Above: Jamaican Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell (JIS Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica has begun implementing a $13.5 million USD programme aimed at reducing the government’s energy costs.

Work has already started on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme, a two-year initiative led by project manager Richard Gordon.

“First, we need to establish some benchmarks, so that we can sustain what measures are being implemented and monitor the effectiveness of the programme,” Gordon said. “The first thing we are doing is establishing a database of the electrical bills and consumption for all the public sector entities.”

Part of the plan involves physical changes, such as improving the efficiency of cooling in buildings, along with a change in lighting.

For those portions, bids should be in “by the end of the year,” he said.

“Some, we have already started,” he said. “Like the improvement on some of the buildings, such as the Office of the Prime Minister.”

Jamaica’s government has also been performing audits on certain government buildings to determine which consume the most energy.

Much of Jamaica’s government’s energy costs are run up from air conditioning and lighting, according to Gordon.

In May, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell said the country’s government could potentially lower budgetary allocations for governmental departments whose energy bills go up.