* President says Russia lags world in energy efficiency

* Russia wastes enough energy to power France for year

By Alexei Anishchuk

MOSCOW, July 29 (Reuters) - Russia, the world's biggest
energy producer, wastes $38.5 billion worth of heat a year due
to poorly insulated buildings, President Dmitry Medvedev said on
Thursday as he kicked off a campaign for energy efficiency.

Russia wastes enough energy annually to power France for a
year, and reducing wasteful domestic consumption could allow
Russia to boost the competitiveness of its industry and export
more oil and gas abroad, according to the World Bank.

Medvedev said Russia lagged the rest of the world in energy
efficiency despite its famously harsh winters. He ordered
officials to improve building insulation and make the crumbling
Soviet-era city heating systems more efficient.

"Our country is an outsider when it comes to world ratings
of the heat efficiency of buildings," Medvedev told a meeting of
senior Kremlin and government officials.

"This is a cumulative problem connected with dilapidated
buildings and technology which was being used 30, 40 or 50 years
ago, but we need to overcome this backwardness," he said.

"Investment in this sector could save almost 70 million
tonnes of oil equivalent a year," Medvedev said. At current
market prices, 70 million tonnes of oil is worth $38.5 billion.

Russia is the world's biggest oil and gas producer but
officials say cheap, government-capped domestic energy prices
have sapped the motivation to conserve energy.

Medvedev, who was sworn in as president in May 2008, has
called for modernising Russia's economy to reduce dependence on
the fluctuations of world prices for oil and gas, which make up
65 percent of Russia's exports.

Speaking to officials about the reform of the education,
agriculture, housing and health sectors, Medvedev said he was
tired of hearing fluffy ideas and wanted concrete proposals.

"Colleagues, I am really sick to death of reports saying the
same thing over and over again," he said.

"The plans are good but we need to talk about the problems,"
Medvedev said, adding that energy efficiency was a top priority.

The so-called national projects, which Medvedev was tasked
with running in 2005 by then President Vladimir Putin, are aimed
at upgrading key sectors with a wave of state spending.

Russia will spend 1.4 trillion roubles ($46 billion) over
the next three years on the housing, healthcare and education
projects, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov told Medvedev.

He said the health reforms -- which included improving
hospital equipment, improving screening and increasing spending
-- had so far helped raise Russia's birth rate by 21 percent
and cut the death rate had fallen by 12 percent.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Mark Heinrich)