HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 9 (acn) As ongoing measures are being taken in Cuba to cushion what has been described as a temporary energy situation, Energy and Mines minister Alfredo Lopez insisted in the need to further rationalize electricity and fuels due to what he described as the consequences of the current world economic circumstances.
During a meeting with directives of state entities in central Sancti Spiritus province, Minister Lopez called on all workers to follow local problems in their work centers and to be aware of them in order to contribute to save energy resources.
The government official reiterated that Provincial and Municipal Energy Councils must control on a daily basis the use by state companies and centers of electricity and fuels so that they can take immediate measures in case of overuse.
Lopez insisted that diesel is a resource currently selling as costly as 500 dollars a ton at the world market. Also stressed was the need for what participants described as alternatives to meet the electric power schedules, in which the highest consumer is the residential sector with over-scheduled use of electricity in August, a month marked by the summer vacation season.
Only in Sancti Spiritus province there are over seven thousand 300 state entities, with 300 of them using 70 percent of the energy allocated to sector.
One of the measures applied in case of over-use of electricity is cutting the power to entities involved. In august 67 state centers were left without power in august and the measure will continue to be implemented to encourage energy saving. Another specific step was shutting down 50 percent of all public lighting in the province.
Rationality is the word use to deal with the described temporary situation in Cuba. Shops, work centers and other state entities have established hours to use air conditioning; some do not use it at all. Workers´ transportation provided by their centers has also been affected to some extent and fuel allocation has been reduced in the state area.
Cuban authorities have reiterated that all the measures now in force follow to reduce energy consumption with rationality and avoid affecting the residential area and returning to the era of the blackouts that Cubans still have in their minds.
Addressing parliament on July, Cuban President said that the country may face difficulties, even worse than the ones present today, but that the nation is well prepared to deal with them. He also stressed the need to reduce expenses which are not highly necessary, and to boost saving and good use of available resources.
Cuba´s main energy source is fossil fuels; however the ongoing update of the Cuban economy boosts efforts to progressively change the country´s energy-based system by turning to renewable energy. Current actions focus the areas of solar and wind energy, among other alternatives, but the projects still have a long way to go before becoming major sources of energy on the island.
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