Residential energy transition and thermal efficiency in an arid environment of northeast Patagonia, Argentina

Abstract

We have studied changes in energy use and practices due to a program which partially replaced firewood by fossil fuels. The program has been running for nearly five years in rural dwellings in Patagonia Argentina, where limited provision of fuelwood and social vulnerability are found. As a case study we focused on the community of Laguna Blanca, Province of Río Negro, located in the Patagonian steppe. Dwellings are one-family houses which were built with no energy efficiency measures, exposing reinforced concrete structures, fired-clay bricks, metal roofs and single-glass windows to severe weather. Since 2014, a government program fully subsidized the refilling of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) to vulnerable rural communities, which were provided with a 200-kg gas tank and a gas heater in each household. An expected decrease in the use of fuelwood was observed, along with a very high consumption of LPG (around 650 kWh/m2 year), which can be for the first time assessed due to the known amount of LPG provided. The lack of energy efficiency policies led to very high operational costs and environmental impacts. Based on the dwellings' characteristics, we have also found that the LPG subsidies saved in 2.2 years would return the investment for a thermal insulation that would reduce 50% the gas consumption and substantially improve comfort.