Palace looks at using indigenous gas-saving gadgets

Malacañang has stepped up the use of gas-saving gadgets including one invented by a Filipino as part of measures to conserve energy amid skyrocketing prices of crude in the world market.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said a Cabinet crisis team formed by President Arroyo discussed the option of promoting the nationwide use of an indigenous gas saving gadget to save fuel consumption during its meeting last Friday.

Lotilla noted that there are now many local gas saving gadgets by Filipino inventors, including the Khaos Super Turbo Charger (KSTC), a gas saving device that can cut down fuel consumption by as much as 50 percent.

Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo agreed that the government would tap the local inventions of gas saving gadgets to address the looming oil crisis and the price of oil futures threatens to breach the $70 a barrel level.

"Anything that will help reduce fuel consumption will be welcome," Saludo said in a recent briefing with the Malacañang Press Corps.

Filipino inventor Pablo Planas created the gas-saving gadget Khaos Super Turbo Charger in 1973 to help reduce fuel consumption and lower toxic emissions from vehicles.

Government officials like Vice President Noli de Castro and Environment Secretary Mike Defensor are now endorsing the use of the gadget after they proved that it could save anywhere from 15 to 50 percent of fuel consumption. These officials also noted that dark emissions from their vehicles have been reduced after using the KSTC gadget.

The KSTC has undergone and passed technical tests conducted by the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and other local and foreign testing bodies.

Planas, representing Inventionhaus International, the maker of Khaos, had earlier signed an agreement loan program with Asialink Finance Corp. to help the public purchase units under an easy to pay scheme. Along this line, Inventionhaus has launched the hotline numbers 4487213, 4487214, and 9200090 to accommodate the inquiries for the easy payment scheme.

Each unit costs P6,500 but the easy loan program would allow a buyer to pay only P668 every 15th and 30th of the month for a period of six months.

If a motorist’s monthly gas bill runs up to, say P4,000, then the savings provided by the gadget could be used to pay the fortnightly bills.

Planas expressed hope that his invention "will be of great help to the Filipino motorists as a solution to constant oil price increases," Planas said.

Oil price increases have come practically every week as prices of world crude remain volatile.