Above: Half Moon in Jamaica

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A new programme aimed at helping Caribbean hotels go green officially launched in Jamaica last week.

The Caribbean Hotel Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action Advanced Programme (CHENACT AP), which has already been piloted in Barbados, will be implemented in Jamaica and the Bahamas by the end of this year.

According to Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, smaller hotels in Barbados have seen electricity savings from between 19.9 percent and 26.3 percent since the programme began in that country.

“I anticipate that CHENACT AP will result in the development of a clean energy industry in Jamaica that will create opportunities for employment and revenue earnings and greater awareness of and appreciation for energy efficiency and renewable energy, among hotel workers and the general public, that can be employed in their homes,” he said this week.

CHENACT AP is being implemented by the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Barbados piloted the project between December 2009 and October 2010.

The initiative, which launched in Kingston on Feb. 20, will be targeting hotels with less than 400 rooms.

“I anticipate the positive impacts of (the project), which will redound to your bottom-line, the energy import bill, and Jamaica’s economic standing,” Paulwell told hoteliers at a conference at the Half Moon hotel this week.