On the morning of June 15, 2010, in coordination with the Energy Conservation Office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Infrastructure Department and the Urban Development Department of the Ministry of Construction, and the Vietnam Energy Efficient Public Lighting (VEEPL) project, the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association and the Anh sang & Cuoc song (Light & Life) magazine organized a workshop to discuss the role of the media in ensuring efficient use of energy for lighting purposes.

Attendees included Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Huu Hao, the head of the Energy Conservation Office of this ministry, Nguyen Dinh Hiep, the chairman of the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association, Vu Minh Mao, and the representatives of many media organizations.

The Vietnam Urban Lighting Association said that in 2009 lighting equipment throughout Vietnam consumed more than 21 billion kWh of electricity or 25 percent of the total amount of commercial electricity in the country. The association estimated that if Vietnam applies effective energy conservation methods, it will be able to save 6.31 billion kWh of electricity each year. This is a meaningful thing in circumstances when the domestic electricity sector cannot ensure sufficient power supply for people and production facilities.

Ministries, departments and the concerned organizations must make joint efforts to promote the application of power saving methods. The media plays a very important role in propagandizing those methods.

The above mentioned workshop was organized on the occasion of the first anniversary of the establishment of the Anh sang & Cuoc song magazine - the organ of the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association. At the workshop, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Huu Hao highlighted the important role the media and asked the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association to coordinate more tightly with the concerned organizations in order to intensify propaganda activities to improve the community’s awareness of the need to use less electricity for lighting purposes, especially in urban areas.

Also at the workshop, Vu Minh Mao, the president of the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association, said that propaganda is one of the important components of the association’s action plan for energy efficiency and conservation because propaganda helps improve the awareness of people so that they can take appropriate actions to save energy.

For this reason, the Anh sang & Cuoc song magazine has been established to provide specialized information in the field of lighting, highlighting the slogan “Save energy but not light.” Every issue focuses on a particular matter through which readers can know about the actual situation of energy consumption in Vietnam as well as the benefits that can be obtained by applying energy conservation methods. The magazine plays the role of a bridge between managers, businesses, specialists, members of the Vietnam Urban Lighting Association and people who are interested in lighting, helping them share information, provide consultancy and present new technology.

Through the speech she delivered at the workshop, Phan Cam Tu, an expert from the Energy Conservation Office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade shared valuable experience of the office in implementing propaganda tasks - one of the important components of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program. She said that propaganda activities contributed significantly to the success of the program in its initial time period (2006-2009).

The Vietnam Urban Lighting Association maintains close coordination with media organizations to intensify propaganda on energy efficiency and conservation. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said, “The realization of the Prime Minister-set objective to save 5-8 percent of the total amount of nationwide energy consumption by 2015 requires joint efforts of the concerned ministries and departments, the determination of State authorities at different levels, the response of businesses and the consensus of all people in society.”