MAKATI CITY, 2 February 2021 – The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) contributed its recommendations for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) technology roadmap and a Call for Proposals being finalized by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) as a resource during a virtual focus group discussion with EE&C stakeholders held earlier today.

DOST-PCIEERD is currently preparing the Call for Proposals on Low-Carbon Technologies for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and conducting industry scoping on EE&C research and development (R&D) for possible implementation through their EE&C technology roadmap. DOST-PCIEERD organized the focus group discussion to discuss key research areas and to update the EE&C R&D roadmap of the Council with inputs from concerned government units, the private sector, and the academe. DOST-PCIEERD hopes to propose programs that would be responsive to the country’s developmental needs.

PE2 president Alexander Ablaza recognized the valuable role of DOST-PCIEERD in assisting MSMEs, which typically lack the in-house engineering and energy management technical capacities, as well as the access to debt and equity financing of EE&C measures. He said that, in most developing Asian countries, the largest inefficiencies to be harvested from the demand-side of energy markets come from the MSME sector largely because of these two market barriers.

Ablaza also recommended that the roadmap include studies relating to: (i) establishing the link between building COVID-19 resiliency through indoor air quality improvements and energy efficiency; (ii) finding a government-owned and controlled corporation that could reduce the acquisition costs of EE&C technologies through bulk procurement and distribution across MSMEs; (iii) expanding the local customization of cloud-based energy monitoring systems for HVAC systems and chilled water plants; (iv) using local talent to customize energy monitoring systems as building blocks for eventual full energy management systems; (v) expand DOST-PCIEERD, research, studies and EE&C technology demonstrations to capture non-electricity forms of energy consumption and use of heat-intensive technologies by MSMEs; (vi) expanded role of DOST-PCIEERD in testing, certifying and promoting energy-saving construction and building materials; and, (vii) possible energy storage impacts of connected electric vehicles to the grid.