Dumaguete City (December 17) -- "To save energy depends on the way household use electricity because there is no such thing as energy saver gadget," the Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

Director Antonio Labios of DOE Visayas Field Office stressed the wise use of energy and fuel would not only reduce costs on electric bill as well as mitigate climate change.

Overall electricity consumption has everything to do with lifestyle and how many electronics or lights being used by the consumer, Director Labios cited during the energy efficiency and conservation conference held last week here.

The DOE official said Negros Oriental and other parts of the Visayas are experiencing power supply shortage may be due to an economic growth as this corresponds demand of power, "the power demand can be deferred if we can help avoid increase of power use."

Thus, DOE urges power consumers to change their incandescent bulbs (IBs) to CFL as the latter is more energy efficient which means one pays less for monthly electric bills and save the environment.

The CFL distribution falls under the enhancing energy efficiency and conservation component of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Program (PEEP) as the energy sectors agenda focuses on attaining a sustainable 60 percent energy self-sufficiency level beyond 2010.

The PEEP has four components where CFL distribution is one while the government took a US $31M loan from the Asian Development Bank apart from its counterpart funding in pursuit of the energy independence agenda.

The Arroyo government is targeting to distribute 13,000,000 CFLs nationwide in the coming months, entailing an energy savings of approximately 611,000 MWh per year with an end result of lessening 611,000 MWh per year displaced from fossil fuel power plants connected to the Philippine grid system.

Early next year, Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative (NORECO) II will start distributing or exchange IBs to CFLs to every household in the province, according to DOE.