The National Assembly’s Standing Committee yesterday, September 14, began deliberating a draft amendment to the Law on Energy Saving, which details measures to avoid energy waste in order to improve energy efficiency and cut emissions.

Deputies agreed that the law should be mainly on how to have sufficient energy to meet everyone’s needs. "Conserving energy for the country and yourself should be encouraged, and there should be clearer sanctions on State-owned sectors and mass organisations, and regulations to encourage private ones to use energy efficiently," said Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu.

Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) statistics show that energy is being hugely wasted. Energy efficiency in coal- and oil-fuelled power plants only reaches up to 32 per cent, 10 per cent lower than other developing countries. The rate is about 60 per cent in industrial boilers, 20 per cent lower than the international standard. Vietnamese producers need up to 1.7 times of what other countries use to produce the same product.

The NA forecast that the country’s primary energy sources are becoming scarce and oil fields will be exhausted in a couple of decades. One of the main reasons is the big waste of energy in industrial production, civil construction and transportation. The insufficient and inappropriate use of energy sources combined with increasing energy consumption have resulted in environmental pollution.

The draft is expected to regulate the responsibility of individuals and organisations in using energy. Exploration of energy sources and production have been governed in other laws on mineral resources, electricity, oil and gas, and nuclear power, according to MoIT minister Vu Huy Hoang. The comprehensive combination of educating, encouraging and strictly managing energy use was very important, said Hoang.

Saving energy and using it effectively in all processes of exploration and production should be in accordance with the need of assuring national energy security, said chairman of the NA’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee Dang Vu Minh.

Other deputies at the meeting suggested that the draft should address separately energy policy for organisations running with State budget funds and those that are not. Those who are on the State-budget should be required to follow the energy-saving regulations, while the others should be encouraged to follow them.

Contributing ideas

It was suggested that amendments to the draft also regulate energy exploration and production as the country’s strategy is to conserve energy, said chairman of the NA’s Culture, Education, Youth, Teenager and Children Committee Dao Trong Thi.

Chairman of the NA’s Legal Committee Nguyen Van Thuan disagreed with some points of the draft and said the law was not in line with laws in other countries and that the law only focused on management.

Representatives also discussed the amendment to make the law feasible and practical. The MoIT minister said regulations on energy saving in exploration and production would be added to the draft and work to make the law more practical.