Jul 30, 2012

Philippines - Government eyes energy-efficiency standards

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THE GOVERNMENT is developing a standard on measuring the energy efficiency of widely used appliances as it is set to build testing facilities to certify if those appliances are really power savers, an Energy official said.

The Energy, Trade and Science and Technology departments are discussing a uniform testing for widely used appliances which will confirm the claims of manufacturers on the energy efficiency of their products, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras said.

“We have finalized the standard on how energy efficiency is going to be measured in buildings and we’re doing the same with appliances... so that you can compare one brand or one appliance versus another,” Mr. Almendras told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of Petro Business Pavilion of Franchise Asia Philippines 2012 Expo at the SMX Convention Center last Friday.

“We need to test it to find out if one appliance will only consume this much power,” he added.
The standard for measuring the energy efficiency of appliances will be based on the discussion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to come up with a common energy-efficiency convention, Mr. Almendras said.

“We are a signatory to that, so we are developing along those lines in accordance with the ASEAN initiative,” said.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY BILL

Meanwhile, the Energy Efficiency Bill, which is still pending in Congress since September 2010 according to the Senate Web site, will require all appliances to be tagged, Mr. Almendras said.

Power-saving appliances will have labels of high Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) which will guide consumers in buying the appropriate models for their energy requirements.

The Energy Efficiency Bill also aims to provide incentives to those with energy-efficiency and conservation projects.

For the testing facilities, the Energy secretary said they will be coordinating with the Trade department to put up these testing centers.

“We already have the resources -- the equipment and the sites -- and we are waiting for our budget to be approved,” Mr. Almendras said.

“We’ll start with the most widely used appliances for the testing laboratory. We’re looking at testing air-conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, etc.,” he added.

Starting next month, Mr. Almendras said there will be a program to identify energy efficiencies in television sets being sold in the country.

“We’re working with a few groups that is going to set that up and we’re going to test a few dozen brands of TV,” Mr. Almendras explained.

Last week, manufacturer Concepcion-Carrier Air Conditioning (CCAC) said it has asked the government to issue a formal testing protocol to verify if air-conditioners are indeed the power savers their manufacturers claim them to be.

Danessa O. Rivera


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