Interview excerpt:

According to the UPME, 67% of energy is consumed inefficiently, which annually represents between 6.6 and 11 billion USD in cost overruns for the country.

If these resources were used productively by companies, more than 1.3 million minimum wage jobs could be generated, which would imply that the unemployment rate would drop from 14% to 9%, or, equivalently, the R&D&I investment of the entire country could be increased by 8 times.

Hence the need to think about energy efficiency, a subject that, although spoken of as something inspirational or futuristic, is a reality that is gaining momentum among large and small energy consumers: companies and individuals can be more efficient.

Basically, energy efficiency is how we make sure that energy is consumed and generated in a much more sustainable way, by not consuming what we should not, and, of course, this also applies to homes. For example, Johnny has an old refrigerator, which uses three times as much energy as a new refrigerator. He decides to take out a loan to buy a new refrigerator, because he realized that the savings he will have will be enough to pay off this loan. Something similar happens with companies, where the detection of savings opportunities is enormous and allows the company to be more efficient, spend less and save more, to the point that SAVINGS PAY FOR THE INVESTMENTS.

That is our day-to-day business at Azimut: we identify savings opportunities from 10% to 50% and we reassure our customers that energy efficiency is not a distant issue and we are taking ownership of it under our 4 strategies:

• Buying well: minimum investment and big savings. There are invoice errors, penalties and taxes that can be eliminated.
• Use well: learn to use equipment and everything that requires energy well.
• Replace: motors, boilers, generating savings of more than 20%. Savings pay for investments.
• Generate your own energy: a third party makes the investment, where it sells cheaper than what you are buying from the grid generator.

Note: Generation does not replace traditional energy, it complements it. It is said that on average, solar technologies can replace between 10% and 20% of the energy we currently consume.

However, energy efficiency implies a high degree of awareness of environmental impact. As a relevant fact, the generation of energy and heat in the world contributes more or less 25% of greenhouse gases, it is a sector that has an important impact; however, it is also part of the solution.

Here it is important to highlight that, in accordance with international commitments, Colombia has undertaken to reduce the CO2 it will generate by 100 megatons by 2030 and, if we take as a reference the 69% of inefficiency in energy consumption, we could affirm that we would be contributing more than 50% to this objective.

Energy efficiency is an issue already available in Colombia, we do not have to invent something that does not exist, we just have to take ownership of it.

Do you want to know more about this topic? Listen to our interview on Caracol Radio and let us know what you think about energy efficiency in Colombia and the world.

BUILDING A BETTER WORLD.