Greener buses to help clear the air

HK$600m for improvement [im?pru:vm?nt](改善) of roadside air quality(路邊空氣質(zhì)量)

Chief Executive(香港特首) Donald Tsang(曾陰權(quán)) pledged(承諾) Wednesday that the government would spend HK$600 million to help improve the city's air quality.

The promises, made during his delivery of the 2010-11 Policy Address(2010-11年政策工作報(bào)告), paid special attention to the high levels of pollution [p??lu??n](污染) found at roadside levels. Tsang said that franchised bus companies(特許經(jīng)營(yíng)巴士公司) in particular will have cut back their emissions(廢氣).

Believed to be one of the major causes of high levels of roadside air pollution, some 3,900 buses are going to be retrofitted(改進(jìn)) with catalytic [?k?t??litik]reduction devices(催化減低設(shè)備) to bring them up to date with Euro IV(歐四標(biāo)準(zhǔn)), a lower nitrogen [?naitr?d??n]() oxide [??ksaid] emission standard(氮氧化物排放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)). The 3,900 vehicles currently run at Euro II(歐二標(biāo)準(zhǔn)) and Euro III(歐三標(biāo)準(zhǔn)) standards.

And the retrofit - which will cost HK$150,000 for each bus - is to be funded by the government. However, subsequent [?s?bsikw?nt](后續(xù)的) operational and maintenance costs(后續(xù)的操作及維護(hù)成本) will have to be borne [b?:n, b??rn](承擔(dān)) by the individual bus companies.

Busy districts such as Causeway Bay, Central and Mong Kok (旺角)will also soon be declared as pilot low-emission zones(低排放試點(diǎn)區(qū)). Only 10 percent of a total of 2,400 franchised buses running in the designated pilot areas(設(shè)定的試點(diǎn)區(qū)域) meet the Euro IV standard(歐五標(biāo)準(zhǔn)).

The government aims to increase the number of low-emission Euro IV standard buses to 25 percent of total the next year. It will continue to increase the numbers until it reaches 100 percent in 2015. The goverment predicts(預(yù)測(cè)) that the measures will help reduce roadside air pollution by 14 percent and the amount of nitrogen dioxide by 26 percent.

"Low-emission buses running through the pilot low-emission zones cover a large area of the SAR(香港特別行政區(qū)), so the pilot scheme(試點(diǎn)計(jì)劃) will also be able to benefit much of the city as well," a government spokesman said Wednesday.

"We certainly welcome greener franchised buses," said Koo Wai-muk, a campaigner(活動(dòng)人士) with environmental organization Greenpeace(綠色環(huán)保組織). "However, I am worried that there will be a corresponding [?k?ris?p?ndi?，?k?r??sp?nd??](相應(yīng)的) increase in bus fares(費(fèi)用)", adding that the government should monitor and set ticket prices.

For William Yu, head of the climate program at the World Wild life Fund(世界野生動(dòng)物基金會(huì)) Hong Kong, however, an increase in bus fares may well be inevitable [in?evit?bl](不明智的). However, "the social cost of air pollution" as well as "the health costs on citizens" should also be taken into consideration(考慮).

Finally, the government plans to fully fund the cost of procuring(獲得) six "green" hybrid [?haibrid](混合動(dòng)力車) buses - each at a cost of HK$5 million - for use by the franchised bus companies to test their operational efficiency(運(yùn)行效率). It hopes to replace the diesel [?di:z?l](菜油) buses that are currently being operated on a largescale(大量的) within a short period of time.

To combat [?k?mb?t](應(yīng)對(duì))climate change, the SAR's emission reduction strategy is emphasizing the wider use of cleaner and low-carbon(低碳) energies and fuels in power generation. It also expects carbon intensity [in?tensiti](強(qiáng)度)in Hong Kong to be reduced by 50 to 60 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels