Three types of professionals provide accredited energy audit services:
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The "Buildings Energy Efficiency (Amendment) Bill 2025" passed its third reading in the Legislative Council in 2025. The revised Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance has several key features, including the inclusion of data centers in the scope of energy efficiency standards, the expansion of the requirement for regular energy audits for more building categories, the shortening of the energy audit cycle to five years, and the public disclosure of some technical information in energy audit reports. This means that demand for energy audit services will increase significantly. In the past, energy audits were only conducted by Registered Energy Assessors (REA). In view of this, expanding the scope of registered energy assessors' qualifications and enhancing professional certification is one of the key improvements in the "Buildings Energy Efficiency (Amendment) Bill 2025".
Demand for energy audit services
Currently, only commercial buildings and the commercial parts of mixed-use buildings are required to undergo energy audits every ten years. However, the "Buildings Energy Efficiency (Amendment) Bill 2025" has been passed to include data centres in the scope of energy efficiency standards and expand the requirements for regular energy audits to more building types. This has increased the number of buildings requiring energy audits every five years to 11, including:
- Commercial buildings.
- The part of a composite building used for commercial purposes.
- Buildings occupied primarily for educational purposes.
- Buildings occupied primarily for community service purposes include community halls, social service centres and composite buildings occupied for the above two local purposes.
- Buildings occupied primarily for municipal services include markets, cooked food centres, libraries, civic centres, cultural centres, indoor sports grounds, and composite buildings occupied for two or more of the above purposes.
- Buildings occupied primarily for medical and healthcare services, including hospitals, clinics and rehabilitation centres.
- A building owned by the Government and used primarily for the accommodation of persons during the performance of any Government function.
- The passenger terminal of the airport.
- Railway station.
- Buildings occupied primarily for data centre purposes.
- The portion of an industrial building occupied primarily for data centre purposes.
Expanding the scope of qualifications for registered energy assessors
In addition to the existing authorized REA, the scope of qualifications for Registered Energy Assessors ( REAs ) has been expanded to include other professionally qualified individuals who can also conduct energy audits. These include registered engineers with relevant professional qualifications and experience (the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers has established an energy discipline) and members of recognized professional bodies [ the Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals (HKEP)] . These individuals can also participate in energy audits, expanding the professional group that can carry out energy efficiency assessments and allowing more qualified individuals to provide services in the market.
The revised energy audit process and procedures have been refined and refined based on the existing framework, but the overall process still includes key stages such as application registration, on-site assessment, report submission, and EMSD review. The revised "Energy Efficiency of Buildings (Amendment) Bill 2025" emphasizes transparency and professional ethics in the energy audit program, including strengthening the review of auditor qualifications and supervision of report quality. The energy audit covers building facilities, energy usage, and recommended improvement plans. Upon completion, the auditor compiles a detailed report, which the building owner can use to consider optimization solutions to improve energy efficiency. The energy audit report also includes information on energy-saving technologies.
HKEA Energy Audit Services looks forward to your cooperation
HKEA has its own professional REA team. With increasing demand for our services, we're looking to collaborate with more professionals. If you meet the government's Energy Efficiency Assessor qualifications, we can provide accredited energy audit services. Please email or WhatsApp your resume to our customer service staff. We will extend a collaboration invitation to those who pass the review. We hope to work together towards our zero-carbon goals.
