Pointing out that the Philippines has time and time again been said to have one of the highest electricity rates in the world, Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara said that the government should take steps to curb its electricity bill which is expected to cost P10 Billion next year. This is according to the budget allocation for utilities in the 2012 budget.
According to the article, the government pays about P1.25 million/hour on electricity and water costs which is enough to build a classroom (of which the Philippines also has a shortage of) every 30 minutes. He said that by lowering the utilities consumption by just 5% would result in a savings of P500 Million alone.
Rep. Angara went even further by giving examples of what to do in order to reduce energy consumption, some of which are well known facts such as using fluorescent lamps (I think he means CFL’s) and adjusting air conditioning levels in rooms.
Some of the innovative ideas were for the Department of Energy to conduct a rating of the energy efficiency of government buildings then giving a reward incentive to those with high ratings.
Probably something that will require capital was the suggestion of retrofitting offices to make them more energy efficient. You might say this is not feasible, but just imagine that the cost you save will be well worth the capital investment.
Another of the idea floated was for the government to ask for a bulk purchase discount from the utility companies, which is justified by the large demand of electricity that they are requiring per year.
In my opinion, the best way to do this is to first do an energy audit of government buildings and their energy consumption. Then from there work on reducing appliance by appliance the energy consumed.
Also setting equipment standards and procedures would also be a good direction to go. An example of which would be like setting a government wide standard for the electric bulb power (wattage), light output (brightness in lumens) and average life span (hours before failing) to be bought for each light socket. Another example is like setting a yearly cleaning schedule for airconditioners installed in government buildings. This way efficiency will never drop and energy consumption increase. These are but some of the suggestions we can think of to help government reduce its electricity consumption.
And speaking of the problem of too little classrooms. I can’t help but think that we can easily solve that problem if we try our darnest to control our population growth. Land, air and water aren’t infinite you know.
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Category: Conservation, Population Control
