Power players bat for energy efficiency

Institutionalizing the practice of energy efficiency and conservation would subsequently address demand problems in the next decade or so, according to industry stakeholders.

During a Management Association of the Philippines webinar on Thursday, Patrick Aquino, director of the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Energy Utilization and Management Bureau (EUMB), called energy efficiency “the first choice of response when it comes to any deficiency or concern with respect to the energy situation” of the country.

“[If] we get to do this correctly… there might even be a demand-response market presence for the Philippines, which will be unique and dynamic so that people would have the capacity to contribute in alleviating and easing pressures on the [power] grid,” he said.

Teresa Ira Maris Guanzon, who represented Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who leads the Senate energy committee, echoed Aquino’s view, saying “hopefully in the next 10 years, we have already built a culture of energy efficiency.”

Alexander Ablaza, president of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance, believes full compliance with Republic Act (RA) 11285, or the “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act” (EE&C), would happen much faster than enforcing RA 9513, or the “Renewable Energy Act of 2008.”

“I see” RA 11285 to “be fully enforceable in a couple of years’ time,” unlike the “10, 12 years” it took for RA 9513 to be enforced, he said.

Signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on April 12, 2019, RA 11285 aims to institutionalize energy efficiency and conservation as a national way of life. It also aims to efficiently use energy by formulating, developing and implementing plans and programs to secure energy sufficiency and stabilize supply.

Since its enactment, the Energy department has promulgated circulars to speed up the law’s enforcement.

“We’re (the DoE) moving faster than usual” on it, Aquino said. He added that guidelines on the energy-conserving design of buildings would be integrated into the Philippine Green Building Code, which was being updated.

“Energy efficiency is seen as a major driver” in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions “in the energy sector over the coming years with the full implementation of the EE&C law,” Energy Undersecretary Jesus Cristino Posadas said in his speech during the webinar.