THE World Bank has awarded retail. giant SM Supermalls with a global environment award for its initiatives to implement energy efficient mechanisms in its operations, particularly one the use of environment-friendly air-conditioning systems.

World Bank Country Director Motoo Konishi, represented by Senior Environment Specialist Viraj Vithootien, gave SM a certificate of recognition for its move to replace its old and inefficient chillers (large centralized air-conditioning system) to ozone-friendly refrigerants in its malls in SM Southmall and SM Iloilo.

SM is one of the 42 Philippine companies that took part in the World Bank-initiated Philippine Chiller Energy Efficiency Project (PCEEP),which gives companies a 15-percent reimbursement grant to replace old chillers with non-chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)refrigerants to protect the ozone layer and reduce greenhouse emissions.

Other companies that took part in the project are The Pen insula Manila, Manila Pavilion, Waterfront Insular Davao Hotel, Marco Polo Davao, Philamlife, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Security Bank, Philippine National Bank and Lufthansa Airlines, among others.

At the end of the project life on January 1,2017, the PCEEP is expected to have replaced 30,649 tons of refrigeration, reduced 5,700 kilograms of ozone-depleting potentials, generated at least 124.7 gigawatt- hours in electricity savings and reduced 62,400 tons of greenhouse gases.

Vithootien noted the adverse effects of CFC chillers to the ozone layer the past several decades which led to its depletion. He said CFCs have global warming potential several thousand times higher than carbon dioxide.

He said the non-CFC chillers provide an opportunity for chiller owners to select new chiller technologies that are not only more energy efficient but also operating with lower GWP refrigerant and with lower leakage rate.