Latin America. In Latin America, oil ranked first in energy use, according to a report prepared by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (Sela), oil reached 50.2% of the total energy matrix between 2005 and 2009.
The high consumption of fossil energy is an obstacle to progress in the green economy, said the secretary of the organization José Rivera Banuet, who stressed that "oil consumption in the region increased 10.2% in a year, while gas fell from 26% to 23.9% and as a novelty appears the use of firewood with 5.4% surpassing other types of energy."
At the national level, this study reveals that consumption in Ecuador is the one that shows the highest concentration of ACL oil with almost 90%; on the other hand, in Trinidad and Tobago 82% of the total energy used comes from natural gas, while Colombia covers 47% of its energy with mineral coal.
Likewise, in Barbados, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Suriname and Venezuela, oil is the dominant fuel in their respective energy matrices. This preponderance means that, together with coal, oil accounts for 80.1% of Latin America's energy matrix.
