The Territory-Wide Chiller Retrofit Program for HK Public Hospitals, jointly led by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and the Hospital Authority (HA), represents a landmark initiative in energy efficiency and a significant step towards Hong Kong’s carbon neutrality targets. Covering 24 building blocks across 16 public hospitals, the program successfully replaced 62 chillers within approximately four years, all while ensuring uninterrupted hospital operations and safeguarding patient safety.

The project achieved a verified 38% reduction in energy consumption, delivering annual saving over 35 million kWh and an average payback period of around four years.

A key highlight is EMSD’s self-developed “all-in-one” retrofit approach, piloted at one of the sites. This innovative solution integrates low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, Multi-trade Integrated MEP (MiMEP) construction methodology, BIM-Asset Management based on open-BIM standards, and the AI-driven chiller optimization system, ChillStream® proven to deliver up to an additional 7% in energy savings.

This pioneering program sets a benchmark for low-carbon transformation in healthcare facilities, demonstrating excellence in innovation, cross-sector collaboration, sustainability and a people-centric engineering approach.