Appliances Guide,Carbon,Calculator,Green Your Lifestyle
Sammy Leung
Renowned DJ
What lifestyle changes have you made to reduce your carbon emissions at home?

"I am gradually replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs with LED lights at home. The reason is simple: traditional incandescent light bulbs release large amounts of waste heat and raises indoor temperature, which in turn pushes us to turn on the air-conditioner to cool off. Isn't it an indirect way to increase our carbon emissions? Nowadays, LED lights are cheap, which can help us save money and electricity. Why not take action? I have also bought many fans, hoping to reduce my air-conditioning use at home! However, I always forget to turn off the lights and fans before leaving the room. Thanks to my family's friendly reminders, I've become less forgetful now! Lastly, I feel proud to share with you my "super low carbon solution" at home - shower within 3 minutes! (Frankly, it is because I don't really enjoy showering at all! Ha-ha)"

How can you tackle your high carbon emissions from air travel?

"I only realized the massive impact of air travel on the environment after using the carbon calculator! Indeed, air travel only became prominent in recent years. It was a big deal for us to fly in the past, but nowadays it's quite common to go travel by plane once or twice a year! Hong Kong people love to spend their holiday overseas, but I recently decided to cancel my trip to Thailand this year. Don't be mistaken in thinking that I will not be having fun staying in Hong Kong. We are actually surrounded by tons of exciting things! Even without travelling to Thailand, you can indulge in quality Thai food, have a sunny day at the beach and enjoy a relaxing massage at a nice spa. All in Hong Kong! Air travel contributes a lot of carbon emissions, so why not use the money intended for air tickets and hotels on some first-class services in Hong Kong? I will surely spread this message to other DJ colleagues and ask them to rethink overseas travel!"

I heard that you promoted the low carbon message to a celebrity recently, can you share it with us?

"I came across Andy Lau earlier and shared a piece of foreign news with him. There was an enthusiastic environmentalist who stuck stickers on vehicles with high horsepower to advise the owners to replace their vehicles with ones that have lower horsepower. This can reduce carbon emissions and help protect the environment. Andy Lau told me his vehicle was a very high horsepower one and that he would consider a replacement. I do not know if he has taken action but I am happy to spread this message of low carbon living with just a short conversation."

How do you think we can most effectively spread the message of low carbon living?

"I think the most important message to send is that cutting emissions can also mean saving money at the same time. My friend once bet with his boss that he can help the company save $1 million with energy saving measures. His boss did not believe him at first and joked about giving him half of the money saved if my friend was successful. You know what, my friend really did it! Saving money is a big incentive to many people. However, the additional cost payback period needs to be short for the general public to accept such changes. For example, the payback period to offset the additional cost of a hybrid car is a shockingly unreasonable eight years; it is hard to get public support. Therefore, I support the government in raising the first registration tax for non-hybrid vehicles so that the cost gap between a regular car and hybrid car can be lessened. If the payback period is short enough, I think public will choose the greener product."

What do you think about the consumption patterns of Hong Kong people?

"I think we are really stupid as we always derive our personal enjoyment from energy-consuming activities. For example, we play video games indoors instead of playing ball games in the playground; we choose not to chat with our friends but to turn on the air-conditioning at the karaoke bar and sing! You will realize how heavily our modern lives depend on electricity if you try to avoid using any of them for just a day. Moreover, the media encourages us to spend and consume. Many people love having a buffet dinner but I think we are really stupid. We spend a lot of money on some mid-priced, mediocre-tasting food. Why don't we spend the few hundreds on some really nice food? Moreover, in order to retain their image, buffet restaurants keep plates full and end up with huge amounts of food waste. It indeed saddens me when I think of the scarcity of food in many developing countries."

What do you think about the environmental awareness of Hong Kong people? What suggestions would you give the government?

"Public environmental awareness has improved greatly. The government should lead the public to make more changes on environmental issues. Change is not as hard as we think: Hong Kong has gone through the transformation of diesel taxis into LPG taxis; and the introduction of plastic bag levies has made people accustomed to bringing their own grocery bags. (Even a huge change like the migration of airport can be done within a midnight!). As a global city, we should make bold attempts and speed up our progress on environmental issues."

As a renowned DJ in town, how will you spread the low carbon message?

"Avoiding spreading the wrong message is very important. I would let audiences know that low carbon lifestyles can still be very stylish. It is a responsible lifestyle worth changing for."