An international energy management specialist has told a local workshop organised by the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) that the business sector must take energy management to the very top of the totem pole if it is to prosper.
“Energy has to be managed in the same way as finance, production and other aspects of business,” Guyanese-born energy specialist Dr Carl Duncan told the July 4 workshop titled ‘Measuring for Efficient Energy Management’ held at the Red House in Kingston.
The call for more efficient energy management comes amidst increasing concerns being expressed by the local private sector, particularly the manufacturing sector, regarding the high cost of energy as a proportion of their operating costs. Duncan is one of two international consultants recruited by the GMSA to execute a Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF)/GMSA-funded energy efficiency awareness and implementation project in Guyana. He told the workshop that across the region there is information available that can help the business community understand various simple ways of monitoring and reducing energy usage, and harmonising conventional electricity generation systems with renewable energy sources. “What seems to be lacking is the commitment from leaders in the public and private sectors to embrace conservation, employ renewable sources, and implement wide ranging education programmes that highlight the real monetary benefits,” he told the GMSA workshop. However, according to Dr Duncan the “good news” is that some Caricom countries including Jamaica, Barbados and some countries in the Eastern Caribbean have developed policy frameworks for energy management which are awaiting official
ratification.
Protracted power supply challenges have seriously undermined the growth of the country’s manufacturing sector and compelled several key local manufacturing entities to decouple their operations from an inefficient national grid and install independent electricity generating systems. Dr Duncan told the workshop that through the utilisation of energy measuring equipment local business houses would better position themselves to manage energy consumption and develop patterns aimed at conservation.
According to Dr Duncan, production priorities have traditionally taken precedence over most other operational aspects of business enterprises though the positive effects on the “bottom line” of companies that take energy management seriously has become increasingly apparent.
The GMSA energy conservation initiative involves the attachment of the consultants to local “pilot companies” where on-the-job training sessions in energy management for engineering and finance operatives are conducted. According to the GMSA, the consultants have also made a number of “significant recommendations” to the pilot companies for changes in equipment and adjustments to existing fuel usage regimes after surveying the facilities and reviewing data gathered by the measuring instruments.
Meanwhile, the GMSA says that initial calculations suggest that the pilot companies were likely to save at least five per cent of their annual energy costs.
Since 2003, Duncan has been executing projects in the Utilities and Corrugated Box Industries in St Lucia, Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados. He also plays a key role in the regulatory commissions in the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica where he resides.
The first phase of the energy conservation project which concluded in May this year was conducted by Jamaican energy specialist Eaton Haughton.
