Russian TV program on 7 December 2011 - Weekly "Senate" with the participation of Svetlana Orlova, vice president of Congress
Energy efficiency in Russia
07.12.2011 - On Saturday 7 December 2011, the television channel “Russia” broadcasted the weekly programme “Senate”. During the meeting, the invited guests, all representatives of the Federation Council of Russia and the Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry of Energy, discussed the problems of energy efficiency, its influence on the economy of the country and measures that need to be implemented in this respect. This question is not absolutely new for Russia.
The Russian government has already adopted one law and more than 47 by-laws related to this theme. A lot of different special programmes, funded by the Russian government, have been implemented in Russia to make energy consumption more efficient. These problems in Russia are discussed not only at national governmental level but also at European level: for instance, Keith Whitmore, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, took part in a conference on energy and sustainable development in Omsk, Siberia, in 2002, and Svetlana Orlova, Congress vice-president, presented a report on energy supply and energy efficiency at local and regional level, during the Congress session in 2011. Russian representatives of the Federation Council have reported on this issue at European level. However, the Russian Federation’s ratio of energy usage to GDP is still 4 times higher than in other developed countries.
The problem is that local governments and average consumers are not usually able to realise energy-efficient projects. For the moment there are not enough specialists in this sphere and there is also the question of the culture of consumption. The problem is how to implement these programmes at local level. The presenter cited Keith Whitmore’s reply to the question about the role of local and regional authorities vis-à-vis energy supply and new technologies, where the Congress President stated that local governments play an important role in the questions of recycling energy waste and producing environmentally-friendly energy.
The participants in the meeting thought that in order to improve this situation in Russia, special priority should be given not only to legislation but to new technologies, to raising the population’s awareness of the need to save energy, and, finally, to close cooperation with governments and businesses both at local and at the highest level.