DOE, 12 gov't agencies team up for Visayas lighting program

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is partnering with 12 government agencies for a Visayas-wide lighting systems retrofitting program for government buildings.

In a statement, the DOE said it signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to provide energy efficient alternatives to existing lighting systems of the 12 state-run agencies.

“This initiative is part of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP) being implemented by the DOE,” the department said.

Specifically, the PEEP targets improving the lighting systems of government offices to save on electricity expenditures and help reduce the country’s carbon emissions.

Under the agreement, the DOE will help retrofit lighting systems of 12 government buildings in the Visayas region.

It is expected to generate potential energy savings of about 222 megawatt-hours for the seven educational institutions, four city government buildings and a state-owned hospital that are included in the project.

“These may be translated to around P2.22 million in monetary savings and annual reduction of 120 tons of carbon dioxide (tco2) in greenhouse gas emissions,” the DOE said.

Last week, the DOE signed an MOA with 56 agencies from the National Capital Region, Southern Tagalog and Bicol for the retrofitting program.

As of February, the DOE has helped in the retrofitting of 35 government buildings with the aim of reducing energy consumption by 1.37 gigawatt-hours (gwh) worth P13.7 million annually while cutting emissions by 741 tCO2.

“We should always be mindful that energy wastage effectively reduces total available energy supply, artificially lifts demand and promotes high prices,” said DOE Undersecretary Loreta G. Ayson.

The DOE has expanded the retrofitting component of the PEEP to include 100 government buildings from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Energy savings are expected to reach six gWh worth P60 million while avoiding the release of 3,246 tco2 to the atmosphere annually.

The Government Building Retrofit project is part of the efficient lighting initiative component of PEEP.

It includes national residential lighting; public lighting retrofitting of streetlights, traffic lights and solar-powered lights in off-grid areas; and the carrying out of energy efficiency testing and lamp waste management, the DOE said.

Aside from the PEEP, the government is also implementing the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP).