By comparison, a smokeless joss paper furnace increases electrical bills by 20 percent a month and water 8 percent.

Tong Wai-hop, who heads the Academic Department of the Hong Kong Taoist Association, is critical of the modernization at Wong Tai Sin. He said the renovation was not necessary but very costly. "The conception of worship, should come from what people hold inside, but can never be fully expressed ," he said. He did not like the idea of temples going electric.

He stressed that the typical ceremony of worship is harmless to the environment. Burning incense is a tradition dating back thousands of years. It also holds important meanings pertaining to ever-lasting spirit and gratitude.

On the day after the new temple hall opened, a Malaysian news commentator wrote an article in a local Chinese newspaper, praising Wong Tai Sin Temple's "pioneering action". The article stated that electric worship ceremony is a future trend. The writer suggested local temples go that way too to reduce air pollution.

The praise may prove premature, however. With the grand decoration and high fees, the temple may find it has stepped too far on the road to environmentalism, and worshippers may go elsewhere.