Businesses saved 24 megawatts during Earth Hour

CEBU, Philippines - Hand in hand with the public sector, Cebu's business community recently took an active stance in helping make a statement towards saving the environment through participating in an international endeavor dubbed as Earth Hour.

Having agreed to switch off their lights from 8:30 to 9:30, business establishments in Cebu were able to help in reducing 24 megawatts of power consumption, which is enough to generate electricity for 24 municipalities, said Department of Energy undersecretary Roy Kyamko.

This year has been Cebu City's first official year to participate in the Earth Hour, which gained the support of huge establishments such as SM City Cebu, the Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRAAC), Cebu Holdings, Inc., the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP), Rotary Club district-3860, Jaycees and the local chambers of commerce.

SM City Cebu's mall manager Sherry A. Tuvilla said that 100 percent of their mall's tenants participated in the Earth Hour endeavor and she vowed that they will continue to look for more ways on doing energy saving measures.

She said that being one of the city's major consumers of electricity utilizing around 70,000 to 80,000 kilowatts on a daily average, they have seen the need to take an active stand on the call to help save the environment through Earth Hour.

"Since we have the most number of malls nationwide, we have taken the lead in this endeavor to make a statement in support for important and critical issues concerning the Earth. We want to use our number to help make a voice," said Tuvilla.

Along with other SM malls nationwide, SM City Cebu led the switching off of lights last Saturday and the mall was able to save up about 2,668 kilowatts in one hour or 37 percent, which is three percent of their daily total electricity consumption.

Electricity cost covers up 17 percent of SM City Cebu’s over-all operating expenses, said Tuvilla.

In an interview, undersecretary Kyamko said that the Philippines had the most number of cities that participated in the Earth Hour last Saturday composed of 642 cities and towns out of the 3,919 participating cities from all over the world.

“In doing this move, we help save energy and influence leaders in business, government, academe and different sectors to show concern for the Earth and help in the feat against global warming. This is a call of action and a public announcement of support," said Kyamco.

He said that DOE became active in promoting Earth Hour because they have realized that the move is a good effort to conserve energy and practice energy efficiency.

He said that to sustain the endeavor made by the DOE in the Earth Hour, there will be programs that will be done after such as the distribution of 13 million compact fluorescent lamps, five million of which will be distributed by the Visayan Electricity Company (VECO) to Cebuano consumers who have 100 kilowatts of power consumption.

The compact fluorescent lamps can save 47 watts as it will only use up 13 watts opposed to the 60 watts consumed by an incandescent bulb, said Kyamko.

He said that a consultation regarding the new renewable energy bill will also be rolled out nationwide which will open up pending applications from renewable energy developers. 

So far, there is a pending proposal from a Biomass developer in Negros to be used for sugar production.

Here in Cebu, there are hydro and solar providers and a natural gas exploration in Bogo is currently being done and DOE recently sent a team to Taiwan to check up the clean coal technology utilized by Formosa Heavy Industries, which is the same technology to be used in the three coal fired power plants in Toledo City.