Jamaican PM..The New Energy-Saving Santa?

Solar Panel to scale.
Originally uploaded by TaranRampersad

Seems like Jamaica has its newest Santa!

Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, gave his inaugural speech in Parliament, yesterday...

And he did not disappoint!

Not only was he clear re the government's intention to license casino gambling, he was clear that there would be concerted efforts by the government of Jamaica to ensure a 15% reduction in energy consumption for this fiscal year.

( Jamaica's oil bill is USD $2.5 billion/year and is projected to reach US $3 billion by year end.)

As such, he made public, the following bag of goodies (in true Santa form) for businesses and individuals,  who will contribute to this reduction in energy usage:

If you intend to import appliances into Jamaica...go for those with the Energy Save/Energy Star mark...this is guaranteed to bring you a 20% reduction in custom fees.

There will also be incentives for home-owners whose homes are energy-efficient and utilize solar energy.

The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) is to provide loans to small businesses who enact renewable energy projects. This will be done through small business credit institutions and micro-finance institutions. The loans will be available for a period of six (6) years, at an annual interest rate of 10%.

Prime Minster Golding also stated that overarching goal of the government is to reduce Jamaica's dependence on oil, in the long term.

Thus the government welcomes projects that utilize solar, hydro, wind and biofuels…and that will reduce Jamaica's energy consumption by 15%.

To this end, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica's Wigton Wind farm will be upgraded to produce 100 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity by 2012. (It currently produces only 5 MW.)

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Well friends, this is certainly great news for businesses and households, alike!

Please remember,however, that for us to really benefit from this, we should ensure that we ready ourselves to take advantage of these bag of goodies...by making the necessary preparations from now!

The addendum to the existing Energy Policy, to reflect these initiatives, will be added in May.

[The inset picture above shows the size of a typical solar panel in relation to that of a Trinidad and Tobago (TT) dollar bill.]

Gillian

Source:

Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding's, Inaugural Parliamentary Speech, via Television Jamaica, April 22, 2008