DEVELOPING ENERGY STATISTICS. COMPARISON OF GALICIAN ENERGY BALANCE WITH OTHER AUTONOMOUS REGIONS

Energy is essential for economic development and the ability to maintain current living standards. The increase in energy demand means that there is growing concern about (i) the current patterns of production and consumption, (ii) the need to move towards a sustainable energy system and (iii) the impact that the use of fossil fuels have on the environment. All of this implies that analyzing the energy sector situation using available comparable information is essential The United Nations Statistical Commission considered crucial this issue after the energy crisis of 1970's. It gave it a high priority within its work program and agreed to use the Energy Balance (BE) as a key tool for understanding and analyzing the energy performance and their interrelationships with the economy. This article describes the results of carrying out an Energy Balance, according to the recommendations made by the International Energy Agency and Eurostat (2004), in order to harmonize the international energy statistics. In addition, it compares the contents of the publication “Energy Balance of Galicia”, developed by the Energy Institute of Galicia (Inega) with those publications generated by other Autonomous regions. This analysis shows that there is a lack of uniformity in the development of energy statistics in Spain. This phenomenon has also been observed internationally.