10 May 2006 – A head
of the EU-Latin America Summit, to be held in
Vienna at the end of this week, WWF said aggressive
energy efficiency measures coupled with urgent
investment in renewable energy sources – such
as biomass and wind power – would give the region
a more secure energy supply with lower emissions
as well.
“If South American governments
want to give their citizens secure, clean and
affordable energy the best way forward is to increase
energy efficiency dramatically,” said Giulio Volpi,
WWF’s Latin America Climate and Energy Coordinator.
“The European Union should back this through technological
and economic cooperation, including joint research,
technology transfer, trade measures and financial
aid.”
WWF calculated that if Brazil
– the largest economy in the region –implemented
an aggressive energy efficiency action plan, it
could reduce the growth in power demand by as
much as 40 per cent by 2020, achieve energy savings
of more than $15 billion per year, create ten
millions new jobs while stabilizing its power
sector related CO2 emissions.
“This may seem radical but it’s
already been done in the past. Back in 2001, under
the threat of power black-outs, Brazilians slashed
electricity demand by 20 per cent in a couple
of months, without reducing their quality of life,”
said Volpi.
In Argentina, WWF’s partner
organization Fundacion Vida Silvestre estimates
that between a quarter and half of future electricity
demand in the residential and commercial sectors
could be saved by 2020 through energy conservation
measures. The average Argentinean family’s refrigerator
consumes twice as much power as new products available
on the market today.
The EU-Latin American Summit
should be seen as an opportunity to boost cooperation
in the area of clean and efficient energy, said
WWF. Governments and bi-lateral relations should
prioritize the implementation of energy efficiency
standards for buildings, appliances, vehicles
and potentially for energy intensive sectors,
instead of planning dubious projects such as the
“Southern Pipeline”. The so-called “Southern Pipeline”,
stretching more than 9,000km between Venezuela
and Argentina, is a controversial project that
would cost over $23bn and would cross environmentally
sensitive areas in the Amazon.
Latin America needs to increase
the efficiency of existing power stations. Losses
in Brazilian power transmission and grids amount
to 17 per cent of the total electricity produced,
compared to 8 per cent in the US and 6.5 per cent
in Europe. WWF calls on Latin American governments
to implement national renewable energy targets
and back them up with suitable regulatory and
financial incentives.
For more information: Giulio
Volpi, WWF’s Latin America Climate Coordinator,
Tel +556181656784, giulio@wwf.org.br.
Notes:
• On May 1, Bolivia announced
the nationalisation of its natural gas and petroleum
resources. As a consequence, an increase in consumers’
prices of natural gas in the range of 30% is expected
for importing countries such as Brazil and Argentina.
• In 2006 Brazil’s consumption
of natural gas accounted to 50 millions cubic
meters (MCM) per day. Roughly half of which (24
MCM) is imported from Bolivia and the other half
is produced domestically. Under a business as
usual scenario, natural gas demand is expected
to growth to 100 MCM, of which 60% will be domestically
produced.
• Coal, diesel oil and natural
gas-fired thermoelectric plants will supply about
two thirds of the 3200 megawatts of new electric
power auctioned by the Brazilian government in
December 2005. Once built, these power plants
would emit over 11 millions tons of CO2 emissions
per year – which represent an 11% growth compared
to current power sector emissions.
• Research calculates that through
the deployment of the best available technology,
energy consumption of refrigerators –accounting
for 30% of Brazilian households consumption– could
be cut by 40% on average by 2020, with a overall
power saving of 80 billions kWh.
