5-06-09, 9:53 am

HAVANA, Cuba, May 6 (acn) – Power consumption in Cuba has dropped by 141,000 kilowatt hours a year since 2007 as a result of the replacement of fluorescents lamps in the working sector, as part of the Lighting Efficiency Program.

The saving is compared to the 2006’s energy consumption in the sectors of transportation and construction, according to National Statistics Office reports.

Maikel Hernandez, an executive of the Rational Use of Energy Office told ACN that in addition of replacing 40-W bulbs with 32 W ones, also the electromagnetic devices used in the lamps were substituted by electronic ones.

Another action consists of placing a light-reflecting material between the light source and the lamp, so that the light is directed to the working surface, which increased the efficiency of lamps.

Hernandez added that since the beginning of the project in the first three months of 2007, the amount of oil burned was reduced by 31,000 tons which in turn resulted in a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

The supervised destruction of old lamps that started last March, is done to avoid the mercury they contained contaminating the environment.

Up to the present 1.3 million 40W lamps have been replaced in the country out of an estimated 7 million. The experts assert that the greatest possibilities to increase energy efficiency are concentrated in the government sector.

From the Cuban News Agency