Winter is coming

“Winter is coming”, the line immortalized in the TV series “War of Thrones”^[1] was used to warn of dire times ahead and the need to take action to avoid greater hardships. It spawned thousands of memes and, following the series’ success, it was carried from the screen into real life and used all over the world.

And it fits like a glove in the field of energy and energy efficiency – it is important to draw Europe’s attention: “Winter is coming. It seems a paradox, as the summer has just started, but it is important not to forget what the last winter was like, or using another movie reference, “I know what you did last [winter]” – symptomatically, a classic horror movie.

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that last winter we felt the impact of dependence on Russian gas and oil, which, due to the circumstances, raised energy prices to unbearable levels. In that “winter of our discontent^[2] (another reference, this time literary), amid the energy crisis, with gas prices at stratospheric levels, the energy issue became a constant presence in newspapers and on television, and a daily challenge in the lives of people and companies.

Energy efficiency for an answer

Europeans were feeling the mistakes of the past and measures had to be taken. The European Union responded structurally to this situation through the REPowerEU program, with a trillion euros allocated over 10 years and ambitious goals for decarbonization, energy efficiency, and renewable energy production – or simply put, less consumption and more renewables, which means less reliance on fossil fuels.

In Portugal, an Energy Saving Plan 2022-2023 was also developed, which, as we wrote at the time, seemed to us to be a missed opportunity as it mainly included short-term measures that were ineffective or of limited scope, such as the obligation to turn off lights in shop windows or adjust the temperature of air conditioning in buildings

Now that it’s summer, where are the structural measures for energy saving? Although I have searched, I have yet to find evidence of a systematized implementation of structural measures. Nor is there an indicator of the progress of energy efficiency measures adopted – the REPowerEU has set a minimum target of 32.5% at this level by 2030, but it is not clear where we stand on that target.

Given that lighting accounts for around 15% of total electrical consumption and up to 50% of municipalities’ energy expenses, a full switch to LED technology alone would meet a third of the energy efficiency target, reducing the ecological footprint and providing higher-quality lighting. However, not only are there still many conventional luminaires dotted around our streets, but the market has slowed down, even when it is possible to finance LED transition projects through the shared savings model that guarantees the reduction of the electricity bill and exempts municipalities from the initial investment.

We have the financial means, the right European strategy, and well-defined goals, but we are behind schedule. It is therefore a case of reminding ourselves: beware, winter is coming.

Miguel Allen Lima

ARQUILED CEO

[1] TV series based on the novel of the same name by George R. R. Martin.
[2] “The winter of our discontent,” a novel by John Steinbeck.