The Association Libanaise pour la Maitrise de l’Energie au Liban (ALME) has just published its latest report on energy in Lebanon for 1999.
This year again, Lebanon imported almost the totality of its needs. The structure of imports was as follows: diesel oil (35 percent), fuel-oil (27 percent), gas (26 percent), GPL (3 percent), engine fuel (2.5 percent). Renewable energies remained marginal despite an environment favorable to their development.
Consumption of primary and final energy per capita is stable (1/5th of the European Union’s consumption per capita), however, the total bill increased by 30 percent compared to 1998, due to the increase in the oil prices. The import bill rose to $809 million, the taxes collected by the State reached $250 million.
In the absence of an efficient fight against pollution, resulting from the combustion of 5 million tons of hydrocarbons and 200,000 tons of coal, this consumption led to the emission of 4,000 tons of atmospheric pollutants, 132,000 tons of sulfur, and 4.3 million tons of carbon dioxide.
