OFFICIALS of the Department of Energy and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) asked the public, including businessmen, on Wednesday, May 18, to save electricity to cushion the effects of global economic crisis.

Felix William Fuentebella, undersecretary of the Department of Energy, emphasized Republic Act 11285, or Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019, institutionalizing energy efficiency and conservation, enhancing the efficient use of energy, and granting incentives to energy efficiency and conservation projects, which does not only focus on preserving the environment but also on educating the consumers and investors about the importance of "green energy," which includes power produced by solar, wind, geothermal and biogas.

"The economics of this is very good for the country. The economics of this is very good for the environment as well because once we change our behavior, once we change the investor's behavior to invest on energy efficiency, on renewable energy (RE), create workshops on energy security in the Philippines," Fuentebella said.

Fuentebella added that there are enough renewable energy developers in the country, but they lack courage to adopt the renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, among others. (PAC, TPT)