MANAGERS and supervisors from 50 industrial and service companies in Cebu attended the two-day national training workshop on energy efficiency and conservation at the Crown Regency Mactan.

EVNSPC has directed Power Companies to coordinate with the localities to propagate the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation; strictly implement requirements, directives, resolutions and instructions of the Government, Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Electricity of Vietnam on saving power.

The companies say they are supportive of the directive, which “will hopefully constitute an important step towards achieving the EU’s 20% energy savings target by 2020”.

Demand for energy in Vietnam tends to increase faster than the speed of economic development. Therefore, energy efficiency and conservation is very important for the development of the country's economy and businesses. Aware of this, Hanoi Kim Bai beer JSC has implemented energy saving, firstly energy audit, to identify opportunities to reduce energy costs.

Ministers have tried to address public lack of trust in energy companies by offering assurances about the “Green Deal” – a policy designed to improve the energy efficiency of homes. Under this plan, any householder will be able to spend up to £10,000 making their home more energy efficient, funded by the savings from future gas and electricity bills.

According to the DOE’s statement, the $25 million it is providing will need to be matched by the winning universities, national labs, private companies or others who apply and are accepted for the program. Initially, the grant recipients are meant to focus on three specific areas, including building energy efficiency, second-generation biofuels and solar energy.

Two months on from the natural disasters that ravaged Japan’s infrastructure and economy, its government has said it is determined to plough forward with efforts in the field of sustainable development through trilateral cooperation. The country has committed to promote the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency to reach sustainable growth in the country as it rebuilds itself, officials said in a statement on Sunday.

The Nha Trang Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company is a production unit that had high electric energy consumption - about 58 million KWh per year. To reduce product costs and increase the competitiveness in the market during the period 2006 – 2010, the company constantly implemented power-saving solutions in production.

The EU must spend €270 billion over the next 40 years to meet its 2050 energy objectives, including an increased focus on energy efficiency across the power chain. According to the latest Responsible Energy for European Regions (REFER) Report, it is not just about end-users and demand side efficiency – rather, energy efficiency must encompass the entire value chain.

The U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General is to merge four of its data centres this month to save operating costs while increasing capacity and energy efficiency. The U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) will house its consolidated data centres in one new state-of-the-art facility.

During the workshop, Da Nang Department of Science and Technology focused on disseminating Law on Energy Efficiency and informing about the projects and programs of energy saving which were being implemented. The Department also introduced project "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Applications in ​​Da Nang City in the Period from 2011 to 2015".

Implementing the first phase of the National program on energy efficiency and conservation, 2006-2010 period, the Ministry of Transport, through measures of propagation, mobilization, popularizing skills to control energy saving vehicles, has made the initial perception of officials and employees about energy-saving awareness in production, management, activities and created habits of energy saving in community.

Philips Lighting is launching a new line of incandescent light bulbs designed to meet federal energy efficiency standards that will take force in the US over the next few years. While not as efficient as compact fluorescent or LED bulbs, EcoVantage bulbs will likely appeal to people who are unhappy with the quality of light delivered by the more energy efficient technologies.

Cement industry is one of the industries that have been making a significant contribution to economic growth in Vietnam. However, in face of the soaring prices of fuels such as gasoline, oil and electricity, it is meeting with a lot of difficulties. Technological innovation, costs reduction, quality improvement and energy efficiency are what the Viet Nam Cement Corporation is endeavoring for.

Sa Giang Import Export JSC (Sa Dec Industrial Zone, Dong Thap) is specialized in producing shrimp chips which have been very familiar to domestic consumers. Since late 2010, as part of the project "Promoting energy conservation in small and medium enterprises", the company has implemented energy audit for the purpose of raising the efficiency of energy use.

France's consumption rose by 7% – and in Europe only Denmark and Ireland used less energy per unit of GDP than UK.The EU energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, is expected to recommend member states are set individual targets on efficiency improvements.The UK is one of the top performers in Europe on energy efficiency, according to a European commission report.

The global market for LED light fixtures, which already stood at $3.8bn in 2010, is expected to grow to $8.3bn within the next three years, according to new research. The heightened awareness of energy efficiency together and global fiscal stimulus has created suitable conditions for the adoption of white light application of LED technology, which would otherwise have faced high costs.

The European Summit dedicated to energy and innovation has emphasised the importance of energy savings for the climate, as well as for competitiveness, jobs and energy security. The cross-sectoral Coalition for Energy Savings welcomes European leaders’ focus on energy efficiency, but warns that there is not enough being done to get us on track to meet the 20% energy efficiency target by 2020.

On December 15th, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) held a ceremony reviewing the energy efficiency program in the 2006-2010 period and the implementation of Directive No. 19/2005/CT-TTg on energy conservation in production and consumption . After 5 years of nationwide deployment, with the coordination between the MOIT and the People's Committees of provinces and cities under the Central Government, the program has obtained encouraging achievements.

This will be enabled by an agreement, which was signed Monday in Skopje by the governments of Macedonia and Germany, envisaging financial assistance for the second stage of the energy efficiency program and a loan contract signed by the Macedonian government, ELEM company and KfW bank for realisation of the project rehabilitating six hydro power plants.