THE National Environment Agency (NEA) is stepping up efforts to promote energy efficiency in Singapore homes, amid rising oil prices and electricity usage in Singapore.

Mr Lee Yuen Hee, CEO of NEA, said on Tuesday: 'In the coming weeks, NEA will significantly increase our efforts to raise awareness of energy efficiency in Singapore homes. The rising oil prices, coupled with our key role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, have made this a paramount task.'

Total electricity consumption in Singapore has soared by 78 per cent between 1995 and 2007 - from 3,833.3 gigawatt to 6,820.3 GWh, while that for each household has risen from 4.59 megawatt to 5.66 MWh - a 21 per cent increase during the same period.

Many appliances like microwave ovens, air-conditioners, computers, mobile phones and DVD players, were rare or non-existent two decades ago. Today, they have become ubiquitous and are increasingly found in every household.

Mr Lee said households can play a key role in the national drive to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change.

'NEA believes that the choices Singaporeans make about how they use energy at home will help them manage overall household costs as well as help mitigate climate change. Energy conservation is an effective way for households to tackle the rising cost of electricity,' said Mr Lee.

In recent years, the NEA has introduced a number of measures to help households save on their power usage.

One of them is the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labeling Scheme under which, labels containing energy efficiency information, are affixed to all brands of air conditioners and refrigerators.

In addition, to empower every household to play a part in reducing their electricity consumption, NEA will be launching a nationwide Energy Challenge campaign on April 26 at the Suntec City Tropics Atrium.

Through the campaign, NEA hopes that households will come to realize the benefits that they can enjoy by being energy efficient.