Plans for the liberalisation of
Governor-General, His Excellency, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, has said that the Government will be redoubling its efforts to resolve the country
Phillp Paulwell, minister of science, technology, energy & mining.
Steven Jackson,
A major plan has been unveiled aimed at reducing the Government’s massive electricity bill.
Under a 20 million US dollar project supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, energy saving measures will be implemented at all Government Ministries, agencies and departments.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/plan-reduce-government%E2%80%99s-electricity-bill
Hillary Alexander (right), permanent secretary in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, shares a joke with Richard Brewster (left), project manager of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme, and Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona, during the launch of the programme at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston yesterday. – Ian Allen/Photographer
Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell has warned that government agencies and ministries that do not cut their energy bills will feel it in their pockets.
“With your current consumption as your benchmark, please be advised that starting today, your energy cost must only go down. If you increase consumption, … you can expect a negative impact on your overall budgetary allocation,” he said, quickly adding that he was speaking with the firm authority of the finance minister.
Paulwell was addressing the launch of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme, which is the end product of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Technical Assistance (EECTA) agreement first signed in 2009 between the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank. The programme has a total cost of US$20 million and seeks to reduce energy consumption in the public sector. Paulwell reeled off staggering figures of Jamaica’s energy crisis.
“Some 90 per cent of Jamaica’s energy is supplied by imported petroleum. Next to debt servicing, energy consumes the largest amount of our foreign-exchange earnings,” he said.
Among other data, the EECTA collected analysis of government facilities’ energy consumption and conservation measures. An audit of Jamaica’s energy situation showed the Government used more than 411 gigawatt hours annually, more than 10 per cent of total electricity consumed in Jamaica.
Significant increase
“The total GOJ bill for electricity has moved from about J$560 million in January 2009 to the current figure of nearly J$1.2 billion at February 2012. That’s an increase of more than half a billion dollars or some 108 per cent. This increase is annualised at J$7.2 billion. This … spells crisis,” he said.
He implored heads of agencies, ministries and other public-sector institutions to examine the findings of the audit report and to determine their next step. He noted the Government had access to the electricity bills of every government agency and would be monitoring usage. He challenged ministers and permanent secretaries, especially, to develop and implement an energy-efficiency road map and to set targets for their energy consumption.
“Each year, central government will issue an energy allocation, and just as there is pressure to stay within the Budget, we will apply pressure to have all of the ministries stay within the energy allocation.”
Improving efficiency
Paulwell noted that the programme would specifically deal with replacing incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lighting systems with LED fittings, and improving the insulation and seeding of building envelopes to reduce heat loading and air-conditioning requirements. There will also be the replacement of old air-conditioning systems for more modern, efficient ones.
“(We will also be) implementing a system for monitoring and evaluating to ensure the sustainability of the initiative and to identify and train, within all our ministries, teams of energy wardens … to oversee the gains of the programme and that the gains are achieved.”
Another component of the programme is an education-awareness initiative to sensitise the public and private sectors regarding energy efficiency (EE) and energy conservation (EC) cost and benefits. There will also be workshops and seminars for stakeholders on EE and EC procurement and management. Paulwell also noted that apart from the savings to the country’s energy bill, the programme would also provide jobs.
“This programme will employ energy auditors, engineers, architects, as well as suppliers of air conditioning and energy-efficient fixtures to install over 5,000 air-conditioning units islandwide and over 100,000 lighting fixtures. This is sure to have a ripple effect on the entire economy.”
The continued rise in the cost of oil on the international market has triggered increases in the cost of locally produced energy, which has had a negative
JAMAICA’S oil import bill hit US$2.4 billion in 2011, reflecting a 54 per cent increase over the previous year.
Last year
The corporate headquarters of Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston.
Combustion turbines or diesel engines?
Below is JPS’ Response to the article ‘Shock Treatment: Can JPS do more to reduce energy cost?’ by Dr Densil Williams (published in
Let’s get serious about reducing Jamaica’s dependency on oil. Photovoltaics (the use of solar panels to create electricity) is one way to go at this time but there are simple things we must and can do before we get there. Solar water heaters, LED bulbs and inverter refrigerators would have a positive effect on the national economy.
For instance, if 50,000 homes used 2000 watt electric heaters (about a 20 gallon system) for 90 minutes per day for 5 years, the electricity consumed in five years would be about 270-million kilowatts (approx. J$10 billion in electricity costs) and this would require about 370,000 barrels of oil (about J$3.3billion) to produce – or about one and one-half barrels of oil per household per year. Oil costs about US$100 per barrel these days and a 40 gallon solar water heater costs about J$95,000 which paints a clear picture.
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Solar panels, a possible way for Jamaica to reduce its energy bill. |
The electric heater used in this example would cost you about J$3,600 each month to run and so, depending on the cost of money, repayment would be about 3 to 4 years.
Whenever a country reduces its “carbon footprint” i.e. reduces the amount of carbon dioxide it generates by burning oil the resultant savings may be a saleable commodity. If that country’s emissions fall below a set quota the unused amount can be sold as carbon credits which can be purchased, privately or on the open market, by entities whose operation generate in excess of their own allotment.
Solar water heaters
All of this is by international convention. My scenario of 50,000 homes replacing electric water heaters with solar water heaters would, over five years reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by about 310,000 tons and this could potentially be sold for about J$540 million.
Imagine if the Government came up with a J$4 billion programme to supply and install 50,000 solar water heaters to replace electric heaters. The reduced oil bill plus carbon credit sales would accrue to about J$3.8 billion to the nation over five years. That is not the end of it. There would be the benefit of job creation (for installation) and taxation of income from the workers involved. It would seem that the short pay-back time for this programme is deserving of consideration.
The Government is aware of the advantages in promoting the use of solar water heaters and the NHT has a very commendable programme of lending up to J$250,000 for 5 years at 3 per cent provided there is a title for the property and the borrower is a current contributor. For the solar water used in this scenario the monthly payment would be less than the savings on the electricity bill! So there is every reason to take advantage of this facility for personal and national reasons. Due to the national advantage, however, the NHT should perhaps consider lending to others and not only current contributors.
LED bulbs
|LED bulbs are currently the most efficient bulbs on the market today. A 5-watt LED bulb is equivalent to a 16W fluorescent bulb (CFL) or a 70W incandescent light. A household using ten 5W LEDs for an average of five hours per day will incur a monthly “light” bill of about J$300 per month for these bulbs. (Fluorescent bulbs to provide the same lighting would cost about J$900 per month.) If this were applied to 50,000 households over five years the LEDs compared with CFLs would save J$600 milllion of oil imports and allow some J$100 million in carbon credit. The five hundred thousand 5W bulbs would cost about J$550 million and each bulb should last for over ten years. This could likely be a feasible project for Government funding. Yes, there was a light bulb scandal before but this does not mean that we must not try again – we must learn from the past. LED bulbs are too cost-efficient to ignore.
One or two 100-watt solar panels can supply all the electricity for LED lighting for a middle class home and further increase the savings in oil and income from carbon credits. Perhaps the local electrical code should consider mandating that lights to be on a sub-panel for easy of separation of lights from the mains supply so that a Solar panel can be easily be used for lighting with mains power as back-up.
If your fridge is about ten years old chances are that you are using twice as much energy as a modern fridge. The most modern energy-efficient fridge – the inverter fridge – uses about 40 per cent of the power of other modern refrigerators. Again, continuing my scenario let’s look at 50,000 inverter fridges. The oil plus carbon credits saved over five years would be as much as J$700 million compared to other modern fridges. Remember that this refers to modern refrigerators and that the savings could easily be twice as much depending on the age and type or refrigerator. So when it is time to replace a fridge this is what you should take into account. An inverter fridge is most cost effective if you supply your own electricity because you can use less panels in your photovoltaic system.
Solar panels
Consider the situation if we go all the way and put 50,000 houses fully off-grid – i.e. supplying their own electricity by solar panels. The cost for the systems would be approximately J$28 billion. Solar panels are now quite cost effective, but batteries are not as economical. That hurdle can be overcome by developing a local industry. Locals are getting into the Lead/Acid battery industry and are targeting the deep cycle battery market. Over a 5 year horizon these systems could save some J$14 billion in oil and carbon credits. This suggests a 10 year payback (oil at US$100/barrel) but how many expect that price to hold for ten years? World oil has peaked – i.e. most readily accessible oil is used up and current supplies are difficult to mine.
Where does all this take us?
Airlift has impacted the shipping business; post offices have scaled down due to the use of email; camera films sales have crashed due to digital cameras; cellular telephony has all but knocked out landline telephony; cable television has reduced movie box office sales; answering machines and computers and automation have put people out of work; and the list goes on and on, and, somewhere, in the not too distant future, the giant power companies will give ground to individual power production. Up until recently (if not still so) Bermuda, an island with near zero unemployment and good financial statistics did not have piped water and instead, homes store roof run off under the building. I now see electricity heading in the general direction of using the top of the building. Yes, Jamaica was one of the first countries in the world to have mains electricity but let us not be the last to recognize the inevitable changes.
So if we spend so much less on oil, even if our earnings remain stagnant, do we get growth? Minister of Energy, Philip Paulwell is well aware of all that is going on in the world of energy and we expect him to guide us through the process of change as he did for telecommunications.
Next time let’s look closer at air conditioning and motor cars and start with the fact that a small conventional automobile produces as much carbon as a small family!
Robert Evans is a Civil Engineer.
Read more:
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is willing to consider coal as an alternative fuel source for electricity generation, but it first wants to execute plans to develop the LNG plant to which the Government finally gave the green light just over a week ago.
A University of the West Indies think tank has conducted research which shows that LNG was a less expensive option to oil, but a more expensive alternative to coal-generated energy, which they found was the most efficient source in powering a light bulb.
JPS chief executive officer Kelly Tomblin – a 25-year veteran of the utilities business in the United States and other markets and who took up the position at the light and power supplier three weeks ago – said the company and its shareholders were interested in investing in any long term solution for Jamaica, including coal.
However: “As an outsider, if I look to where we are, I would encourage us to execute on the plans that we’ve all agreed to as a first step,” Tomblin said.
“We believe that long-term fuel diversity is a number one issue,” Tomblin told the