A Green Economy conference on September 16 promoted the need to develop renewable energy sources in Vietnam, with participants from business and academia sharing experience and technological applications.

Issues relating to waste and sewerage management, energy saving and renewable sources of energy in Vietnam were high on the agenda at the Poland-Vietnam Environmental Protection Forum that opened in Hanoi on October 8.

On October 17, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced two new five year programmes to help Vietnam address the impacts of climate change.

Hanoi Energy Conservation Centre (ECC), on 23rd October, 2012, held a confenrence to popularise the energy managemen model for commercial buildings in the city.

Environmental experts have called on Viet Nam to make further efforts in providing economic incentives and better policies to promote "greener" buildings in the face of resource depletion and rapid urbanization.

Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) Energy Saving Office consultant Nguyen Kinh Luan said that the application of energy management systems would help enterprises reduce energy costs, protect the environment and secure national energy security when addressing a workshop on the ISO 50001 Energy Management System.

To ensure energy security for sustainable development and build green, environmentally friendly industries, as well as to reduce the production cost and enhance the competitiveness of businesses to build a green economy, Vietnam is promoting renewable energy development, energy efficiency and conservation.

As an agricultural country, Vietnam has great potential of biomass energy. Especially with vast rice fields, the Mekong Delta has abundant resources of rice husk and straw that can be used as types of biomass fuel.

Dak Lak Province holds huge potential for renewable energy development. It targets to make renewable energy account for 25 percent of all energy used in the province in 2015.

After three months of the pilot project on using energy efficiently, Ben Tre Centre for Industry Promotion and Development Consultancy has so far received application forms from 35 households who wish to take part in this program.

Under the guidance of the Northern Power Corporation in the official letter no. 3281/EVNNPC-KDDN dated 07 September 2012 on the development of “power saving family” movement in the Power Companies, Dien Bien Power Company launched “Power saving family 2012” movement, the households commit to save at least 10% of power use and get power use results of October 2012 as a landmark for comparing to November and December 2012.

To implement promote agricultural development via the application of high technology innovations, many private companies, state businesses as well as foreign companies in recent years have invested in plant multiplication and growth in agricultural production using lighting technology.

After the campaign for electricity and energy saving programs in 2012 recently launched in Hanoi, about 100,000 typical households have adopted energy and money saving measures.

The Hanoi Hotel, located near to the city's Giang Vo Lake, has won accolades for it's energy saving construction.

Positive electricity saving results last year has encouraged Vietnam to continue with a new target this year to save at least one percent of commercial electricity output, to reduce electricity/GDP elasticity coefficient, and to save 10 percent on electricity use in manufacture and 10 percent of consumer electricity from now to 2015.

The project includes an 11,340Wp solar power system, a solar LED lighting pole and a 600-liter solar water heating system.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee recently approved the Green Energy Program for the 2011-2015 period, which emphasized the goal of clean power development, with new renewable energies accounting for more than one percent of the whole city's power consumption, equivalent to 48MW. However, to make this a reality will not be easy.

Vietnam won an Energy Globe Award 2012 from experts representing the United Nations, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), World Bank (WB), European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and Seibersdorf Research Center, for its project on hybrid power system to supply power for Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands and the DK1 marine defense platform in the East Sea.

In response to the National Energy Efficiency Program, Vinh Phuc Province aims to save at least 10 percent of their current annual electricity consumption.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will promote the consumption of biofuel by providing more information on the economic and environmental advantages of the vegetable–derived petrol alternative.

Viet Nam has outlined its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions with the implementation of the Green Growth strategy, approved by the Prime Minister last week.

An international expo on energy-saving and green energy technologies and products, Enertec Expo 2012, opened at the Tan Binh Exhibition & Convention Centre (TBECC) in HCM City on August 15.

Scientists from Vietnam’s Academy for Water Resources have succeeded in designing equipment that turns saltwater into freshwater, using the sun’s energy.

The international exhibition on power saving products and green energies, Enertec Expo 2012, got underway on August 15 at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Ministry of Trade and Industry, together with Vietnam Journalists Association and EVN, shall hold the 2012 National Press Competition on awareness raising for energy efficiency and conservation.

Implementing plan number 32 of provincial People’s Committee, Thua Thien – Hue has recently set up an inter-industrial supervision team to examine and correct breaches of regulations on electricity supply, pricing and saving.