On April 9th, in Hanoi, Vietnam Biogas Association was officially founded. The establishment– technical activity, contributing to the development of livestock husbandry, reducing gas emissions, improving the efficiency of current and future biogas projects, raising income for households and businesses as well as protecting the environment.

Some 500 of 900 German power firms will increase prices as of Jan. 1, consumer portal Verivox said, detailing recent announcements in the retail energy market for the 40 million households it monitors. The average increase will be 7 percent and a typical household, consuming 4,000 kilowatt hours a year, will have to pay 66 euros ($87) more for annual supply, said the portal, which monitors prices and encourages switching.

The Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) said that in the past five years, they launched many campaigns to promote efficient use of electricity. As a result, the families of all EVN HCMC staff members have been committed to saving 10 percent of power consumption at home. In response to the appeal of the Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Union, 100,000 households have been committed to saving power.

According to statistics, every year, the country has to import 6 million tons of petroleum, 40% of which is for transportation industry. The annual costs of importing petroleum and producing electricity have accounted for one fifth of total GDP of the country and has now “consumed” all GDP of the agricultural sector. The objects which consume much energy are the Industry (consumes 47%), transportation (20%) and households (15%) ...

Siemens has landed an order to supply 80 wind turbines for the Dan Tysk wind farm off Germany's North Sea coast. With a total capacity of 288 MW, the farm will begin supplying clean electricity to 500,000 German households in 2014. Dan Tysk Offshore Wind GmbH is owned by Vattenfall Europe with a 51 percent stake and Stadtwerke Munchen with a 49 percent stake.

Works such as leveling an area of 251ha, building bypass road south of Hau river, compensating and site clearing, resettling 315 households… have been completed. The constructions of roads, electricity system, water supply system, embankments along Hau river in the plant construction site and coal slag dumping area ... are being expeditiously implemented to be completed on schedule.

In Chau Khe, Dinh Bang (Bac Ninh Province), more than 800 households are involved in iron and steel production. To temper and laminate steel, they consume about 200 million kWh of electricity and 30,000 tonnes of coal, and total expenditure on energy consumption amounts to VND150 billion each year. Such high energy consumption is attributed to the use of outdated technologies and equipment as well as insulated steel furnaces. At some stages of steel production, the rate of energy losses is 20-25 percent.

After renewing the house, Mr Hieu and his wife decide to reuse the decorative since they thought it is still very new. However, being put into use, the chandelier has caused a complicated problem as it consumes a lot of electricity and is very hot. The chandelier has three tiers, with about 26 40W bulbs, so it consumes 1.040W per lighting hour. Then the chandelier has been“retired” once again after a month.

"Our research could pave the way for turning electricity from the atmosphere into an alternative energy source for the future," said study leader Fernando Galembeck, Ph.D. His research may help explain a 200-year-old scientific riddle about how electricity is produced and discharged in the atmosphere. "Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect," he maintained.

"The total electricity bills that all households in Vietnam have to pay is VND5,200 billion/year. If each household just saves 10% of their electricity consumption, the amount saved will be a really big number.

This program is part of the project "Piloting the economical and efficient use of energy in households" implemented in 10 districts of Hanoi. The project is scheduled to begin in 2010.

Some days ago the Central Committee for Vietnam Farmers’ Association had a meeting in Hanoi with Knescopic Electronic Corporation – India on cooperation of supporting the poor households in rural and mountainous area in approaching electrical devices using solar power.

The REF – a World Bank-supported public institution aiming to provide electricity to every Cambodian village by 2020 – plans to sell the solar panels to rural households on a monthly payment basis, executive director Loeung Keosela was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

Under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai at Announcement number 343/TB-VPCP dated December 4th 2009 on building an energy saving advocacy program to every province, bringing the program to every ward, commune, block, making energy efficiency an emulation target, a standard in the cultural family evaluation, the Hanoi People’s Committee, in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, organized the pilot campaign for the 2010 Energy Saving and Efficiency for Households in Hanoi, with the theme “Energy efficiency in every household is saving for you and for future generations”.

Spanish wind turbine builder Gamesa and San Diego wind farm developer Cannon Power Group have teamed up to start building a wind farm South of the Border to supply clean power to a quarter of a million households in both California and Mexico from 500 MW of power by 2015. Cannon says the site’s potential capacity is ultimately 1,000 MW.

The heat of more than 38oC results in a sudden rise in electricity demand, and overloaded system. HCMC Power Company has been forced to implement an emergency power saving plan, part of which is to offer VND200,000 as reward for any households saving electricity by 6% in May and June.

Another popular and effective method to save energy in Ho Chi Minh City is using solar energy instead of electricity. Ho Chi Minh City authorities are providing every household with VND1 million to adopt solar energy.

lthough the energy conservation program has been widely performed with more than 100 projects and missions assigned to many sectors, businesses and households, its result in 2006 was just 135 KTOE (equal to 1,6 billion kilowatt-hours or 1 million oil barrels), 0,56% of total consumption. In 2007, this number was 347 KTOE, equal to 4 billion kilowatt-hours. In the early 2009, conservation rate has reached 3% of total consumption.

Latest figures from SP Services show that the average household electricity consumption per month from January to April this year was about 430kWh, 1% lower compared with the same period last year.