WE ENDORSE the initiative by the Government to distribute, free of cost, an estimated four million energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs as part of a broader policy of enhancing energy efficiency and saving the country money.
Indeed, Jamaica, which imports over 90 per cent of its energy needs, mostly in the form of oil, is one of the countries that has failed to make substantial efficiency gains in energy consumption despite the spiralling cost for oil over the past three decades.
For example, between the first oil shock of the 1970s and the 1990s, developed countries, in general, made efficiency gains of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent in terms of energy consumed per dollar of output. In Jamaica's case the gain was in the low double digit, and almost all of that was accounted for in the bauxite/alumina sector where the improvement was almost a third. In fact, this gain is one of the factors that contributed to the movement of Jamaica from near the bottom of the pile to the mid range of countries as a competitive producer of alumina, which helped to save the industry.
In general, though, we have consumed energy almost with abandon, which shows in the country's oil bill that last year reached US$1.33 billion, an increase of 41 per cent over the previous year. Clearly, we cannot continue like this, Mr Hugo Chavez's generosity notwithstanding. In that regard, it is good to see the administration is stirring itself out of its languor and appears to be thinking seriously about energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy. Indeed, an energy green paper is on the table and the Government has put it before a parliamentary committee and has invited comment.
Many people, however, will remain cynical, having grown from experience not to trust such stirrings. They have been there before.
Nonetheless, the fluorescent initiative is, on the face of it, a good one, but there is an issue.
These bulbs which, ironically, are gifts from Cuba, manufactured in China by a U.S. company, have an estimated retail value of over $2 billion. The retail market for energy-saving lights are not yet up to that value, but many private sector firms do in fact sell such fixtures. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the administration did not sort out how its initiative would affect these firms before moving ahead. For there is a real issue of what is to become of the inventories held by these firms in the face of the Government's give away.
Hopefully, the administration will seek to deal with this and other related matters before it moves on, no matter how tempted it and the Energy Minister, Mr Phillip Paulwell, might be tempted to don the clothes of Santa Claus early in the summer.
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