Professional Services Development Assistance Scheme (PSDAS) Covering Period 1.8.2006 to 31.7.2007 1. PROJECT DETAILS 1.1 Project reference no.: 2006-1-11 1.2 Project title: Advanced Energy Audit Training Course 1.3 Applicant: Energy Institute (Hong Kong Branch) 1.4 Collaborating organization: Nil 1.5 Implementation organization: Energy Institute (Hong Kong Branch) 1.6 Project coordinator: Dr Michael K. H. Leung, Committee Member, Energy Institute (Hong Kong Branch) 1.7 PSDAS funds (HK$) approved: $86,000 2. SUMMARY OF PROJECT PROPOSAL The training course aimed to provide attendees with effective methods of screening buildings for energy efficiency using utility data, and how to address the building owner s concerns on energy efficiency, environmental performance and comfort. It was a 15-hour training (4 evenings and 1 Saturday) and its participants were practicing engineers, energy managers, energy auditors, environmental officers, building services managers and plant managers. Page 1
3. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME 3.1 Project implementation 1/8/2006 to 31/10/2006 Planning: Develop detailed curriculum with specific training objectives Organise training contents Assemble and package lesson plans Promote training course via advertisements in professional journals, websites and posters Develop training support materials 1/11/2006 to 31/3/2007 Implementation: Manage and implement training course 1/4/2007 to 31/7/2007 Training evaluation: Evaluate the course effectiveness by questionnaires Conduct satisfaction survey and present the survey results in the final report Disseminate the survey results to relevant professionals through seminar and professional magazine, such as Hong Kong Engineer. 3.2 Project deliverable A 15-hour training course held on 1, 2, 5, 8 & 12 December 2006. 3.3 Participants / expected beneficiaries 99 training course participants (out of expected no. of 65) Page 2
3.4 Promotional activities to canvass participation The training course had been promoted via the following channels: Advertisements in professional journal - Hong Kong Institution of Engineer: - Insertion in its October 2006 issue - Pink Pages of its November issue Websites of: - Energy Institute - Energy Institute (Hong Kong Branch) - Hong Kong Productivity Council Posters and brochures had been distributed through: - Energy Institute (Hong Kong Branch) - Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong - Hong Kong Productivity Council - American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers, Inc. (Hong Kong Chapter) - The Building Services Operation and Maintenance Executive Society - The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (Hong Kong Branch) - Hong Kong Association of Energy Engineers - Building Services Division, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers - Environmental Division, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers - Gas & Energy Division, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers - HKSAR Electrical & Mechanical Services Department 3.5 Dissemination of project results Hard copies of training material were disseminated through the following parties: - Organisers, Professional Organiser and Co-organisers - library of The University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Baptist University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK She Yan University - VTC Training Centres in Kowloon Bay, Kwai Chung and Pokfulam - IVE Campus in Chai Wan, Lee Wai Lee, Tsing Yi, Morrison Hill & Tuen Mun Soft version of the training material was posted on the websites of the Organisers, Professional Organiser and Co-organisers for the benefit of a larger base of professionals. Soft copy was submitted to the PSDAS Secretariat for uploading onto the PSDAS website in this Report. Ir Lo Siu Kuen, Senior Building Services Engineer of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, declined to have his material posted on the website of PSDAS and the material was removed from the softcopy version submitted to PSDAS. Page 3
4. ACHIEVEMENT OF THE PROJECT 4.1 Self-evaluation of project attainment of the expected benefits a) Number of participants and beneficiaries reached Over 20,000 beneficiaries, including 99 course participants and all local and overseas speakers, professionals from academics, utilities, government departments, professional institutions, consulting firms, engineering firms, construction companies, hotels, property management companies, public transportation companies, etc., had either received hardcopies of the training material or downloaded it from different websites or referenced it from local libraries (please refer to Section 3.5 of this Report for full details of the libraries). b) Achieving the target benefits The training course invited the following 8 energy experts as the course instructors: Mr Trevor Floyd, Principal Consultant, TENBY Consultancy Group (UK) Ir Raymond CL Fong, Principal Consultant, Environment Management Division, Hong Kong Productivity Council Ir Dr Sam CM Hui, Teaching Consultant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong Ir Dr Michael KH Leung, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong Ir Anthony CW Lo, New Product Development Manager, Marketing & Customer Services, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited Ir Siu-kuen Lo, Senior Building Services Engineer, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, HKSAR Government Ir Peter WP Ma, Vice Chairman, Hong Kong Association of Energy Engineers Prof Francis WH Yik, Professor, Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The training had provided participants with both overseas and local experience in effective methods of screening buildings for energy efficiency using utility data, and how to address the building owner s concerns on energy efficiency, environmental performance and comfort. By acquiring the updated knowledge, attendees and beneficiaries of this project enhanced their competitiveness and professionalism. c) Feedback from users / customers / participants Feedback was collected from the participants of the training course by questionnaires. A total of 44 valid evaluation forms collected. Questionnaire had been designed for collecting comments on the programme content, overall arrangement as well as presentations. In general, majority of the participants agreed that the programme content was applicable, of relevance, useful & informative and could meet the objective of the event. The respondents found most of the presentations satisfactory and were also satisfied with the overall arrangement of the event including logistics arrangement, venue and catering. Page 4
d) Dissemination of project outcomes to the relevant professionals 99 participants participated in the training course, course speakers, Organisers, Professional Organiser, Co-organisers and local libraries (please refer to Section 3.5 of this Report for full details of the libraries) had received hard copies of the training material. Moreover, over 20,000 beneficiaries received the material through websites. e) Overall achievement in enhancing professional standard / external competitiveness of the services sectors concerned Overall speaking, this was a successful event with the participation/support from different sectors including academics, utilities, government departments, professional institutions, consulting firms, engineering firms, construction companies, building management companies. The training course material had distributed via the website provided thousands of the targeted professionals with first-hand information about systematic and flexible approaches for auditing buildings and sound economic analysis to assess the cost effectiveness of energy efficiency measures from both local and overseas prospective which contributed to enhancing the engineers competitive advantages. 4.2 Self-evaluation on financial and project management The number of paying participants was 90, which was greater than the expected number of 65 persons together with tight control of expenses such that some surplus was recorded and would be returned to PSDAS. Adequate project management with proper implementation of the entire programme, starting from course publication, speaker arrangement, programme delivery to programme evaluation. All milestones were completed on schedule and all deliverables committed were achieved satisfactorily. 5. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Lessons learned and (if any) proposed follow-up actions to enhance sustainability of project results? According to the survey and responses received from the participants, its finding showed that participants agreed that this course was quite useful and applicable. Suggestions on enriching the course content had been collected from the evaluation, suggesting that similar training course could be considered to re-run 2 or 3 years later with new knowledge and skill on energy management and energy auditing. Page 5