OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2010. As part of its 2010 seminar cycle, the Latvenergo AS Energy Efficiency Centre introduced visitors to the advantages of using individual electric transportation and to the nuances of its application.

At the Energy Efficiency Centre seminar, with the hall, as usual, already full of people, the audience members were introduced to the potential opportunities for using electric vehicles in Latvia, informed about the use of electric cars already seen in other countries and shown forecasts of future growth of the field. The most enthusiastic of visitors had the chance to test drive an electric car themselves or ride an electric bicycle.

As always, the workshop was all-encompassing, aiming to introduce listeners to as broad a view of the subject as possible, this time devoting attention to the electric transportation industry. Lecturers at the event included people promoting electric transportation from the Association for Supporting Zero Emissions Mobility and experts from Latvenergo, who offered their views on the potential for introducing electric transportation in Latvia. Other participants at the workshop included representatives from the Danish Cultural Institute who told the audience about the campaign to promote electric transportation, CO2 e-race due to be held in May which will offer inhabitants of Riga the opportunity to see electric vehicles firsthand and find out more about them.

The rising popularity of electric transportation has been driven mostly by inhabitants’ ever-growing concern for the environment, as well as by the gradual increase in the prices of petroleum products. Thus, Arnis Bergs, President of the Association for Supporting Zero Emissions Mobility, noted that a large number of the European Union member countries have already introduced financial incentive measures in order to promote inhabitants’ interest in purchasing an electric car (Ireland and Belgium offer physical persons state incentives of up to 5,000 and 9,000 thousand euros if they decide to purchase such a vehicle). Moreover, a great deal of attention is being drawn to increasing the number of electric vehicle recharging stations. For instance, forecasts show that Ireland will have a total of 300 charging stations for electric cars by 2011, whereas London is to have as many as 25,000 such devices installed by 2015.

As Edijs Vesperis, a planning engineer at Latvenergo AS Development Division, pointed out, the greatest drawback of electric vehicles today is the need to recharge them frequently – between 5 and 7 times as often as refuelling a car that runs on petrol. At a low-power access point, recharging a car may take as long as 8 hours. However, more efficient technological solutions are already available. Forecasting the situation in Latvia, Vesperis noted that up to 120 GWh, or 1.1% of total system consumption in 2030 might be used for running electric vehicles.

In turn, representatives of the Danish Cultural Institute informed the public about CO2 e-race. The May 15th event to promote zero-emissions vehicles. The goal of this contest is to promote awareness of the global climate crisis and demonstrate solutions for resolving it explained Institute representative Laine Cekule in her speech to the workshop visitors. Thus, in cooperation with Latvenergo, the contest organisers are working not only on a way for inhabitants of the capital to see these cars for themselves, but also on a way to have an electric vehicle recharging station built within the city’s centre.

The subject of the Energy Efficiency Centre’s next seminar which will take place on May 19th, 2010, will be entitled “Heat Pumps and Solar Collectors”. The seminar will be held at the Latvenergo AS Energy Efficiency Centre, at Jomas iela 4, Jurmala. Applications for the workshop can be made by telephone (67728567) or e-mail: eec@latvenergo.lv.