On Monday, President Sebastián Piñera enacted the Energy Efficiency Law in the Los Lagos Region, promoting a rational use of resources and the use of environmentally friendly energies.
The regulation establishes energy efficiency as a state policy, amounting to greater support to companies to undertake appropriate ongoing energy management practices, incentives for the arrival of more efficient, zero emission vehicles, clear and specific information about energy consumption when buying a home and the promotion of proper energy use in government buildings.
“The time for diagnoses, agnostics and skeptics is over; now is the time for action, commitment and resolve,” the President highlighted during an event held in the district of Puerto Octay, where he was accompanied by Energy and Mining Minister, Juan Carlos Jobet.
The President underscored the benefits of the new law, acknowledging the important role of energy in Chile’s households and productive sectors. Currently, the average low-income household spends up to 13% of its budget covering energy needs, while in the productive sector, the costs of purchasing fuels and electricity may exceed 15% of the total budget for those industries.
“For a long time, we thought that energy, the sea, the air and forests were limitless, but history has shown us that we must take care of our environment and nature, because nature can live without us, but we cannot live without nature,” stressed the President.
Among its main actions, the new law establishes that large energy consumers must implement power management systems and report their power consumption to the Energy Ministry. Likewise, new energy efficiency standards will be enforced on the vehicle fleet traded in our country, promoting a move towards electromobility.
Another significant point in the law is that from now on new houses will have labels like those on home appliances, enabling people to make more informed and efficient decisions when choosing a home.
These measures will help reduce 10% of Chile’s energy intensity by the year 2030, a cumulative savings of US$ 15,200 million and a decrease of 28.6 million tons of CO2. This equals the annual movement of 15.8 million light vehicles or the annual absorption of 1.8 million hectares of native forests.
As a result, this new regulation will be crucial to achieving carbon neutrality. It is estimated that it will help cover 35% of the country’s self-imposed carbon neutrality goal by 2050.
“We need to build an alliance between the Government, large energy producers, large energy consumers and all citizens, which is what will enable us to reach our goal and keep our commitment, so that Chile may become a sustainable country,” concluded the President.