Thursday, October 14, 2010

Energy conservation bill pushed

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:45:00 10/14/2010

Filed Under: Energy, Energy Savings

MANILA, Philippines—To help meet the country’s growing demand for energy, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) has urged the government to immediately pass the energy conservation bill.
On the sidelines of a stakeholders’ forum dubbed “The New Energy Future,” ECCP executive vice president Henry Schumacher said the group would assist “in benchmarking [the proposed law] against conservation laws in other countries.”
“We are still putting a group of experts together before we talk to the Department of Energy to make it work,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher said ECCP began implementing this year the Energy Smart Program, which is intended to make industries aware of the benefits of energy efficiency.
“It’s basically starting from a point where you started to take care of the planet, and one way of doing that is looking at energy efficiency—meaning using less (energy). The new energy future is also all about making use of what you have more effectively. It’s about how we can contribute as individuals. It’s about looking at the lights, it’s about looking at insulation and more effective sources of energy,” Schumacher said in a briefing Thursday.
Under the Energy Smart Program, ECCP will help companies make their buildings more energy-efficient.
“We’re offering services like a walk through. If you say, I want to bring my energy consumption down, then you can call us, then we will organize a walk through and say, this thing you can change, that you can change,” he explained.
Romel M. Carlos, associate operations officer for the IFC Sustainable Energy Finance program, earlier said that a survey was conducted from February to April 2009 to determine the energy efficiency of 52 buildings in the Makati commercial business district.
Results showed a total potential savings of $4.5 million annually should all these buildings shift to more efficient heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems.

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