As well as assisting people with disabilities, the elderly and those convicted of crimes, the social workers help carry out the Energy Revolution. Since 2006, 13,000 social workers have visited homes, businesses and factories around the island, replacing light bulbs, teaching people how to use their new electric cooking appliances and spreading information on saving energy. The social workers also teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture to save energy during the sugar cane harvest and for the national bus system. Former president Fidel Castro, who founded the program, refers to the social workers as "Doctors of the Soul."
Media Promotes Efficiency Too
The media does its bit to help disseminate information about energy. Dozens of billboards that promote conservation are scattered across the country, a weekly television show is dedicated to energy issues, and articles espousing renewable energy, efficiency and conservation appear regularly in newspapers. In 2007 alone, there were over 8000 articles and TV spots dedicated to energy efficiency.
Nonetheless, in 2005, blackouts were still common as a result of an old and inefficient electrical grid. Thus began the move to decentralized energy, which involves generating electricity in smaller substations.
In 2006, Cuba installed more than 1800 diesel and fuel-oil micro-electrical plants, which now produce over 3000 MW of power in 110 municipalities. This switch virtually eliminated the blackouts. In 2004 and 2005, there were over 400 days of blackouts greater than 100 MW that lasted at least an hour. In 2006, there were three and in 2007 there were none at all.
Cuba also embarked on an impressive plan to fix its old electrical transmission network. It upgraded over 120,000 electrical posts, installed almost 3000 kilometres of cable and half a million electric meters. As a result, the nation reduced the amount of oil needed to produce a kWh of electricity by 3%, from 280 grams in 2005 to 271 grams in 2007. It is estimated that over the same period, Cuba saved almost 872,000 tons of oil through its energy-saving measures.
Cuba is also incorporating renewables into its energy mix. 100 wind-measuring stations and two new wind farms bring the island's total wind energy installation to 7.23 MW. They are also developing the country's first grid-tied 100 kW solar electric plant.
"We need a global energy revolution," says Mario Alberto Arrastia Avila, an energy expert with Cubaenergia, an energy information centre. "But for this to happen we also need a revolution in consciousness. Cuba has undertaken its own path towards a new energy paradigm, applying concepts like distributed generation, efficiency, education, energy solidarity and the gradual solarization of the country."
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Laurie Guevara-Stone is the international program manager at Solar Energy International, a non-profit renewable energy education organization based in Colorado.
Learn More:
Cubaenergía, the Center for Energy Information and Development in Cuba
Cubasolar
