British Embassy, Clinton Foundation back pilot building retrofit project

MANILA, Philippines - The British Embassy and the Clinton Foundation have partnered to support a building retrofit project with the Philippine government, which according to the Department of Finance could save the government P3 to P4 million annually.

In a press conference on energy efficiency yesterday, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the pilot building retrofit project for the Department of Finance (DOF) could save P3.3 million annually.

The Clinton Foundation provided the DOF an investment grade audit (IGA), which is a comprehensive analysis of current energy usage and potential energy savings based on economic analysis of investment of the DOF building along Roxas Blvd. in Manila. 

Beltran said if other government buildings implement the same project, the Budget Department could save hundreds of millions in MOOE or Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses.

“If 20 National Government departments retrofit their own buildings, savings in MOOE will be roughly P361.4 million assuming the DOF is a good benchmark,” Beltran said.

He said the savings could be used to build a 20-kilometer four-to six-lane expressway, or 1,500 kilometers of rural roads, or build 1,800 more classrooms based on the benchmark P200,000 per classroom.

The equivalent amount could also be used to cover 63,000 more beneficiaries for the Government’s conditional cash transfer program.

Beltran said electricity services account for one percent of the National Government’s budget and 3.3 percent of mooe of 20 departments, based on 2012 budget data.

Christopher Seeley, Clinton Foundation regional manager for Asia said retrofitting involves changing bulbs into more efficient lighting systems.

He said property and building owners in the Philippines can come up with their own “green building” systems to make their areas more attractive to prospective commercial and residential tenants.

The British Embassy, which strongly supports measures toward environment protection and climate change initiatives, supported the building retrofit project with the DOF.