Forum: Energy Strategies for the 21st Century

DISUR participated in the forum Energy Strategies 21st Century, organized by Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, and the chairman of the Committee on Infrastructure and Urban Development, the Hon. Senator Larry Seilhamer.

The purpose of the forum was to present and discuss general aspects of the current energy situation of Puerto Rico and raise public policy ideas for energy reform in Puerto Rico. Among the topics covered in the forum, held during Earth Week at the Capitol's Salon Leopoldo Figueroa, were conservation, efficiency and renewable energy, power transfer, and the proposed government plan to use "clean energy bond renewals," among others.

The Forum was well attended and brought together representatives from government, private, academic and community in the country. Seilhamer Senator said that Puerto Rico is at the forefront in many things, but in this case in particular the numbers put us at a disadvantage.

He regretted that in 2010, 72 percent of energy production in Puerto Rico comes from oil and its derivatives, 14 percent comes from coal, 13 percent from liquefied natural gas, and 1 percent other sources. In oil imports, Puerto Rico invests $5.2 billion, making it urgent "to define the direction we should be headed, to make the change, and to look for the conservation, efficiency and generation," he said.