The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) of Singapore will be introducing an Energy Conservation Act from 2013 as part of the country’s vision to bring 2005 energy usage levels down by 35% by 2030.

The Act will require companies that use more than 15 gigawatt-hours of energy per year to:

• appoint a trained energy manager to monitor and report energy use to the National Environment Agency (NEA) regularly

• submit improvement plans to improve energy efficiency

In Singapore there is an estimated 130 companies that will be affected by the Act. 



Support for the affected companies and recognition of best practices

NEA will launch an ‘Energy Efficiency National Partnership’ scheme in April to help firms learn how to manage their energy use and share energy-management best practices. Moreover, an awards scheme under the partnership will be set up to recognise company efforts.

"We will also be reviewing our incentive schemes and exploring long term energy efficiency financing options to cater to the needs of companies”, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim.

The ministry is still consulting with stakeholders on the review of incentive schemes, long-term energy efficiency financing options and possible penalties.

Switching to hydrocarbons as a best practice

One of the 130 affected companies will be GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The cooling of water for the company’s manufacturing processes used to take up 20% of its energy bill. 
But since 2004, the switch to hydrocarbon refrigerants and the addition of a mist-cooling system have helped the company to save over S$1 million on utilities a year.