GROUP BACKS POLICY ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) has backed the push for energy-efficient initiatives, noting that firms could save half of their current power bills “if decisions are made to go green.”

The chamber said that it established an energy efficiency committee to further raise awareness among membercompanies, which collectively accounted for one of the biggest foreign investors in the country.

“Companies can save up to 50 percent on their power bills if decisions are made to go green [and] that is a fact. Many times they don’t have a clear idea of the solutions, or how to finance them, that is why we focus on trying to help people understand better and execute,” said Safdar Quraeshi, chair of AmCham’s energy efficiency committee and director of the Milcon Group.

Quraeshi was citing the cases presented by Premier Cleantech Solutions Inc., an integrated energy efficiency solutions provider, which said that firms could have “demonstrated savings” of up to 50 percent by adopting energy efficiency measures.

AmCham’s vocal support comes amid a bill in the Senate that, in essence, wanted to institutionalize a foundation for a comprehensive energy efficiency policy framework. The bill, named the Energy Efficiency and Conversation Act of 2017, is sponsored by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.