Green Engineering (Ep. 9)

Initial broadcast - 8:00 pm Friday September 11, 2015

To listen to the show's initial broadcast, please visit RTHK's DAB 31.

To listen to the show after the initial broadcast, please visit the archive here. (Skip to 6m30s!)

(Photo K. Davies)

In this episode, our researcher Inga Conti-Jerpe interviews green engineer Dr. Sam C. M. Hui from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Hong Kong. He shared with us about the impact buildings actually have in Hong Kong on the  environment, since we live in a highly dense urban environment. Not only are buildings one of the largest "users" of energy consumption, but they also play a role in how comfortable our environment is. Due to our urban environment and modern conveniences we live in what Dr. Hui explains is an "urban heat island", meaning our urban temperature is higher than our countryside because of the heat our buildings emit and how heat is reflected off concrete. Plants, for example, would convert sunlight instead into biomass, but in our concrete jungles are temperatures are just getting hotter and hotter. Dr. Hui explains the benefits of heat-combating greening. And thank goodness we have Inga to help us breakdown the science of it all!

More information about the "urban heat island" effect can be found here.

Hong Kong has its first "zero carbon building", which is in Kowloon Bay.

Inga, Kathryn, and Prof. Sam Hui

 Key tips:

• Buy energy efficient appliances whenever you need to replace your old ones. 
• Turn off the air conditioner whenever you can! It generates heat and exhaust. 
• Incorporate more plants/greening wherever possible. They cool down sunlight ("convert it into biomass" as Inga would say technically) and freshen the air.

Vocabulary

Translation coming soon...

biomass

greening

carnivorous plants

low-nutrient environment

shade

Credits

Special thank you to Dr. Sam Hui (Faculty of Engineering, the University of Hong Kong)

Kathryn Davies - Producer & Host

Fei Hung - Co-host

Inga Conti-Jerpe - Researcher & Co-producer

Chris Tam - Sound Engineering Assistant

Music by Kodomo (Concept 01)