Uruguay Puts High Priority on Renewable Energies
Uruguay Puts High Priority on Renewable Energies
By Veronica Firme
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Since July 2014, Uruguay’s state power utility, UTE, has 30 100 percent electric vans. After the success of this initiative, it
doubled that number in its fleet of vehicles, and incorporated two electric cars, in November 2015.
Credit: Verónica Firme/IPS
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MONTEVIDEO, Nov 17 2015 (IPS) - Uruguay is modifying its energy mix with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, by means of a strategy that bolsters non-conventional clean energy sources through public-private partnerships and new investment. A majority of this South American country’s energy already comes from renewable sources.
“By the end of 2014, this country’s energy mix was made up of 55 percent renewable sources, compared to a global average of just 12 percent,” said Ramón Méndez, the president of the National Climate Change Response System, during a meeting on renewable energy.
Furthermore, 94 percent of electric power comes from renewables, he said, in a country which is only responsible for 0.06 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming.
The transformation of Uruguay’s energy mix began during the first term (2005-2010) of the current president, Tabaré Vázquez, although the country was not starting from zero in terms of renewable sources, Gonzalo Abal a physicist with the Solar Energy Laboratory of the University of the Republic of Uruguay, said in an interview with IPS.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/11/uruguay-puts-high-priority-on-renewable-energies/
Environment & Energy:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112794055