Home  >>  Daily News  >>  ASEAN ANALYSIS

Energy awareness increases in Asean

By  David Swartzentruber
AseanAffairs     15 December 2010

Asean’s per capita energy consumption is expected to double between 2005 and 2030, from 0.9 to 1.8 Tons of Oil Equivalent per person.

In response, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Energy are working together to help energy regulators in Asean countries to establish energy efficiency standards and labeling programs: some of the most cost-effective and proven methods to curb rising energy demand from appliance use. These programs are designed to improve energy efficiency without degrading performance, quality and safety, and without increasing cost.

“Energy efficiency standards and labeling programs provide an enormous energy savings potential, said Tran Dong Phuong, Head of Infrastructure at the Asean Secretariat, at the opening of the Asean gathering on the subject. “We want to help direct energy regulators in Asean countries towards sustainable energy use.”

The U.S.-ASEAN Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling Workshop, held 13-15 December 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam, drew 20 regulators from across Asean.

U.S. experts from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the USAID-supported Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program presented key tools that regulators can use for the development of energy efficiency standards and labeling programs during the event.

Among these tools was a data model that helps regulators calculate energy savings potential from a standards and labeling program, including comparative analysis across products. The goal of the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2010-2015 is to reduce regional energy intensity, which is energy consumed per dollar of GDP, by at least 8 percent by 2015 over the 2005 level. Lower energy intensity indicates a lower price or cost of converting energy into GDP.

The workshop was organized by the U.S. Department of Energy and the ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility, a joint program of USAID and the U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with the Asean Secretariat and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.

By

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr