As part of a joint coordination between The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE) and Fundaci\u00f3n Bariloche, with the aim of promoting the importance of energy efficiency in the region, the virtual event “Regional Experiences in the Development of Plans and Actions in Energy efficiency” was held.<\/p>\n
This dialogue, held on Tuesday,<\/span> September 15<\/span>\u00a0, 2020, was made up of a prominent panel in which participated the Executive Secretary of OLACDE, Alfonso Blanco Bonilla; the Director of Environment and Development of Fundaci\u00f3n Bariloche, Daniel H. Bouille; the Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador, Ren\u00e9 Ortiz; the National Director of Electricity Generation (Argentina), Guillermo Martin Mart\u00ednez; the Manager of the National Energy Efficiency Program of ELETROBRAS (Brazil), Marcel Da Costa Siqueira; the Director of Energy Efficiency Policies and Programs (Mexico), Juan Ignacio Navarrete; and the Operational Coordinator of the Uruguayan Energy Savings and Efficiency Trust, Jorge Pe\u00f1a.<\/span><\/p>\n The Executive Secretary of OLACDE, Alfonso Blanco, in his speech on the role and importance of energy efficiency plans in planning, referred to the Organization’s agenda on strengthening public policies and energy efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n He mentioned that OLACDE’s objective, in this regard, is to work with everything related to sustainable energy, from renewable energies, energy efficiency, as a policy component and planning at the sectoral level, aimed at decarbonizing economies. He highlighted that in this objective, the agenda is shared with Fundaci\u00f3n Bariloche to contribute to the region in strengthening regional capacities for the development of a market for energy efficient goods and services. <\/span><\/p>\n For the Executive Secretary “energy efficiency is a cross-cutting action which involves all sectors of the economy and also results from actions aimed at cultural change”. He also mentioned that energy efficiency involves the establishment of long-term policies and that it transcends the times of the political system.<\/span><\/p>\n In this context, the Secretary mentioned that the region progressively advanced in the development of energy efficiency policies “but there is no ecosystem that allows the development of energy efficiency and markets associated with energy efficiency.”<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n “<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Few countries in the region have a conducive environment for the development of business models, linked to energy efficiency and that translates directly into a benefit for the economy as a whole,”\u00a0he said.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n At the end of his speech, the Executive Secretary of OLACDE emphasized the link with the Fundaci\u00f3n Bariloche. “Together we are much more and in some way we have to deepen efforts and generate synergies between the different organizations that are linked to the energy sector to provide a value and transforming proposition of the energy sector”.<\/span><\/p>\n For his part, for the\u00a0<\/span>Director of Environment and Development of Fundaci\u00f3n Bariloche, Daniel H. Bouille,\u00a0<\/span>the important thing is to implement energy efficiency policies and to achieve this he said that government institutions are required, he emphasized that energy efficiency should be considered as another energy source.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEnergy efficiency requires broad interjurisdictional cooperation with the provinces and states of our countries. We believe that a legal and regulatory framework that is in line with the political needs of the countries is essential”<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0said <\/span>Daniel H. Bouille.<\/span><\/p>\n He also affirmed that energy efficiency is a cross-cutting issue and is a strong contribution to the change in the structure of the energy matrix, an aspect in which he stressed the importance of implementing actions and policies that require a comprehensive vision and a governmental institutionality.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Argentina<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n During his participation Guillermo Martin Mart\u00ednez, National Director of Electricity Generation of Argentina, presented the <\/span>challenges and initiatives that are being taken regarding energy efficiency in his country. Among the outstanding projects, he mentioned the energy efficiency project that has funding from the European Union, which consists of promoting energy efficiency measures, in particular, in the residential, productive and transport sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding the process of how they have obtained statistical information, he explained that the main tool they have used is to conduct surveys through the National Institute of Statistics and Census, where it was defined how energy is used in the residential sector and detect the main artifacts that are used in homes. This sample represented more than 12 million households.<\/span><\/p>\n In the transport sector, specific measures have been implemented on how to reduce the fuel consumption associated with the operation.<\/span><\/p>\n At the moment the Energy Secretariat and the Ministry of Productive Development are defining a national program for the renovation of electrical appliances.<\/span><\/p>\n Other important actions that are being implemented in Argentina are the National Housing Labeling Program that defines a participation scheme for the 3 levels of government; nation, province and municipality.<\/span><\/p>\n Program that consists of the definition of a label that will be part of the characteristics of the home, which allows providing information on all the homes that are located in the different bioclimatic regions of the country so that they all have a common evaluation methodology in terms of its energy performance.<\/span><\/p>\n Brazil<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Marcel Da Costa Siqueira, Manager of the National Energy Efficiency Program of ELETROBRAS, shared information on the execution of the National Program for the Conservation of Electric Energy, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, through which, in the last 5 years , more than 20 million MW\/h of energy were saved.<\/span><\/p>\n Among the main energy efficiency policies in force in Brazil, he mentioned the Labeling Program that has existed since 1984 and a program in the area of fuels executed by PETROBRAS, among others. Brazil has an Energy Efficiency Law in which it establishes all the minimum standards for equipment. <\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, Marcel Da Costa Siqueira reported that his country has a 10-year Energy Efficiency Plan, which has a short and medium-term horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, he maintained that a new Energy Efficiency Plan is currently in Public Consultation that runs until 2050. On the other hand, he announced that there is an Energy Expansion Plan that has a horizon of 10 years and is executed with the support of ELECTROBRAS, the <\/span>Energy Research Company (EPE) and<\/span>\u00a0the institutional coordination of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.<\/span><\/p>\n In this regard, he stated that this work aims to develop policies to reduce electricity consumption in the main Brazilian socioeconomic sectors and to detail a set of structural impact actions to allow the achievement of energy efficiency gains for Brazil, in the medium term, based on the 10-year Plan, considering the advances in digitization in the productive sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n Ecuador<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador, Ren\u00e9 Ortiz, in his speech stated that “Ecuador has been a dollarized economy since 2000 and has three economic axes: exports, foreign investment and public debt<\/span>.“<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding energy, he highlighted that Ecuador is a net exporter of energy. “We export to Colombia and Peru, this puts us in the energy integration scheme,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding the energy demand by sector, he specified that in the transport sector the country has 48.8% and the industry 14.5%<\/span>. And that the objective in the transport sector is to optimize the consumption of energy for cargo and passengers, through the execution of energy efficiency projects that generate benefits in the sector.<\/p>\n Regarding the National Energy Efficiency Plan, it was reported that the following lines of action are contemplated: industrial, transportation, residential, commercial and public services, consumption of the energy sector and the Galapagos Islands.<\/span><\/p>\n In the industrial axis, he indicated that they are working on adopting the ISO 5000 standard, encouraging cogeneration programs in the industry and replacement programs for motors, pumps, boilers and heaters<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Minister of Energy Ren\u00e9 Ortiz, also announced that in the country there is 97% coverage by the electricity sector, which mostly is hydroelectric generation.<\/span><\/p>\n Mexico<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Mexico’s participation was represented by\u00a0Juan Ignacio Navarrete, Director of Energy Efficiency Policies and Programs of the\u00a0National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy<\/span>, who began his presentation by explaining that his country has 40 years of experience implementing energy efficiency actions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As a review, he explained that the\u00a0<\/span>Federal Electricity Commission\u00a0<\/strong>(CFE), which is the State Energy Company, began to carry out the first programs in the 1980s, which emerged from the Democratic Planning System.<\/span><\/p>\n