(Taguig City) The Philippines’ Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program is the subject for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Peer Review on Energy Efficiency (PREE) from February 6 to 10, 2012.  The program, PREE, is anchored on the Leaders Declaration (Sydney, 2007) which aims to work towards achieving an APEC-wide regional aspirational goal of energy intensity reduction of at least 25% by 2030 (base year 2005), encourage all APEC economies to set individual goals and action plans for improving Energy Efficiency, and review progress through the voluntary APEC Energy Peer Review Mechanism.  The last component is the subject of the five-day visit from APEC member-economies in reviewing the Philippines’ current energy efficiency scenario.

In previous statements, the objectives of the program are said to be centered on sharing information on Energy Efficiency performance and policies among member economies, providing opportunities for learning from other member economies, exploring how Energy Efficiency overall/sectoral goals and action plans could be effectively formulated, monitoring progress toward attaining Energy Efficiency goals, and providing recommendations for voluntary implementation.

Members of the delegation include: Mr. Kenji Kobayashi, President, Asia Pacific Energy Research Center (APERC); Dr. Bing-Chwen Yang, Team Leader APERC; Mr. Brian Castelli, Executive Vice President, Programs and Development, Alliance to Save Energy, Washington, DC; Mr. Iwan Rustandi, Engineer, PT. Energy Management Indonesia; Dr. Chin-Chung Wu, Chief, Planning Division, Department of Systems Operations, Taiwan Power Company, Chinese Taipei; Mr. Asawin Asawutmangkul, Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy, Thailand; and Mr. Asrul Mohammad Ali, Chief Technical Assistant, Energy Department, Brunei, Darussalam, and Elvira T. Gelindon, APERC Senior Researcher.

The DOE, on the other hand, stated that through its programs, it will target annual savings of 3,455 KTOE and around 8.95 million tons of carbon dioxide avoidance from 2010 to 2030 with the participation of the private sector.  Almendras added that "we should be humble enough to accept ideas from a broad spectrum of individuals in realizing our developmental goals as this will allow us to craft better policies and programs which will help the country in the long run."

Undersecretary Loreta G. Ayson also said that the five-day program will let the DOE showcase its past, current, and future EE&C programs.  She also said that while EE&C may be short-term in its implementation, the actual lifestyle change is long-term.  "It really is an uphill battle to change old habits.  This is where the critical IEC component of our program comes in.  We have to become diligent in spreading the benefits and advantages of becoming more energy efficient," the DOE Undersecretary emphasized.