Renewable energy is overrated in Jamaica and here is why

With every crises there is opportunities and people who are out there willing to sell you the next best thing their is to solve the “perceived” problem that you may think you have.

The biggest “thing” in Jamaica today, ( apart from gays) is the high cost of energy and the effect it is having on industrial, commercial and householders.

In the papers, on the televisions and on the internet, every Tom, Dick and Harry is offering the consumer a renewable energy solution, which is being said will solve your energy problem and we all need to move in this direction, but will that be the case.

I have said it before that Jamaica have a energy utilization problem, by that I mean we do not use energy efficiently , resulting in significant waste which helps to push up our energy cost on a daily, monthly and annual basis.

The last step in lowering your energy cost is installation of a renewable energy system, be that Photovoltaics or Wind Turbines, but in Jamaica, many of us start at this point.

Why am I suggesting that this is the very last step you should take as you seek to lower your energy cost, well here it is.

It has been found that consumers can reduce their energy consumption by up to 20% by doing simple things that do not require any significant capital expenditure.

Cost may not necessarily drop by 20%, given our constantly changing exchange rate and fuel prices, but it should lower your energy cost.

The first step folks must be that we take steps to understand how we are consuming or wasting energy, then next step is to make changes to conserve energy and use energy more efficiently.

Once we have done all the above and reduced our consumption,  its only at that point should we move to take on any capital investment in a renewables energy project.

Now the sales man who wants to sell you a system is not likely to tell you this, since he wants to sell you the largest system you can afford so he can make a killing, while had you spend next to nothing and and drop your energy consumption, you could have purchase a smaller system and saved significant cost.

So what I am essentially saying is do all the other stuff first and when you are done, that is the time you move to make any investment in renewables to improve your savings.