Guidelines for strengthening energy efficiency planning and management in Asia and the Pacific
Energy security is among the major concerns of countries in Asia and the Pacific. Punctuating this concern are the over dependence of many countries on imported energy resources to meet their increasing energy demand, the volatile prices of oil in the world market, the higher losses in energy production and use, and climate change attributed to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuel. The promotion of EE as a policy has often been identified as the most cost effective tool to manage the demand for energy. Developing and maintaining wide-scale energy saving policies are considered to be the most reliable, technically acceptable, economically affordable, and environmentally sensible way to overcome the negative consequences of energy production and consumption. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are actively pursuing energy efficiency measures in production and consumption of energy and developing alternative and renewable energy resources to diversify their energy mix as part of the overall energy strategy.