection is damaged, just another another item added to the defects
list, details that others overlook, Kelcroft uncovers, making data centre safer.
Backup systems are critical for data centre operations, they normally operate under emergency
circumstances, so it is vital that all batteries are installed and commissioned correctly?
Battery backup system continuity failed
Kelcroft's independent checking, with our detail approach, uncovered this failed backup
system BEFORE data centre operations commenced.
9 November 2015
Mr John A. Herbert was the instructor for BEAM Professional training (Water Aspects).
tag: greenbuilding
2 November 2015
Our director, Mr John A. Herbert, in his role as HAESCO chairman organised an energy seminar with speakers from BSRIA on the topic of air tightness, and Swire on the topic of Big Data for VAV energy savings..read more #energyefficiency
Left to Right: BSRIA Tom Jones and John A. Herbert
29 October 2015 World Green Building Council Conference 2015 Hong Kong. Our director Mr John A. Herbert also attended WBS14 last year held in Barcelona, this year he attended the global green building event held in Hong Kong! .........read more..
World Green Building Council Conference 2015 Hong Kong
Build Green
Kelcroft HKGBC patron
28 October 2015 - Kelcroft's director Mr John A. Herbert attended Eco Asia Expo 2015, promoting green building and energy efficiency in Hong Kong ...... read more
27 October 2015 - Mr John A. Herbert, a member of energy and environment committee attended the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong energy efficiency seminar with Under Sec. For Environment Bureau HKSAR Ms Christine Loh........read more.
14 October 2015
HAESCO are organsing a building energy seminar on 2 November 2015 the topic will be building energy efficiency
tags: energyefficiency
8 October 2015
A new building with poorly designed air conditioning, is it really 2015? An engineer should know that locating an air grille near the wall is just asking for trouble, the beauty of infra-red imaging, it allows us to easily demonstrate defects to non-engineers.
Do you want your buildings designed to a particular standard or actual performance? Stakeholders in Hong Kong have always demanded performance over promises.
tags: thermography
Thermography reveals more than the eye can see
Thermal image manhole cover
8 October 2015
Poor building design and/or operation is a severe risk for Legionella, so far the Hong Kong Government health dept. has reported 53 cases of Legionaires Disease this year (2015) far exceeding the number of cases for the whole of 2014.
tags: legionella; hong kong; infection
2 October 2015
The HKSAR consultation document for handling Edible and Waste oils give us the hint of the future, License holders shall be required to dispose of waste oil to 'licenced contractors' or face stiff penalities.
25 September 2015
Kelcroft was a sponsor for the BEAM 5th Anniversary Dinner. John is also a director at BEAM Society Limited. Herbert said "It is our honour to support BEAM on the occasion of its 5th year of incorporation." ............read more
#greenbuilding #kelcroft #BEAM
Paul Chan HKSAR Sec. for Development presents BEAM green building award to Mr John A. Herbert
Our guests
25 September 2015 - Kelcroft's director, Mr John A. Herbert was presented with BEAM Green Building Award
#greenbuilding #kelcroft #BEAM #award
21 August 2015
Thermography reveals an infra-red world that the naked eye cannot see. It is just one of the tools in Kelcroft's arsenal to help guide our work, to improve energy efficiency to lower your energy costs. Every body emits radiation, but we can only see visible light, infra-red imaging converts infra-red spectum into light that we can see. order thermal scanning today!
tags: thermography, thermal scan
Visualising with infra-red benefits
18 August 2015
Kelcroft's director Mr John A. Herbert member of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Energy and Environment Committee attended the August 2015 meeting.
tags: energyefficiency
30 July 2015
Kelcroft's Mr John A. Herbert conducted BEAM Professional training (Water Use).
tags: BEAM, greenbuilding
6 June 2015
Mr John A. Herbert attended BEAM Neighbourhood training. "A green building rating tool for the Neighbourhood is the next step to encompass and engage the wider community". Herbert said.
tags: greenbuilding, BEAMPLUS
21 May 2015 - Our Mr John A. Herbert presented at Enviroserises Conference 2015. The key topic was water efficiency! Herbert, chairman of the BEAM Technical Review Panel, and BEAM Water Use expert panel chairman, explained that BEAM Plus buildings have already reduced water consumption by approx. 39% per annum, a fact often overlooked in green building, and critical for Hong Kong's future and water security.
Furthermore, he explained that BEAM has changed the industry, engineers are now forced to account for Hong Kong's skyscrapers, and now design water efficient systems to gain BEAM certification. .....learn more
BEC Chairman Mr John Chai (LEFT) presents award to Kelcroft's John A. Herbert (RIGHT)
18 May 2015
Kelcroft's John A. Herbert was guest on RTHK Radio 3 backchat programme the topic Hong Kong's energy blueprint. Herbert said the governments target (40% Energy intensity reduction from 2005 level) was not ambitious (equates to say 6.5% reduction in absolute terms).
Also Under Secretary for the Environment Ms. Christine Loh agreed that the BEEO Energy Audit results presently only on paper, should be available digitally! {listen here LINK}
John A. Herbert (Photo credit RTHK Radio 3)
15 May 2015
Mr John A. Herbert attended the Hong Kong Government's launch ceremony of the Government Energy for All campaign at the Hong Kong Government Office, Tamar, Hong Kong.
tags: energyefficiency
23 April 2015
Our John A. Herbert attend the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) Anniversary ceremony celebrating fifth year since the establishment of BSL (formerly BEAM Society).
#greenbuilding
20 April 2015
Kelcroft's director Mr John A. Herbert was speaker and panelist at the Enviroseries Conference 2015 held 21 May 2015 in Hong Kong.
#greenbuilding http://bec.org.hk/events-current/bec-enviroseries-conference-2015
18 April 2015
Mr John A. Herbert Kelcroft's director, conducted the BEAM BAS training for BEAM Water Aspects.
tags: greenbuilding, BEAM
10 April 2015
Kelcroft attended BEAM Existing Buildings (EB) stakeholders consultation to comment upon draft EB documentation.
#greenbuilding
26 March 2015 - Kelcroft exhibited and attended MIECF 2015 conference and exhibition in Macau, a leading regional green building conference for the Asia region.
#greenbuilding #energyaudit #carbonaudit
9 Match 2015
WSD has retitled the Quality Water Recognition Scheme For Buildings (QWRSFB) to the Quality Water Supply Schemes For Buildings - Fresh Water And Flushing Water.
#water #efficiency
1 March 2015
Happy St Davids Day!
23 February 2015
Kelcroft's director John A. Herbert chaired the first BEAM Water Expert group meeting in 2015.
26 January 2015
Director of HAESCO Mr John A. Herbert chaired the first HAESCO meeting in 2015
17 January 2015
Mr John A. Herbert attended the BEAM Directors brainstorming meeting at the Holiday Inn, Hong Kong.
tags: greenbuilding, BEAM
15 January 2015
Kelcroft is once again supporting green, a patron sponsor for Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) this year (2015).
#greenbuilding #HKGBC
click here to read Kelcroft's more news.......
News reports, articles, and media involving Kelcroft
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