Duty calls: we must save energy
By:
Marianela Martín and Yailin Orta – Photos: Albert Perera Castro
E-mail:
digital@jrebelde.cip.cu
October 12, 2007 - 00:14:56 GMT
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Original:
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-10-12/llaman-a-multiplicar-el-ahorro-de-energia/
We used to save in order to prevent blackouts; today we must do it in order to reduce investment, said Carlos Lage, secretary of the Council of Ministers Executive Committee, in the closing session of the Workshop on the Social Workers’ Experiences in the Energy Revolution.
An appeal made by the Council of Ministers Executive Secretary and Political Bureau member Carlos Lage Dávila for all ministries and state organizations to support the Energy Saving Program rounded off the Workshop on the Social Workers’ Experiences in the Energy Revolution, held this Thursday in the International Conference Center.
His call meets the need to define the tasks stemming from the Energy Revolution in the price of oil surpasses 80 dollars a barrel.
As reported in the plenary session, these young workers are presently devoted to studying energy consumption in more than 3,000 enterprises throughout Cuba, even if the lack of administrative support in some of them tampers with the transparency and swiftness of this process.
According to Social Workers Program leader Enrique Gómez Cabeza, the scrutiny in 277 entities reveals there’s a chance of reducing gasoline and diesel consumption by 18,9% and 15,9% respectively, which presupposes fuel savings worth millions.
Likewise, Energy Revolution operations director Roger Cabrera stated that these Social Workers can use their powers of persuasion and skills at supervision to help save over 40 million dollars in more than a thousand key posts where high rates of energy consumption are reported which could be reduced through rational action and minimum investment.
Basic Industry minister Yadira García remarked the Electric Power Enterprise must set its sights first of all on the main consuming entities, taking into account that the private sector is using less electricity now as a result of new, higher rates and the replacement of inefficient appliances.
Lage recalled that a number of huge investments made in power plants to prevent blackouts that were commonplace less than two years ago allow us now to generate more than is required when demand is at its peak.
«We must be aware that as the number and scope of our service industries grow, so does power consumption. There’s no choice but to keep investing, even if at a smaller scale and to a lesser extent. If we once had to save in order to prevent blackouts, today we must do it to reduce investment».
In reference to the political and ideological work this army does in and outside Cuba and outside Cuba, Lage stressed that merged with dignity into its members are two of the Commander in Chief’s ideas: the realization of the Energy Revolution and the Social Workers Program.
«This struggle for the sake of rational spending and increased saving will have several stages but not a finishing line, since there will always be something to do. We’re all committed to work towards that end, and you are an irreplaceable instrument to make this struggle all the more honorable», he declared.
A trail of solidarity
These young workers supervise over a thousand key posts where high rates of energy consumption have been reported.
Never has a task undertaken by Cubans in third-world countries has provided more access than the Social Workers’ mission in 13 Latin American and Caribbean nations, acknowledged Foreign Affairs minister Felipe Pérez Roque in his speech.
He underlined that the replacement of incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving ones involved the presence in those countries of more than 3,000 youngsters, from whose work 13 million households greatly profited.
Minister Pérez Roque explained that their door-to-door visits in the target communities left behind a trail of solidarity that becomes obvious in the way those people manage to improve their home economics.
«With a few months worth of work you have made it possible for those countries to save 2,400 megawatts, equivalent to a 200-million-dollar investment at a time when oil prices are going sky-high», he said.
Evocation and commitment
Memories of those days when the fuel squanderers were dealt a heavy blow livened up the Workshop’s closing session.
Thanks to this experience, cash sales in gas stations increased 2,56 times, and that was only the prelude of what was to come. More than a hundred papers were presented in this national conference which gave further in-depth information about the replacement of 9,4 million incandescent light bulbs, assessments of the savings potential, and the readjustment of fuel quotas, among other experiences.
Besides, the papers went beyond the mere, if detailed, descriptions of the actions implemented in various fields: the authors also put forward possible measures and methods aimed at making a more rational use of our resources and improving environmental protection.
Participants stressed that when they started to check fuel use in state entities, the first thing many of the top managers would tell them is that they never had enough to get by and found it very hard to believe any fuel was wasted.
«We confirmed there were problems with the forms No. 5073, the mileage reported in the waybills, the destination of their goods, etc. And we found out there are resolutions that they are either unaware of or unwilling to enforce», said a social worker from the Isle of Youth.
Yeniley Pérez, from Havana, raised similar points. She talked about how drivers in those enterprises take their vehicles home after working hours without the requisite authorization, and mentioned violations such as waybills which were either sequentially wrong or downright forgeries.
Faced with those facts, the Social Workers decided to meet with the Board of Directors to apprise them of the existing state of affairs so they could tackle the problems and settle them quickly.
All-out offensive against squandering
With reference to the issues expounded in the conference, Political Bureau member and Basic Industry minister Yadira García Vera stated that all entities have an obligation to support as best they can the task assigned to these young workers.
She pointed out the results they have achieved provide both sufficient elements to start devising the Savings Plan for next year and grounds for thinking their involvement in the supply chains was likely to bear fruit, and in this regard she mentioned her own Ministry’s medicine and cement distribution chains.
«These transportation systems are based upon a single policy and strategy, and we’re intent on reducing their use to a minimum. Through these Social Workers we can further pinpoint potential fuel leaks and verify whether the established specifications are being met», she said.
In her view, the ultimate purpose of these efforts is to find the root cause of so much squandering rather than to reduce fuel consumption.
«It’s not a matter of simply cutting down on fuel assignments: if we keep putting up with these violations in the future we’ll never produce enough. It’s for the Managers everywhere to find the real cause of the squandering or else the labor of these boys and girls will have been in vain», she warned.
Some gas stations –she remarked– keep selling less and less to private owners, and yet our streets are teeming with private cars. Much as things look good down the line, when you check the numbers from every province you notice that overall sales of fuel have seen an incredible decline.
Yadira García asserted that these figures prove a greater offensive is imperative, because this is a battle to save our economy and in favor of our people’s well-being.
Political Bureau member and Transportation minister Jorge Luis Sierra agreed that all Boards of Directors must strive to stop the reckless use of fuel from getting worse and do it with effectiveness, responsibility and a firm hand. We could in fact reduce the assignments, but it would be pointless if whatever the entity gets is used improperly, because our levels of production will keep going down.
«We must reorganize transportation and study the current routes to greater extent with an aim to economizing more. It’s hard and time-consuming work, but everything we do has to be as much sustainable as systemic», she concluded.
The meeting also reviewed the general results of a survey conducted among more than two million households across Cuba about the process to distribute energy-saving appliances, and 98% of those polled maintained they are quality products, especially the rice cookers and the multipurpose pressure cooker.
Nonetheless, the persisting drops of voltage ranked high on the list of complaints in over 60% of our homes.
At any rate, the process of distribution and the work performed by the Social Workers in the last two years were praised by over 90% of the people interviewed to that effect.
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Exponen experiencias de los Trabajadores Sociales en el ahorro energético
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-10-11/exponen-experiencias-de-los-trabajadores-sociales-en-el-ahorro-energetico/
Con una exposición que muestra los principales avances de la Revolución Energética se inició este miércoles, en el Centro de Convenciones Pedagógicas de Cojímar, el Taller sobre las experiencias de los Trabajadores Sociales en tareas a favor del ahorro.
En la inauguración de la muestra Enrique Gómez Cabezas, responsable del Programa de Trabajadores Sociales, insistió en que se respetan los preceptos medioambientales mientras se adoptan las medidas de ahorro de portadores energéticos, y puso como ejemplo el destino final de los gases refrigerantes de los equipos descontinuados.
Hasta el 27 de septiembre estos profesionales habían entregado 19,4 millones de artículos a más de tres millones de núcleos familiares, con el fin de propiciar el ahorro de combustibles, según se conoció en una de las cinco comisiones de trabajo donde se valoraron las principales tareas del programa energético.
Hasta ese instante el país había recaudado más de 10 300 000 pesos por esos artículos distribuidos, de ellos casi el 80 por ciento mediante créditos sociales.
Entre las provincias con mejor recaudación están Pinar del Río, Las Tunas, Cienfuegos, Ciego de Ávila y Granma.
Los resultados hasta el momento demuestran que ante una tarea de tal magnitud y complejidad, la respuesta de la población en el pago de los artículos ha sido positiva.
No obstante, los grupos de trabajo constituidos tienen por delante un gran esfuerzo y deberán ser aún más sistemáticos en su labor para brindarle orientación y atención a las familias que lo requieran.
Como uno de los méritos del programa se reconoció que con la participación de estos jóvenes en el control de los combustibles, aumentaron las ventas a particulares en 46 millones de CUC, y que las potencialidades serán mayores en la medida en que se acorralen las violaciones que aún persisten en la venta de gasolina y diésel.
En la comisión que abordó el tema del control de combustible en el sector estatal, los trabajadores sociales mostraron los resultados más significativos que alcanzaron en las diversas tareas que emprendieron con tal propósito en todo el país. Entre ellas se destacaron las misiones Verano sobre Ruedas y Ahorrito en la Zafra.
En el evento trascendió que esta tropa, integrada por más de 13 000 jóvenes, durante la etapa vacacional que recién concluyó logró el ahorro total del 8,5 por ciento de diésel y el 11,5 por ciento de gasolina en los organismos de mayor consumo en la Isla.
También expusieron trabajos relacionados con su labor en la zafra 2007, donde sus acciones permitieron el reajuste de la asignación de combustible y le reportaron de igual forma ganancias a la economía nacional.
En momentos en que el mundo encoge hombros ante los crecientes precios del petróleo en el mercado internacional, gran interés despertó también la presentación de algunos resultados de la sustitución de bombillas incandescentes en naciones del Caribe.
Varios participantes destacaron el colosal esfuerzo desplegado en Venezuela, Granada, San Vicente y las Granadinas y la Mancomunidad de Dominica, entre otros, para introducir en el sector residencial y estatal lámparas ahorradoras y, sobre todo, estimular en la gente una actitud diferente ante el ahorro y el cuidado del medioambiente.
Desde los cerros del municipio Libertador, en la populosa Caracas, o la pequeña comunidad North Union, en San Vicente, llegaron anécdotas que expresan cuán hondo caló en el espíritu de sus pobladores y nuestros jóvenes la labor desarrollada en esos escenarios, y que de cara al futuro tiene tanto valor como los cientos de miles de dólares que por reducción del consumo y de la generación de electricidad pueden ahorrar.
Enrique Gómez aseguró que la mayor importancia de talleres como este radica en que se puede conocer profundamente los logros y particularidades de cada una de las misiones, así como medir el impacto social y económico que representan para nuestro pueblo y naciones hermanas.
El encuentro culmina hoy con una sesión plenaria que tendrá lugar en el Palacio de las Convenciones.