Belgrade, Aug 31 (IANS): The Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia has urged the country's institutions, industry and the people to reduce their energy consumption and consider independent electricity production from renewable sources.

The Ministry on Tuesday said that the institutions and industry should save energy by turning off street lights and decorative lights, improve the energy efficiency of buildings, including by installing solar panels, and increase their renewable energy generation capacities.

Homes are advised to use home appliances more rationally and consider producing energy themselves from renewable sources, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The energy and economic crisis in the European markets, caused firstly by increased demand in the post-Covid period and then by the conflict in Ukraine and the geopolitical turmoil at the global level that these events have led to, requires each country to invest additional financial resources to ensure energy security and stability," the Ministry added.

It said that Serbia's daily electricity consumption is around 90 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the summer period and 120 GWh per day in the winter period.

"Possible savings in the consumption of electricity and thermal energy represent an important source of strengthening energy security and reducing costs... It is estimated that more than 15 per cent of the total daily electricity consumption in the Republic of Serbia can be saved. On an annual level, this amounts to 5,300 GWh out of a total of 33,000 GWh consumed. In other words, there would be no need for imports," it added.