Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency, during the first session of the eighteenth annual meeting of Saudi Economic Association in Riyadh RIYADH – Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency, and Honorary President of the Saudi Economic Association, emphasized the importance of managing energy consumption in the Kingdom to curb the growth of consumption at the annual meeting (Economies of Energy) of the Saudi Economic Association in Riyadh. Launching the first session of the eighteenth annual meeting of the association on Wednesday, he warned against further energy consumption growth if the wastage in energy consumption is not seriously curtailed. During the panel discussion entitled “Energy Efficiency”, he detailed the Kingdom's energy consumption growth. Prince Abdulaziz noted that management of energy consumption is a strategic necessity for the Kingdom. For this purpose, he highlighted the establishment of the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency and its work. He added that he expects savings of 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030 on the completion of the implementation of all activities of the Saudi program for energy efficiency. He said the Kingdom's population has grown and there is economic prosperity and industrial development. This in turn reflected on the life of the citizens on the one hand and the industrial and economic development of the Kingdom on the other. This has contributed to the growth of energy consumption and wastage of non-renewable natural resource. The daily energy consumption in the Kingdom has risen from less than one million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 1980 to 4.2 million barrels of oil equivalent at present. This consumption is expected to rise to over 8 million barrels oil equivalent per day in 2030 if “we do not work seriously to curtail the big wastage in energy consumption.” He said the rise in energy consumption in the Kingdom was accompanied by growth in the density of energy consumption by 50 percent since 1985. The rate of energy consumption in the Kingdom is higher than the growth rate of the GDP. This is opposite to what is occurring in the advanced countries. This necessitates for the Kingdom to manage consumption as it is a strategic necessity. Prince Abdulaziz said energy consumption management in the Kingdom is facing big challenges in the absence of possibilities for curbing the growing consumption of energy. The most prominent challenges include the low prices of energy in the Kingdom, lack of awareness of the consumer on energy efficiency, low standards for energy efficiency or their absence, weakness in compulsory implementation and weakness of integration between government authorities. Meanwhile, the advanced countries have available means at their disposal to curb the growing energy consumption. Most important among these factors is the rise in prices of energy, awareness of the consumer, the existence of stiff binding penalties for implementation of standards on products and the existence of one authority concerned with all energy affairs. He said the Kingdom started work in curbing the big wastage when the council of ministers decided in 2010 to establish “the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency”. The aim was to rationalize and upgrade energy consumption efficiency in the Kingdom and unify the efforts of the authorities concerned. — SG
