Uruguay. The Director of Energy, Ramón Méndez, highlighted among the initiatives to be developed in 2014, the implementation of a National Energy Efficiency Plan, with a 15-year projection, which will allow the country to save about 9,500 million dollars in that period by lowering energy consumption.
The use of electric and hybrid vehicles will be promoted and a trust will be accessible to make investments and audits in projects related to energy efficiency and clean generation. Méndez stressed that the regulation of energy demand is a central element that will be worked on from this year, since it is important that the demand is adjusted to the strictly necessary energy needs, since waste generates an economic, social and environmental problem.
He explained that in 2014 the Uruguayan Energy Saving and Efficiency Trust (Fudaee) will be activated, which provides for the use of a fund to make investments and to be used by those who wish to carry out energy audits in their establishments and identify the best options that aim at the efficient use of energy. In the latter case, the fund will finance up to two-thirds of the costs.
In this regard, he assured that this year there will be two informative workshops on energy consumption, one in the transport sector and another in the industrial sector. "In the industrial sector, energy consumption tripled from 2005 to date and today consumes 34% of the country's total," he explained. On the other hand, he added that transport currently spends, only on oil, 2,000 million dollars a year.
According to Ramón Mendez, this indicates the existence of an important margin that will allow it to reduce costs to the country, through the promotion of energy efficiency policies, such as the promotion of quality collective transport and the change towards electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as the promotion of clean energy that is generated near the centers of consumption, such as photovoltaic solar energy.
Méndez said that electric transport vehicles have already been imported together with UTE and the Municipality of Montevideo. A project for the entry into the country of electric cars was also coordinated and work is being done on an East-West corridor to transform the collective transport of the capital.
He also pointed out that a primary analysis carried out with the Bariloche Foundation and the University of Chile indicated that Uruguay will save about 9,500 million dollars from now until 2030, only for -energy avoided and not for doing less things, but for doing them more efficiently-.
