Latin America. Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia are responsible for the consumption of 89% of the primary energy available in Latin America and the Caribbean. This was announced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its specialist in Renewable Energies, Juan Roberto Paredes at the International Fair of the Electricity Sector (FISE 2011), in Medellín.
To measure the importance of this situation, it must be taken into account that the region is composed of 26 countries and that, of this percentage, 69% of the energy consumed comes from hydrocarbons, only 26% is renewable energy, 8% is produced with coal and 1% corresponds to nuclear energy.
49% of the energy consumed in Brazil comes from renewable sources, which is considered an example for the rest of the countries in the region.
According to the renewability index (fraction of share of renewable energies in the total supply of primary energy – OTEP) presented by the IDB, Paraguay ranks first within the region, followed by Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras.
For its part, this ranking places Brazil in the eighth position and the 11th, 12th and 13th places are from Chile, Colombia and Peru, respectively. In the last places are Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago as the countries with the least use of renewable energies.
"This is one of the elements that allows us to establish how 'green' a country or a region is. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, it could be said that we are not so green, but we do have many possibilities, resources and opportunities to be so," paredes said.
