Government pushes energy efficiency plans

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong speaks at the conference - Photo by congthuong.vn

Taking concerted measures

According to Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong, in recent years, the Government has made continuous efforts to improve energy efficiency. On April 14, 2006, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 79/2006 /QD-TTg on the National target program on energy efficiency and conservation for the 2005-2010 period. The program was successfully implemented and has achieved the targeted reduction of 3.4 percent and 5.65 percent of total energy consumption during the 2006-2010 and 2011-2015 periods, equivalent to about 4.9 million tonnes and 11.261 million tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE), respectively.

Deputy Director of the Energy Saving and Sustainable Development Department Trinh Quoc Vu said one of the successful results of the program was the development and adoption of State policies on promoting energy efficiency, namely the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation. The documents guiding implementation of this law, including Prime Ministerial decrees and decisions, along with MoIT circulars and guiding documents were also drafted, promoting programs and activities in the field of energy efficiency.

Dependence on imported resources

Despite the positive results, Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong noted that since 2015, Vietnam has been increasingly dependent on imported energy resources while renewable energy sources are expensive and face many technical and financial barriers. Therefore, energy efficiency and conservation play a greater role in ensuring national energy security, environmental protection, sustainable development and mitigating the effects of global climate change.

Based on the success of the National target program on energy efficiency and conservation phase 1 and phase 2, the MoIT has developed a national program on electrical energy efficiency and conservation for the 2019-2030 period and the Prime Minister issued Decision 280/QĐ-TTg to approve it.

The 2019-2030 program includes overall and concerted solutions such as the enforcement of regulations on energy efficiency, incentive mechanisms, and technical and financial supports to promote energy-saving in all areas. “Practice of efficient energy usage should become a habit in all activities, and the rate of energy consumption needs to be reduced in economic sectors. Energy efficiency also needs to be improved in key energy users and energy-intensive industries”, Deputy Minister Vuong said.

The national program on energy efficiency and conservation during the 2019-2030 period aims to reduce 5-7 percent and 8-10 percent of total national energy consumption for the 2019-2025 and the 2019-2030 period respectively.

Theo VEN