On May 18, the workshop to "Review the Vietnam Energy Efficiency Standard and Labeling Program" was held. The project has been implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade since 2012 with funding from the Australian Government. Australia is known as a pioneer country with wide-ranging experience in implementing the energy labeling program and provision of norms for energy efficiency.

Speaking at the Workshop, Mr. Layton Pike, Deputy Chief of Mission - Australian Embassy in Vietnam said that the economic growth drives Vietnam into more energy consumption in transportation, industrial and urban development. This driving force pushes the country to face development issues such as sustainable development, energy depletion and environmental pollution.

The Government of Vietnam has recognized the challenges and ratified many policies to overcome the difficulties. Among so many others, the promotion of policies on energy efficiency and energy labeling is one of the significant efforts.

Mr. Layton Pike pointed out the importance of energy efficiency for the development of Vietnam: "Energy efficiency is a key factor contributing to economic growth, poverty reduction, cost effectiveness for households in the use of electric energy and promoting the development of electricity grid. At the same time, it also increases the competitiveness of businesses and protects the consumers from poor quality products."

Assessing the importance of the project, Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Energy Efficiency, General Department of Energy, Ministry of Industry and Trade said, by the end of 2014, the project had supported energy labeling on 15 categories with 7,289 types of products. Besides, the project also contributes to capacity building for staff in laboratories, promoting the online energy labeling and encouraging consumers to choose high energy efficiency appliances.

The study in VEESL project shows that electricity demand in Vietnam will increase by 4 times in 2030. The energy consumption in households will increase by an average of 10% each year, mainly from the use of household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, water heaters and lighting equipment.

It is expected by 2030, using energy efficiency appliances, Vietnam will save power up to 68 thousand GWh, which equivalent to VND100 thousand billion. Thus, each of the projected 25 million households would save at least  VND400 thousand/year.

Sharing the promotion of activities in Energy Efficiency Standard and Labeling Program in the near future, Mr. Dang Hai Dung - Deputy Director for Science, Technology and Energy Conservation says that they will propose more energy labels stickers for charging devices (adapters). At the same time, they will test the online system for testing energy labeling activities.

In the subsequent sessions, the workshop participants continues with reports and discussions on the Test Centers and online energy label registration system.