THE Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) is supporting the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) recommendation that governments must include energy efficiency as a major pillar of proposed economic stimulus packages as countries plan their recovery pathways from the impacts of COVID-19.
In a position paper submitted to Congress and the executive branch, PE2 president Alexander Ablaza said the international body’s policy recommendations are best suited for the policy and market conditions in the Philippines.
The IEA said energy efficiency is a cost-effective and swift job generator citing that in the United States, the largest contributor of new jobs created in the energy sector last year was energy efficiency with a 45 percent share of the 120,300 new jobs.
Energy efficiency has proven speed of delivering economic impacts of job generation and reducing operating expenditures of income generating activities, compared to infrastructure and large construction projects that need longer time horizons for the economy to benefit, the IEA added.
The body also mentioned that compared to other stimulus activities, majority of energy efficiency projects pose little or no negative impacts to the local environment, apart from distributing the immediate economic stimulus impacts across the countryside by accelerating the investment of P66 billion to improve energy efficiency in government buildings within the next two to three years.
Ablaza said the Philippines can leverage previous experience in large-scale energy efficiency replacement programs in the design of larger energy efficiency programs, aside from the fact that energy efficiency financing is already in the radar of government financial institutions like the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines.
PE2 added that stimulus and development assistance in the next two to three years would be effective in sustained capital flows of energy efficiency projects by absorbing risks associated with pioneer adoption of technologies, procurement, financial modalities and business models among energy end-users and other market players.
With the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act now in place to mainstream energy efficiency in all energy end-use sectors of the economy, the country has the appropriate policy framework to flow concessional funds and fiscal incentives toward energy efficiency adoption, Ablaza said.
PE2 is also urging the government to treat energy efficiency projects as infrastructure so that the planning, budgeting, procurement, disbursements and implementation will be given equal prioritization.
Earlier, Ablaza said if the Philippines would invest $243 billion to achieve what is intended for the energy efficiency roadmap through 2040, the country would benefit from savings of as much as $726 billion, the deference of 45,900 megawatts worth of new power plants, apart from reduced carbon emissions and slower rise in power prices.
