[ InWEnt trains Cuban energy consultants ]

Cuba campaigns for energy conservation

The two-lane highway leading into the heart of Havana does not carry much traffic – vintage cars and old bangers, for the most part, belching out clouds of black fumes. At the roadside, fruit plantations are interspersed with derelict tenements; large hoardings are set up on vacant lots. The outsized posters show portraits of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and other “heroes” of the revolution. Others, however, exhort the observer to think of the environment and be economical with water, electricity and fuel: “Ahorre – consuma sólo lo necesario” [Conserve (resources) – consume only what you need], “Agua es vida – no lo gastes” [Water is life – don’t waste it], “Ahorro de energía – la esperanza del futuro” [Energy conservation – the hope for the future]. The posters are part of an extensive public information campaign by the Cuban government to get people to save energy. Along with awareness-raising sessions in schools, this includes numerous broadcasts on radio and TV as well as government information booklets and a periodical on energy conservation and environmental protection called Energía y tú. Even promotion of regenerative energies is on the country’s list of political priorities – reflecting the spirit that prompted it to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as long ago as April 30, 2002.

Another part of Cuba’s energy conservation campaign is formed by an environmental management project set up in autumn 2000 by the Cuban Ministry for Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA) in cooperation with InWEnt. Its focus: efficient use of energy in Cuba’s sugar and glass-making industries and the hotel sector. Over the last three years, 29 Cuban experts have been trained up as energy consultants. One of the principal objectives of the programme was to convey to the participants a knowledge of the theory and practice of efficient use of energy, which is still in its infancy in Cuba.

Making a virtue of necessity

Cuba’s heightened interest in environmental issues in recent years – something made possible by German-Cuban cooperation – has a simple explanation: Cuba is making a virtue of necessity. With the collapse of the Socialist states in Eastern Europe, the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (Comecon) also broke up. Without the support of the Socialist economic bloc and with raw material prices plummeting in the world market, Cuba in the early 1990s was plunged into severe economic crisis. The effects of that are still being felt today. Cuban imports, which totalled 8.1 billion US dollars in 1989, dropped to an all-time low of 2.01 billion dollars in 1993 as a result of a chronic shortage of foreign exchange. Both energy imports (crude oil and its derivatives) and food imports at that time failed to meet the country’s needs.

By the end of the 1990s, the foreign exchange situation had eased again somewhat as a result of the dollar being legalised in the country (many Cuban exiles now send money to their relatives in Cuba) and the vigorous expansion of tourism. Even so, Cubans have constantly had to contend with food shortages in the last ten years and even power supply cannot always be maintained. Because of so-called “apagones” – brownouts lasting as long as 12 hours – during the 90’s whole districts of Havana were plunged for hours into the darkness nature intended at night.
The government addressed the energy crisis with a variety of state programmes designed to cut consumption and promote regenerative energies. Environmental protection also assumed greater importance in this context. Alongside public information and research on applications for regenerative energies, the state programmes also include practical schemes such as the subsidisation of energy-saving lamps or the installation of solar power systems at rural schools not connected to the national grid. In addition, biomass energy production has been developed to a point where the sugar industry can meet up to 95 percent of its energy requirements through the combustion of bagasse, a residue of sugar production.

InWEnt’s practical training for energy consultants

Cuba’s biggest energy consumer is industry, which uses comparatively more power than in most other countries. So industry is where the biggest savings can be made. In key sectors of the economy especially – sugar production, nickel mining and tourism – high energy requirements are still a significant competitive disadvantage. This is where the cooperation project started. To ensure that the environmental management programme had the broadest possible impact, 29 experts from ministries, industrial enterprises and the hotel sector were selected for training as energy consultants. In November 2003, after defending their examination projects in public, they will receive not only a certificate from the German government but also a diploma recognised in Cuba from the Centro de Estudios de Economía y Planificación (CEEP).

In eight workshops staged from November 2001 to July 2003, the participants acquired extensive knowledge of rational use of energy, energy efficiency and regenerative energy resources. Among other things, the curriculum included instruction in the basic theory of energy efficiency, methods and tools for making efficient use of energy in the sugar industry and hotel sector, operational analyses, energy balances, monitoring, controlling, energy management and project management. After that, the energy consultants had a chance to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice in test diagnoses of the energy situation at industrial enterprises and hotels.

For the workshops in Cuba, InWEnt opted for cooperation with experts from Spain’s Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE). InWEnt senior project manager Edith Marx said: “Thanks to EVE, we were able to send native speakers to Cuba. That way, we had no information loss, which is what happens when seminars have to be translated by interpreters.” The Cuban participants were delighted with the project. The EVE specialists did an excellent job, they said. Also part of the programme was a study trip to Germany and Spain, during which the 29 Cubans saw state-of-the-art technologies for energy conservation and regenerative energy production (solar, wind, biomass) at work. As well as getting to see solar power systems for heat reclamation and electricity generation, a wind park, combined heat, power and refrigeration facilities and rainwater recycling plants, they visited the ‘Fuel Cell’ exhibition and demonstration at BEWAG in Berlin. “The study trip, in particular, really opened my eyes to the possibilities of making more efficient use of energy and harnessing renewable energy sources”, said one Cuban participant.

Benefit of participants’ experience already being felt

Aside from this positive resonance, the project started to produce other gratifying results in July 2003: the newly acquired knowledge and information are already being passed on in training programmes for specialist personnel. One such programme provides nationwide access to the materials that were used in the workshops. So one of the principal aims of the project has already been achieved: knowledge is being passed on to decision-makers and to managerial and specialist personnel.

With some participants having completed their first energy diagnoses and consultations at individual factories, progress is also being made on the practical implementation of energy-efficient procedures and practices. Among the business units selected for analysis were prominent enterprises in various branches of the food industry. Although it is too early to say precisely what results the practical implementation of energy-saving recommendations will have, the analysis reports are promising. They show that energy consumption could be cut considerably in all the factories studied just by regular and reliable servicing of machinery, proper installation and regulation of equipment, good insulation, relatively simple changes and energy-saving measures. At the Vidrio Lisa glassworks, where one of the case studies was conducted, simple improvements have reduced energy consumption by 25 percent.

Although Cuba’s finances allow only limited scope for state investment in new technologies, there are many promising employment opportunities for the new energy consultants. The first chance to present the results of the environmental management project to a wider audience will come along in November 2003, when the participants are due to present their projects and energy diagnoses at the energy expositions ‘Feria Internacional de la Habana 2003’ and ‘TecnoURE’ in the Cuban capital. After the eighth and last workshop in July 2003, Edith Marx said: “The two exhibitions will offer the participants an opportunity to compare notes with representatives of German and Cuban industry. What we would like to see are foundations laid for future cooperation.”