CAIRO: The Green Embassy initiative is part of a global campaign initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with participation of Danish missions worldwide. You can see the figures of the accumulated KW/HR consumption for 2008-2010 below. Since the launch of its Green Embassy campaign in the beginning of 2009, the Embassy has succeeded in reducing its electricity consumption by 15 percent compared to its consumption in 2008, and if we compare the consumption for 2010 (first five months) with 2008 the change will be 52% and 39% if compared to 2009. The Green Embassy initiative was initiated by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the following goals: 1. To save energy for the benefit of the energy resources, climate and environment. 2. To help set an example at the local level to inspire and illustrate to other players in these sectors 3. To set a positive example by bringing greater credibility and impact to the embassy's work with environment, energy and climate, including the COP-15 preparations, public diplomacy efforts, export and investment promotion etc. 4. To prove that everyone can make a difference and help the environment by very small efforts 5. To raise awareness of global warming and climate change. The Embassy joined the initiative in January 2009 by signing an agreement with the Electricity Trust Fund of Denmark. In the agreement between the Embassy in Cairo and the Trust Fund, the Embassy laid down its goal for electricity consumption reduction for the period of 2009-2011. The Trust Fund guides the Embassy during the agreement period in order that it reaches its goal. The Embassy committed itself to a reduction of a yearly consumption of 1.5%, i.e. by 4.5% by the end of 2011. The results after the first year of the Green Embassy campaign far exceeded our most optimistic expectations. In actual figures 78.956 KW/h were consumed from January to December 2009 compared to 92.656 KW/h consumed in 2008, representing a reduction of 15%. These encouraging results have been achieved by replacing all the light bulbs inside and out by new energy saving or led bulbs, sensors have been added to lights in corridors, energy saving fridge, freezer, washing machine and dishwasher have been purchased. The Embassy staff has been caught up in the efforts to be energy conscious, to turn off their computer equipment, the lights, the air-conditioning and so on before leaving the office at the end of the day. Additional steps to further reduce the Embassy's consumption of electricity are now being worked out in order to ensure further reductions in its energy consumption.
