Solar
power- the way out for energy consumers
By
Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
07 16 07
The high cost of producing and retailing electrical
energy and with the long-term effects electrical
power will have on global warming, Trinidadian
consumers should begin to use alternative sources
of power, says energy consultant Ian Boon.
Boon said consumers will have the choice of using
solar power or in the case of offshore operations
companies can look at the possibility of using
wind power.
Boon is not the only person with serious concerns
about the damage that is being inflicted on the
environment.
Recently,
President George Maxwell Richards expressed the
view that the environment was "in a very
deep crisis."
He
said the quality of the environment affected
the lives of everyone and "improving the
environment is the responsibility of us all."
Addressing
the chartering of the new Rotary Club of Felicity/Charlieville,
at Gaston Court, Chaguanas,
Richards said, "It is not the task just for
Government, although they have a pivotal role to
play and should contribute to protecting and improving
the environment which is one of the most urgent
tasks facing the world today."
Speaking
specifically on the challenges facing the environment,
he said, "The Caribbean is
very vulnerable to the hazards of the global pattern
of energy consumption and the long-term dangers."
Richards said the increase in the use of fossil
fuels such as coal, petroleum and gas was not sustainable.
He
said the burning of fossil fuel resulted in the
emission of carbon dioxide. "About 80
per cent of all the climate warming is caused by
emissions of carbon dioxide," said Richards,
a qualified chemical engineer and former principal
of the University of the West Indies at St Augustine.
Is there an answer to the problem?
Richards
believes that the answer lies in Caribbean countries
making wider use of solar and wind energy
and other non-conventional sources" such as
tidal and waves energy."
While Boon agrees that solar energy could be used
for domestic power supplies and wind energy in
offshore operations, he believes that tidal and
waves energy might be an overambitious thought
at this time.
"Already, there are about some 40 known homes
in Trinidad that are using solar energy for supplying
hot water, and in areas where energy is not being
supplied by T&TEC there are at least 70 homes," Boon
said.
He
noted: "The solar system could be expanded
if Government removed the duty and VAT on the imported
equipment needed to expand the industry."
Richards appeal to Caribbean countries to widen
the use of solar and wind energy could be construed
as a start in the use of non-conventional sources
of energy.
He said the question of climate change and the
effect it was having on the environment was the
subject of protocols aimed at reducing the emission
of carbon dioxide and five other green house gases.
Richards noted that a total of 141 countries had
ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which is associated
with the United Nation's Convention on Climate
Change.
"The agreement was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan,
in December 1997 and came into force in February
2005," said Richards.
The US is among a handful of countries that have
not ratified the agreement.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, July 11th 2007
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©2007 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
