Workshop on Energy Efficiency
A Dollars to $ense Workshop of the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency was held in Santiago, Chile, on January 17 and 18, 2007. Econoler International, a Canadian firm specialized in energy efficiency, delivered the training sessions as part of the energy efficiency event of the Programa País de Eficiencia Energética. This energy conservation incentive program is an initiative of the Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente and the Ministerio Chileno de la Economía.
During the 2-day workshop, Econoler International’s experts introduced the participants to the following topics:
- Design a long-term energy demand management strategy in an industrial plant, the energy master plan;
- Promotion and consciousness creation on efficient technologies and environment conservation in an enterprise;
- Typical energy conservation measures in the solid wood industry and the process to identify such opportunities; and
- Method to assess the multiple benefits (economic, environmental and social) of the energy conservation opportunities.
Participants came from the solid wood industry, fruit cropping and packaging industry, energy consulting and research centers, mainly from the metropolitan region of Santiago. They expected to be taught how to prepare their plant to face the energy pricing increase in Chile that is expected to put the energy provision at the 3rd most important element of the solid wood sector expenditure within 5 years. They wanted to learn new ways for saving energy in their industry. They felt that an organisation-wide vision regarding energy efficiency, such as the energy master plan, is necessary to cope with changes in the Chilean energy sector.
According to participants’ comments and evaluation form, the workshop did fulfill their expectations. They mostly agreed that the workshop was very relevant, the objectives were clearly presented, the workshop was well organized and the didactical material was useful. It was recommended to have more of these training sessions delivered in Chile, since there was a high interest demonstrated by Programa País de Eficiencia Energética staff and several participants.
This event was made possible thanks to Mr. Agustí Bordas from Environment Canada and Mrs. Nicola Borregaard from el Ministerio Chileno de la Economía, who organized the workshop, and also to Mrs. Johanne Renaud, from Office of Energy Efficiency, and Pamela Mellado, from el Ministerio Chileno de la Economía, who took care of all arrangement regarding the training material and demonstration equipment.
A full report of this activity can be obtained contacting the Canadian Secretariat of the Canada-Chile Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.
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