Energy Efficiency To Take Root
Representatives from the nation's eight energy efficiency and conservation centers met for the second time on October 30 in Hanoi but also attending the meeting were representatives of JICA (the Japan International Cooperation Agency) Vietnam and various Vietnamese provincial departments of industry and trade. Nguyen Dinh Hiep, who is head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Department of Science and Technology and chief of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Office, and Luu Tien Long, the head of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, co-chaired the meeting.
Tran Viet Hoa from the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Office said that in its first five years, the national energy efficiency and conservation program has established eight energy efficiency and conservation centers which have been functional for about two years. To get an idea of current energy efficiency and conservation practices, they surveyed 1,025 businesses, looked at more than 200 buildings and did an energy audit of more than 500 industrial production facilities and 200 buildings. Of these, 30 businesses, 24 buildings and 10 offices had taken some forms of action to increase energy efficiency or conserve energy. Energy efficiency and conservation fairs have been held to present new technologies in the field.
Dao Hong Thai, the director of the Hanoi Energy Efficiency and Conservation Center, said that many businesses do not recognize the importance of energy efficiency and conservation. Equipment and technology needs to be updated systematically with reference to an energy audit that has been done. If the expense of the update is large, businesses will be unlikely to make the improvements. However, employees who are working in an office environment can be made more aware of energy efficiency and conservation practices. Energy usage should be calculated annually so that companies can be numerically aware of their actual practices.
Huynh Kim Tuoc, the director of the Ho Chi Minh City Energy Efficiency and Conservation Center, said that capable energy auditors are needed, and energy audit reports need to be of adequate quality.
It is true that there is no national energy efficiency and conservation training center in Vietnam although it’s expected that classes in energy efficiency and conservation will be offered next year at the Hanoi University of Technology, Da Nang University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and the Electric Power University, each school to teach 15 students during the first year. These universities are being funded by the Danish government to create Vietnamese language energy efficiency and conservation textbooks.
Vietnam's provincial departments of industry and trade said that it's the responsibility of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program to provide energy efficiency and conservation guidelines and, when such guidelines are available, the provincial departments of industry and trade would be able to make energy efficiency and conservation plans that would then need to be submitted to the provincial people's committees for approval. At that point an actual National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program could be put in place.
Nguyen Dinh Hiep said that neat management through the national target office is the principle of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program so the program planned to establish only seven to eight energy efficiency and conservation centers. Five years after the program was created, it’s now been suggested that the energy efficiency and conservation center network can be expanded.
Hiep added that activities that took place from 2006-2009 were experimental but from 2010 on there will be concrete targets for small to medium-sized businesses with a focus on getting the products of these businesses energy efficiency and conservation certified.
The National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program is to provide localities with assistance as per a policy which is to be formulated so they can establish energy efficiency and conservation centers and particularly a regional energy efficiency and conservation center in central Vietnam.
At the meeting, representatives of the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City energy efficiency and conservation centers spoke of their experiences.
Before the meeting adjourned, it was agreed that representatives of the nation's energy efficiency and conservation centers will meet at some point in the future in Thua Thien Hue province. /.
(Copy ven.vn) |
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