{"id":32808,"date":"2014-11-25T21:14:35","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T13:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32808"},"modified":"2014-11-25T21:14:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T13:14:35","slug":"sm-recognized-for-first-solar-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/25\/sm-recognized-for-first-solar-mall\/","title":{"rendered":"SM recognized for first solar mall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Facade<\/a>
Facade of SM City North Edsa \/ Wikipedia Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 SM Supermalls was recognized by no less than President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday for having its first solar powered mall.<\/p>\n

The President led the \u201cswitch-on\u201d of SM North EDSA. The said mall has a capacity of producing 1.5 megawatts of electricity. With this, SM North EDSA is now hailed as the world\u2019s largest solar-powered mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system we have just launched is even bigger, with 5,760 solar panels… expected to generate 1.5 (MWs) of solar energy, which I\u2019m told can cover five percent of this mall\u2019s average consumption per day,\u201d said Aquino.<\/p>\n

The President shared that this event marks another milestone for SM as it was able to energize its branch in China last year with 1.1 MW of solar energy through the use of 3,740 solar panels.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the amount of energy that the mall requires to run, such a percentage will generate savings of above P2 million a month,\u201d said Aquino. \u201cThis is significant, in light of the challenges that will confront our energy sector in the near future. Most of you may be aware of current projections: If we do not adjust accordingly, Luzon might experience a shortage of a minimum of around 300 megawatts, to a maximum of 1,000 megawatts, next summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThis is not a challenge the national government can overcome alone, which is why we are working with all sectors to address this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this project, SM Prime Holdings Inc. tapped Solar Philippines in the installation of 5,760 solar panels and 60 inverters for the mall.<\/p>\n

According to SM, the facility would like up 16,000 lighting fixtures and operate 59 escalators and 20 elevators inside the mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSM Prime is constantly in pursuit of the highest level of operational efficiency to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs by minimizing electricity consumption,\u201d said the retail and property giant in a statement.<\/p>\n

It added, \u201cIn line with this, strong emphasis is put in investing in the latest innovations in sustainable and energy-efficient technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company hopes that the project will serve as an inspiration for other commercial and industrial establishments to follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar has gained the reputation of being expensive, not because of the technology, but because previous efforts were too small to benefit from economies of scale. By building the country\u2019s largest projects, we\u2019ve become the first local company to make solar cost-competitive with fossil fuel,\u201d said Leandro Leviste, president of Solar Philippines.<\/p>\n

The President said that he looks forward to similar projects at SM Dasmari\u00f1as and Mall of Asia as said by the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it is my hope that you do not stop there: that, eventually, every building that boasts an SM logo will have the same kind of solar facilities,\u201d said Aquino.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThese are the kinds of decisions that show your corporation\u2019s awareness of its responsibility to the environment and the society in which it operates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other executives who graced the event include Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and SM Prime Holdings president Hans Sy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 SM Supermalls was recognized by no less than President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday for having its first solar …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":13524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","mauthors-lei-fontamillas","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}