The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion

Energy experts are scheduled to join a seminar at the Celylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) auditorium on Friday, July 5 to discuss ways and means to reduce the consumption of energy.

The event, titled ‘Unlocking the benefits of Energy Conservation’ is organized by the CCC and the energy experts will share their knowledge on how energy consumption can be reduced.

Among the experts are: Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Managing Director of the Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd, and Bandula Thilakasena, Additional General Manager, Corporate Strategy Division of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Dr Siyambalapitiya will speak on the current status and future outlook of the electricity sector in Sri Lanka and Mr Thilakasena will elaborate strategies to reduce the Electricity & Fuel Consumption.

These will be followed by three case studies on the industrial, hotel and logistics sectors. These will be delivered by  Iresha Somarathna, Head of Energy and Environment Management of Brandix Lanka Ltd,; Srilal Miththapala, Project Director and Consultant of Greening Sri Lankan Hotels Programme at CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.; and Binupa Liyanage, Director, Logiwiz Ltd.

The seminar will be concluded with a panel discussion and an open forum where the speakers will be joined by two panelists: Harsha Wickremasinghe, Deputy Director General Operations, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and Gamini Herath, Deputy Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka to respond to any queries from the participants.

The recent escalation in electricity tariffs was estimated to increase the electricity bills of most industrial, hotel and commercial enterprises by about 20% - 30%. The tariff change included medium to large consumers in the general purpose category (ie. Non industry and non hotel enterprises) to be levied tariffs under the Time of Day scheme where different tariffs apply based on the time of use of electricity.

Apart from increase in electricity tariffs, the increase in fuel prices made time and again has also led to rise in travel and energy costs. Energy costs have a significant impact on cost of products and services and affect the competitiveness of businesses. Careful management of consumption and use of low energy consuming equipment etc can help businesses to reduce the electricity and fuel bills substantially.

The company late last month secured $5.5 million in Series-A Financing from investors Westly Group and RockPort Capital that is says will enable it to expand its services such as HB Match, an online platform that pairs building owners with qualified building professionals.

HB Match provides an online tool for building services providers to create free, online portfolios of their work, and produces detailed evaluations of these companies based on the project criteria of real estate decision-makers in search of specialists. The result is an efficient process to quickly and thoroughly compare, vet and select the best solution provider for the specific requirements of the project, saving time and resources, Honest Buildings says.

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Eneractive Solutions, an energy consulting, engineering and project development firm with offices in the tri-state area, won close to $200,000 in consulting services contracts using Honest Buildings. HB Match includes detailed case studies that show Eneractive Solutions’ work on an array of facilities.

In addition to its HB Match solution, Honest Buildings’ scalable technology is helping municipalities and utilities develop next-generation,Home Energy Management System sustainable buildings and communities.

To date, the states of New York, through its Build Smart NY program, and Connecticut, through its Connecticut Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, are using Honest Buildings’ unique HB Platform service to power state-wide online networks that highlight their initiatives, showcase the work being done to improve buildings and provide property owners with tools needed to pinpoint the most qualified vendors for their building projects.
Click on their website www.owon-smart.com for more information.