DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 10 April) – Twelve public schools and three local government units in Mindanao had saved a total of P2.6 million in energy expenses last year due to the retrofitting of lighting systems, mainly by using energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), under the Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP) of the Department of Energy (DOE).
Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said in a press conference here Wednesday the PEEP, which was launched in 2009 and will end this year, has helped curb the power crunch in Mindanao by implementing energy saving measures.
The PEEP was funded by an Asian Development Bank loan of $31.1 million with the government’s counterpart of P625 million, Ayson said.
She said energy saved in the 15 government offices was almost 262,000 kilowatt hours.
Nationwide, the PEEP likewise reduced carbon dioxide emission by 172,000 tons because of the more energy efficient bulbs, Ayson said.
The government buildings in Mindanao that benefitted from the project are those owned by local government units in the cities of General Santos, Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro.
Also retrofitted were public schools, namely, the Bukidnon National High School, Bukidnon State University, Central Mindanao University, Davao del Norte State College, Mindanao State University, Southern Philippines Agri-business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology, three campuses of the University of Southeastern Philippines, Western Mindanao State University, Zamboanga City State Polytechnic College, and Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology.
Ayson said the retrofitting project served as a demonstration for the local government units (LGU) to cascade it by choosing energy efficient lights.
“We want them to see how they will be able to save 70 percent of energy cost,” she said, adding that LGUs have funds to support such kind of project.
Evelyn Reyes, director of the DOE’s Energy Utilization Management Bureau, also said at the press conference that under the PEEP’s national residential lighting program, 8.6 million CFLs were distributed to households nationwide.
She said two the five million CFLs in the first tranche were distributed in Mindanao, considering the power situation in the island.
Of the 3.6 million CFLs in the second tranche, 228 congressional districts with 10,000 CFLs each, 57 sectoral groups and 18 offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development have benefitted.
Aside from efficient lighting initiatives, other PEEP components were efficiency initiatives in buildings, and communication and social mobilization, which focused on communication, campaign for efficient lighting.
The DOE said it hopes that the PEEP project “has helped establish sustainable business models for large-scale replication of energy-efficiency programs to achieve the country’s energy reduction goals.” (Lorie Ann A. Cascaro / MindaNews)