Cambodia’s construction industry should make use of more energy-efficient materials, officials said at the Kingdom’s annual construction exhibition.

Speaking at a green energy seminar held at the Cambuild exhibition on Koh Pich yesterday, Suy Sem, minister of mines and energy, urged construction firms to explore renewable energy options like solar power for their projects.

“The world around us uses toxic fuel with negative impacts such as air pollution, acid rain, global warming and climate change,” he said.

“We recognise the importance of finding solutions for global warming and its negative impact to the global temperature.”

Currently, 60 per cent of all houses have access to electricity, according to Sem. He said that there were plans for the entire country to have access to electricity by 2020.

Sem particularly encouraged the use of green energy in rural areas where the electricity grid has not yet reached.

According to Arjen Luxwolda, managing director of solar technology firm Kamworks, Cambodia’s rural areas present a huge opportunity for solar power.

“The rural market for solar has really exploded in the recent years because people who are off grid and do not have an alternative to use are switching to solar,” he said.

“I think the amount of people who buy solar powered products just to be green is very small, so it has to make economical sense in order for people to switch to solar.”