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Singapore becomes more energy efficient: media

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-08 11:49

SINGAPORE: The Singapore economy became more energy efficient last year, squeezing more value from every dollar spent on electricity, local media reported on Tuesday.

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Singapore took less electricity to generate every dollar of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year, 13 percentage points less than in 1999, even as the power bill goes up, local newspaper the Straits Times reported.

In a year of spiraling fuel prices, it is significant that the country's energy efficiency increases. Fuel costs, which make up half the cost of generating electricity in Singapore, have risen by 418 percent since 1999.

As oil price hit almost $150 per barrel last year, electricity tariffs were raised by 21 percent last October, the highest one-time hike in eight years.

More than 8.2 billion Singapore dollars ($5.73 billion) was spent on electricity last year, double the amount from a decade ago, according to figures from the Energy Market Authority, which regulates Singapore's electricity and gas industry.

Singapore's increased electricity efficiency arises partly from the economy's move away from the machinery-intensive, energy-guzzling manufacturing activities to service-oriented industries such as finance and health care. These knowledge-and skills-based sectors require less inputs of energy to generate income.

Strides made in the technology of power generation and the more productive use of energy in other sectors also helped.