Ministry launches conservation energy campaign

The ministry of energy and mineral resources has launched a conservation energy campaign called ?Save 10 percent? in order to encourage the public to use energy efficiently.

The ministry said if the amount of energy expenses that Indonesia will save if it is able to conserve energy by 10 percent per year in three years is equal to the amount of funds needed to build a coal fired power plant.

?Conservation energy should be placed as the fourth energy aside from oil, gas, coal and renewables. Saving energy by 10 percent is easier to do than increasing the installed capacity by 10 percent by building 3.5 GW which needs an investment of Rp 43 trillion,? Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said while launching the campaign in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The ministry noted that a similar campaign was launched in in 2012.

The ministry explained that the campaign will be directed to households, industries and businesses which are the largest energy consumer groups. Focus areas are the provinces which together account for 87 percent of the national energy consumption. They are North Sumatra,

Riau, South Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, Bali and South Sulawesi.

Energy expenses that will be saved if the provinces are able to conserve energy by 10 percent are enough to build power plants for 2.5 million families in remote, underdeveloped and border areas which at present still have no access to power, the ministry said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon