Energy minister advises Romanians to turn off unnecessary lights to reduce need for imports

Energy minister Virgil Popescu has advised the public to try to cut back on their energy consumption in order to reduce the dependency on Russian gas imports. A national campaign on energy efficiency will also be rolled out, the minister told Digi24 in an interview.

Turning off the lights in an unused room or turning down the thermostats aid in lowering consumption and indirectly the dependency on imports, the minister explained.

“We want to reduce the reliance on Russian gas. One way to lower consumption and indirectly the dependency on imports is to save. […] We can try to save, to turn off the lights if we are not using that room, to try to turn down the thermostat by a degree or two during the winter period. I don’t know if we can all do this, but we can try,” Popescu said.

The minister's comments echo the recommendations of the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued earlier in March, as part of a 10-Point Plan for the European Union to reduce reliance on Russian supplies. Adjusting the thermostat for buildings’ heating would deliver immediate annual energy savings of around 10 bcm for each degree of reduction while also bringing down energy bills, IEA explained.

A campaign outlining the benefits of saving on energy consumption will be rolled out nationally, the energy minister said.

“We will start an energy efficiency campaign nationally to try and educate on this. It will educate on what it means to turn off one light bulb, how much you can save in a month, in a year, so that we can see that, with simple things, we can save money and reduce imports.”

The minister said Romania is on track with the plan agreed with the European Commission on the reserves for the coming winter. “Currently, the deposits are 41.3% full. The first reporting to the European Commission is done on August 1, when we need to have 46%.”

(Photo: Happyphotons | Dreamstime.com)