Do Huu Hao, President of the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology.

What is your assessment of Vietnam’s efforts in the recent energy-saving campaign?

I don’t think the campaign has achieved the target set in our current energy-saving campaign. According to an official calculation, Vietnam could save at least between 30-35 per cent per annum. So if all Vietnamese citizens join hands in the national campaign, we could save some 15 per cent. However, in reality, the figure was just 6 per cent.

What was the key reason Vietnam did not achieve its target in energy saving?

The first attributor is people’s low awareness of the importance of energy-saving due to low electricity tariffs.

Second, most Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized and they have used out-dated production chains and don’t have the budget to renovate their production equipment to save energy.

Also, the idea of energy-saving is not high on the agenda of new Vietnamese enterprises.

From the construction perspective, enterprises’ owners didn’t think of energy saving when they first designed their factories. That’s why the lights are on 24 hours a day in all the facilities.

What will be the results if all Vietnamese are aware of energy-saving?

Vietnam sets a target to save 15 per cent of energy consumption per day. If the target is achieved, it will help Vietnam save a lot of money from its annual plan to build two thermo-power plants per year. On average, the construction of a thermal power plant in Vietnam takes some 10 years while the practice of energy saving could be done immediately and be less costly.

What is the most effective way to save energy, particularly in industrial production?

To have the most effectiveness in energy saving in all industrial zones or clusters nationwide, Government agencies should work out specific plans to help enterprises to pour investment in their energy-saving plans through the application of more advanced production chains. Last but not least, enterprises should pay more attention to scientific research and technology transfer to raise the workers’ labour productivity while keeping the environment clean.

The current Law on Efficient Use of Energy has only stopped on calling enterprises to practice energy-saving and asking enterprises consuming a lot of energy to do their annual energy audit. However, in the upcoming revised Law on Efficient Use of Energy, energy saving will become compulsory for all enterprises.

The national programme on energy efficiency and conservation during 2019-2030, which was approved by the Prime Minister in March 2019, has set a target to save from 5-7 per cent of total energy consumption from 2019-2025 and from 8-10 per cent from 2019-2030.

Energy using efficiency remains pressing issue

Vietnam is among the top energy consumption countries in the region and the world. Hence, it’s never better to cutting down energy consumption and mull over solutions for efficient use of energy.

VNS