Saudi Arabia: Energy Efficiency Center Seeks to Rationalize Consumption

Saudi Arabia: Energy Efficiency Center Seeks to Rationalize Consumption
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Saudi Arabia: Energy Efficiency Center Seeks to Rationalize Consumption

Saudi Arabia: Energy Efficiency Center Seeks to Rationalize Consumption

The Saudi Energy Efficiency Center launched on Sunday an awareness campaign aimed at clarifying the importance of rationalizing energy consumption and its optimal use at every moment to ensure its development and sustainability without affecting the welfare of citizens.

The campaign, which is the largest of its kind, follows a series of awareness campaigns that have been launched by the center annually since 2014 as part of its efforts, in cooperation with several government agencies working as one system, to control the increase in energy consumption in the Kingdom under the umbrella of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Program.

The five-week campaign presents energy and consumption changes over the past decades and how to maintain them to achieve many of the current and future positive impacts while consolidating many concepts and behaviors related to rationalizing energy consumption by presenting all the messages and advise provided by previous awareness campaigns to the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center.

This is aimed at raising awareness and changing the behaviors of the people who are consuming energy in order to conserve energy.

The campaign focuses on many of the Center’s initiatives, including capacity development and rehabilitation of local energy efficiency personnel.

It provides information and statistics on energy consumption in the building, land transportation, and industrial sectors and comparisons of the expected savings between the types of cars, in terms of fuel consumption, and air conditioners, in terms of energy consumption.

It also provides the results of censorship rounds that have been carried out at the customs outlets, local factories and the outlets and warehouses during the years 2014 to 2017 in order to apply technical specifications and standards related to energy efficiency.

The campaign aims to reach out to various groups and members of the society in the cities of the Kingdom through the use of all means of communication available, such as newspapers, radio and satellite channels, focusing on social networking.

Those who would like to read more on rationalizing consumption can visit the site of the campaign, “www.taqa.gov.sa”.



Iran's Rial Hits a Record Low, Battered by Regional Tensions and Energy Crisis

An Iranian trader counts money in Tehran's Grand Bazaar. (Reuters)
An Iranian trader counts money in Tehran's Grand Bazaar. (Reuters)
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Iran's Rial Hits a Record Low, Battered by Regional Tensions and Energy Crisis

An Iranian trader counts money in Tehran's Grand Bazaar. (Reuters)
An Iranian trader counts money in Tehran's Grand Bazaar. (Reuters)

The Iranian rial on Wednesday fell to its lowest level in history, losing more than 10% of value since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November and signaling new challenges for Tehran as it remains locked in the wars raging in the Middle East.

The rial traded at 777,000 rials to the dollar, traders in Tehran said, down from 703,000 rials on the day Trump won.

Iran’s Central Bank has in the past flooded the market with more hard currencies in an attempt to improve the rate.

In an interview with state television Tuesday night, Central Bank Gov. Mohammad Reza Farzin said that the supply of foreign currency would increase and the exchange rate would be stabilized. He said that $220 million had been injected into the currency market, The AP reported.

The currency plunged as Iran ordered the closure of schools, universities, and government offices on Wednesday due to a worsening energy crisis exacerbated by harsh winter conditions. The crisis follows a summer of blackouts and is now compounded by severe cold, snow and air pollution.

Despite Iran’s vast natural gas and oil reserves, years of underinvestment and sanctions have left the energy sector ill-prepared for seasonal surges, leading to rolling blackouts and gas shortages.

In 2015, during Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, the rial was at 32,000 to $1. On July 30, the day that Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in and began his term, the rate was 584,000 to $1.

Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, sparking years of tensions between the countries that persist today.

Iran’s economy has struggled for years under crippling international sanctions over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, which now enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels.

Pezeshkian, elected after a helicopter crash killed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi in May, came to power on a promise to reach a deal to ease Western sanctions.

Tensions still remain high between the nations, 45 years after the 1979 US Embassy takeover and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed. Before the revolution, the rial traded at 70 for $1.