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Caribbean Youth Get Their Say On Climate Change

May 24, 2016 Webmaster

WITH the launch of Caribbean Climate Trackers, the region’s youth now have the chance to become more vocal on climate change.

The youth-led writing initiative, as hub manager Dizzanne Billy describes it, is intended “to identify and support young climate actors from around the world”.

With its genesis as the Adopt-A-Negotiator initiative, the effort was rebranded in Paris in December and is looking to amplify the perspectives of youth on climate change.

To that end, Billy, who is also president of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network in Trinidad, said youths recently had two publishing windows April 5 to 22 and May 4 through 15 that have qualified them for writing fellowships.

The April 5 to 22 window saw them writing on why the world should be free from fossil fuels and the effects of fossil fuels on health and air pollution.

The May 4 to 15 window saw them writing on climate change, human rights and energy transition.

“Coming out of these two publishing windows, the goal was to select 15 young people to be a part of a paid writing fellowship, as well as to choose two persons to be a part of the Climate Trackers team to COP22 (the 22nd meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held later this year in Marrakech),” said Billy.

fellow selection

“So far, the 15 persons have been announced and we successfully have one person from the Caribbean Climate Trackers chosen to be a fellow.

“Her name is Amrita Dass and she’s from Trinidad and Tobago. The two persons for the team have not yet been announced, but should be this week,” she added.

The fellowships, which got underway earlier this month, covers subjects including:

• an introduction to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

• the annual Conference of the Parties and what it means;

• climate change and health;

• climate change, water and biodiversity;

• climate change, human rights and gender; and

• climate change variability in the Caribbean.

With the start of their operations in the region in March, the first order of business has been to address visibility while prompting support for their work.

Caribbean Climate Trackers therefore joined the Earth Day 2016 InstaMeet event, which ran from April 22 to 24 on the social networking service Instagram.

“In Trinidad, we met at the Botanic Gardens in Port-of-Spain, with young, spoken-word artistes performing about earth and the environment and

conservation. We also did some networking and speaking about climate change, [as well as] exchanged ideas on the Paris Agreement,” Billy told The Gleaner.

Their activities at the Botanic Gardens were shared on Instagram, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

Billy has urged Caribbean youth to join the movement.

“We need to stop operating in insularity. We need to find now the power that we have when we work together,” she said.

“Young people tend to feel that their opinion does not matter or that they are like a box that needs to be ticked off.

” Our opinion matter and the only way we can get it out there is by doing the work, and we will see the results after,” Billy added.

The Caribbean hub joins seven others from across the world Latin America, Brazil, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Balkans.

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

The Gleaner

Alternative Energy Electricity Government News

LETTER OF THE DAY – Time To Do Things Differently To Save Energy

March 8, 2013 jrobinson

THE EDITOR, Sir:

As many countries, including Jamaica, continue to baffle with extremely high energy costs, the debate continues to rage on to viable alternatives that will allow for a less costly and sustainable outcome that reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

As a youth advocate, this particular issue affects everyone, and especially our youth. I did some research to identify some tips that our Government and key stakeholders should take into consideration. These tips include:

Family planning:

Government News
Energy News – Mr. Paulwell said…

March 7, 2013 Webmaster

Mr. Paulwell said…

October 16, 2005
says he hopes to introduce net metering in Jamaica by the end of next month
“I’ve instructed the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) to finalise a
policy framework for net metering,” Sunday Observer.

– to date, no net metering

August 19, 2011
Amended and Restated All-Island Electric License 2011
Electricity Power Wheeling
Net Billing
October 19, 2012 Paulwell Blames JPS For Power-Wheeling Delay

– to date, no wheeling

February 12, 2012
has announced plans to set up a bipartisan energy council tasked with
achieving up to 62 per cent reduction in energy costs paid by households and
businesses – in 3 years

– to date, no reduction, no plans, no announcements

May 01, 2012
Net Billing
pilot programme limited to 2 years commencing no later than May 01, 2012 and
capped at an aggregate capacity of 2% of JPS

Alternative Energy Government News
Going For Growth: On Energy

February 25, 2013 jrobinson

A truck laden with cement at Carib Cement’s Rockfort plant. Cement manufacturers in Trinidad benefit from cheaper energy and thus gain better profit margins than their Jamaican counterparts which are more efficient but suffer from meteoric energy bills. – File

Densil Williams, Guest Columnist

It is no secret that Jamaica has a growth problem. For four decades, our average growth rate has hovered around 1%, while similar countries such as Singapore and Barbados grew in the rage of 6-8%. Their citizens now enjoy a higher standard of living as measured by their per-capita income than Jamaicans do.

Singapore has a per-capita income of more than US$43,000; Barbados’ per-capita income is around US$23,000, while Jamaica stands at around US$5,000. The disparity is even more alarming if one looks at the fact that these countries are all coming from roughly the same per-capita income of around US$390 in 1960. Indeed, for Jamaica to catch up, it has to grow its economy, full stop. Meandering along with 1% growth is not going to cut it.

However, it must be appreciated that economic growth is not an effortless task, especially for a small, open economy with so many structural problems and vulnerabilities. It is in this context that the discourse on growth in Jamaica has to take place. This article, and some of the others to come, will focus on various impediments to Jamaica’s growth over the last 50 years and also provide some insights into dealing with these challenges. The first issue that will be tackled is energy.

ENERGY AND GROWTH

The high cost of energy in Jamaica is clearly an inhibitor to economic growth. To grow the economy, Jamaica will have to increase the production of goods and services each year and sell these into the marketplace.

If people are buying Jamaican goods, the producers will be obliged to produce more. So, the greater the demand for a country’s goods and services, the greater the likelihood that the producers of those goods and services will increase their production. All other things being equal, the overall output of the country will be increased as well.

However, because of the high cost of energy, it is difficult for Jamaican goods to compete in the marketplace. Price competition, therefore, is not an option for Jamaican producers in the local and international marketplace. As such, Jamaican producers are at a disadvantage, as the majority of consumers are price sensitive. When they go to the stores, they will choose a product with a lower price, assuming all other factors remain constant.

While in the main it is accepted that Jamaican firms can be more efficient and cut wastage in order to reduce their cost structure and eventually compete at better prices, it is not always true that the high price of Jamaican products results from inefficiency at the firm level. The onerous burden that energy places on the cost structure of Jamaican firms cannot be overlooked when analysing price competitiveness in the marketplace.

Cement production is a good example of how high energy prices impact cost structure of an enterprise although the firm performs efficiently in other areas. To produce one ton of cement, Caribbean Cement Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Trinidad Cement Limited, uses roughly 102kWh of electricity, while in Trinidad, cement producers use 110kWh of electricity to produce the same ton of cement.

Carib Cement, however, pays US$0.30 per kilowatt-hour for electricity from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) – note, this is a preferential rate arrived at through negotiations – while cement producers in Trinidad pay US$0.03 per kilowatt-hour. As such, although the Jamaican plant is roughly 8% more efficient with the usage of electricity, it still faces a US$27 higher cost to produce the ton of cement.

The high price of energy in Jamaica is clearly a deterrent to increased production and, by extension, the future growth of the economy.

THE SOLUTION MIX

There will be no single solution to deal with the high cost of energy in Jamaica. What we all agree on is that we must reduce the exorbitant cost that consumers have to pay for this vital resource. For sure, there has to be greater efficiency on the part of the JPS in providing energy to its consumers. Its heat rate must be improved, similar to those of the private power producers; its system loss has to be improved; and most important, it has to use the most efficient technology to produce electricity for its consumers.

Indeed, the Energy Think Tank at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in its latest publication in the

Government News
EDITORIAL – Paulwell, Mas And The Energy Crisis

February 11, 2013 jrobinson

As you read this, Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica’s energy minister, is likely playing Mas in Trinidad at its annual carnival. Jamaicans may be minded to say that he is playing something else.

People here are also likely to conclude that the energy minister’s sojourn to Trinidad, and whatever he may be getting up to in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Arima, Diego Martin, or wherever, also says something about Mr Paulwell’s sense for priorities. That is a matter on which we would like to hear the view of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

First, though, we must make clear that this newspaper does not begrudge Mr Paulwell, or anyone else, his right to annual holidays. Nor would we normally care should any Jamaican decide to jet off to Port-of-Spain to join a carnival band, swig rum and dance up a storm at the Savannah. Which, of course, is not a claim we make of Mr Paulwell, not withstanding our unease at his absence from Jamaica at this time.

Here is the context. Jamaica faces not merely a crisis, but an energy emergency. Our sense, though, is that no one in the Government, including the portfolio minister, seems to grasp either the depth or the immediacy of the problem – at least not sufficiently for it to impinge on the bacchanal.

In Trinidad and Tobago, where the music of ‘Despas’, Destra, Machel and others may be echoing in Mr Paulwell’s head, firms pay around US$0.05 per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The Trinidadians have oil and gas and enjoy government subsidies on their power bill.

In energy-deficient Jamaica, we pay upwards of US$0.41 per kilowatt-hour for electricity, which is a significant input in production and a high price which helps to make Jamaican firms uncompetitive. Indeed, over the past decade and a half, several plants that built things in Jamaica have migrated in favour of Trinidad, with which we run a trade deficit of nearly US$1 billion.

ENERGY WAFFLE

For more than a decade, Jamaican administrations have waffled and procrastinated over an energy policy to deliver cheaper electricity prices. Recently, under Mr Paulwell’s watch, there has been the final slow-motion collapse of a project that was to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the fuel of choice and to deliver electricity at between a 33 and 40 per cent below current prices.

Last week, for instance, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) rescinded the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) position as the preferred bidder on a 360-megawatt, gas-fired power plant because the light and power company missed deadlines to demonstrate that it could meet the benchmark price. The problem is that JPS, having assumed the effort to source the fuel after the Government backed out, has been unable to find LNG cheap enough for the project to make sense at the target price.

Minister Paulwell claimed to have been blindsided by the OUR actions, suggesting that he was in favour of giving JPS additional time, without the continued financial burden of a performance bond, to rescue the deal. The upshot has been a state of confusion, in the Government and elsewhere, over energy. The situation is in need of a steady and steadying hand.

In the midst of this situation, Mr Paulwell chose carnival – the kind of stuff that would make Les Green‘s day.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.

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Government JPS News
St Lucia Opposition Says No To PetroCaribe

February 1, 2013 Webmaster

Opposition Leader Stephenson King is calling on the St Lucia govern-ment not to join the Venezuelan oil initiative, PetroCaribe, saying it could bring the island into further debt.

“Let’s not get involved in this matter. This is not one for the government as it’s not a situation where fuel is being sold to the country at a cheaper rate. The fuel is being sold at the very rate that we are currently purchasing it from Trinidad or elsewhere,” King said.

Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony said plans were announced to expand the PetroCaribe pro-gramme under which several Caribbean countries have so far benefited from an estimated US$800 million in investments.

Under the initiative launched in 2005, countries receive oil from Venezuela on concessionary terms, and although St Lucia was among regional countries that signed the accord it has not benefited from the initiative.

Anthony said he has instructed his energy minister to prepare formal documentation for Cabinet to consider the matter.

– CMC

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Read more:

Government JPS News
St Lucia Opposition Says No To PetroCaribe

February 1, 2013 jrobinson

Opposition Leader Stephenson King is calling on the St Lucia govern-ment not to join the Venezuelan oil initiative, PetroCaribe, saying it could bring the island into further debt.

“Let’s not get involved in this matter. This is not one for the government as it’s not a situation where fuel is being sold to the country at a cheaper rate. The fuel is being sold at the very rate that we are currently purchasing it from Trinidad or elsewhere,” King said.

Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony said plans were announced to expand the PetroCaribe pro-gramme under which several Caribbean countries have so far benefited from an estimated US$800 million in investments.

Under the initiative launched in 2005, countries receive oil from Venezuela on concessionary terms, and although St Lucia was among regional countries that signed the accord it has not benefited from the initiative.

Anthony said he has instructed his energy minister to prepare formal documentation for Cabinet to consider the matter.

– CMC

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News
Don’t ignore the Leucaena project

January 3, 2013 jrobinson

A perfect example of the shortage of vision affecting Caricom governments is their dropping of the ball on the Leucaena project in the early 1980s.

Ambassador Byron Blake, former Caricom assistant secretary general, reminded us of that last month during a sitting of the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.

For those who missed it, the Leucaena project was established in response to the energy crisis of the late 1970s. Essentially a group of scientists and energy experts from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, and St Lucia started producing energy as well as animal feed from the Leucaena plant, which is referred to in some parts of the world as the ‘miracle tree’ and in Jamaica as the ‘wild tamarind’.

The initiative received support from colleague scientists in the region as well as from Caribbean governments and several international donor organisations.

At the height of the project, companies such as Enerplan Limited

Government LNG News
Not Cheap Enough – Gov’t Still Searching For Other Energy Source As LNG Remains Too Costly

November 30, 2012 Webmaster

Government LNG News
Jamaican manufacturers demand answers on LNG

November 30, 2012 jrobinson

THE Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) said it is “perturbed” that Jamaica could possibly abandon its pursuit of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) deal with Trinidad & Tobago.

In 2004, Trinidad and Jamaica agreed on an arrangement that would have seen the Caribbean neighbour supplying some 1.1 million tonnes of LNG per year into Jamaica, beginning in 2009. However, the deal fell through after Trinidad pulled out, citing the unavailability of the product as a result of existing contractual arrangements and problems over the development of a new gas field they share with Venezuela.

Following reports that Trinidad made a major natural gas discovery off the island’s south-east coast, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell was questioned in Parliament this week whether Government would step up the pressure on the twin-island republic to honour the LNG agreement. However, Paulwell indicated that discussions with Trinidad had not been very positive and reportedly said that Jamaica could be abandoning the deal as a result.

However, this has peeved the JMA, which noted that it has been advocating for years for the supply of LNG from Trinidad at preferential prices to create a level playing field for Jamaica’s manufacturing sector.

“The supply of LNG from Trinidad was a key strategy in the provision of a cheaper source of energy from the Jamaica Public Service. In light of talks that Jamaica may no longer be pursuing LNG from Trinidad, the JMA is demanding answers from the Government. Is it a done deal?” asked the JMA, noting that the group has been in discussions with three different industry ministers

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