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 The Government of Jamaica is
committed to the establishment of a new culture in the use of
energy, in which efficient, environmentally friendly production
and consumption, as well as an increased utilization of
renewable energy, will be the main goals.
Government of Jamaica
has been concerned about energy conservation since the oil
embargo in the mid-1970s, which led to the first energy crisis.
Since that time energy conservation has been promoted and
practiced as an official government policy, and alternative
energy sources such as wind, solar energy, mini-hydro and biogas
have been introduced. The agencies that were behind most of this
effort over the years were the Ministry with portfolio
responsibility for Energy, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica,
the Scientific Research Council, the Jamaica Public Service
Company Ltd., and the Ministry of Commerce, Science and
Technology.
In an effort to consolidate and build on the work
that has gone on before, and in particular the Demand Side
Management programme which ran from 1994 to 2001 an Energy
Efficiency Unit was established at the Petroleum Corporation of
Jamaica in September 2003. Its broad mandate is to develop and
coordinate the government's energy efficiency programme and to
facilitate private sector investment in renewable energy
sources. The Unit will operate on a national scale to address
the energy requirements of both the public and private sectors.
To properly manage this broad base initiative, the Unit will be
focus on end users and cogeneration. End users are further
classified as residential, commercial and small business, large
industrial and cogeneration l and public sector users.
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