DOE steps up campaign to promote energy savings

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is introducing ways to allow the public to calculate their appliances’ monthly consumption and forecast possible savings.

The move is part of efforts to promote practical means to encourage energy efficiency practices in the country.

In line with this, the DOE is already spearheading the introduction of inter-active websites that can inform and create awareness to consumers regarding energy efficiency.

The wattmatters.org.ph site, for instance, encourages web visitors to calculate as well as simulate the monthly consumption, savings and projected energy efficiency of their desired appliances.

Similarly, kuryente.org.ph acts as a reference for consumers to be informed of the present electricity prices in their areas and the contents of their electricity bills.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said since the website launch, consumers are becoming more aware of energy consumption and energy efficiency.

“Transparency in the sector is a good model to create awareness and sound partnerships with our consumers, They can be part of the solution of reducing our power consumptions, thus promoting efficiency and saving money as well,” he said.

The DOE’s Energy Utilization Management Bureau (EUMB) has been robust in promoting energy efficiency through its Information, Education and Communication Campaigns (IEC).

Majority of these campaigns are hosted by electric cooperatives with their member-consumers as audience, the DOE said.

As part of these campaigns, they presented the energy efficiency ratio (EER) for air-conditioners where a higher EER has a more efficient motor than one with a lower EER.

Furthermore, they familiarized the attendees with the energy efficiency factor (EEF) for refrigerators where a higher EEF consumes less electricity as compared with one having lower EEF, the department also said.

Moving forward, the DOE is continuously convening campaigns and similar activities to inform consumers of the different methods to reduce energy consumption and espouse the principle of energy efficiency to all the households in the Philippines.