Category: CROSQ

CARICOM Energy Programme Manager sheds light on phase-out of incandescent bulbs

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Listen as Dr. Devon Gardner, Programme Manager, Energy at the CARICOM Secretariat, provides details on the phase-out of the use of incandescent bulb in the Region.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) earlier this month announced that it would be phasing out the use of incandescent bulbs in the Region. A decision to develop a phase-out programme for the bulbs was taken at a Meeting of CARICOM Energy Ministers. The Meeting was held at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, on 19 April, 2018.


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COTED plays crucial role in advancing integration – CARICOM SG

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CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque

CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said matters under consideration at the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) presented an opportunity to provide solutions that would advance the regional integration movement.

He was speaking on Wednesday morning at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, during the opening session of the Forty-Sixth Meeting of the COTED.

Listen:

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Hurricanes Irma and Maria a hint of what the future holds

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Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque (c) flanked by (from left) General Counsel Corlita Babb-Schaefer, Deputy Secretary-General Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, Dr Douglas Slater, and Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration, Mr Joseph Cox

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque warned that Hurricanes Irma and Maria which devastated many countries in the Region last year were “a hint at what the future holds”.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting with the Heads of Institutions of the Community at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana, on Monday, the Secretary-General noted that the long-term forecasts for climatic activity in the Region were even “more foreboding as the effects of climate change become more pronounced.”

The meeting was aimed at strengthening the co-ordination among the Institutions and the Secretariat as the Community builds resilience to encounter the new normal of more intense and frequent climatic activity. A review of the preparedness and management of the response to the events of last September has been undertaken by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to glean lessons learnt.

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CARICOM Member States to phase out incandescent bulbs

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Delegates at the Special COTED Meeting held last month

As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) moves to become more energy efficient, steps are being taken to phase out the use of incandescent bulbs. On the basis of a mandate from the CARICOM Energy Ministers, plans for the phase‑out programme are now being developed by the CARICOM Secretariat and the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and are expected to be completed in September 2018.

The programme, according to Representatives from the CARICOM Secretariat, will include a roadmap to reduce the import and sale of incandescent light bulbs within the Region, and will guide and support countries in the establishment of regulations and actions for the phasing out exercise. If all goes according to the plan, incandescent bulbs will gradually be phased-out as energy efficiency standards for lighting are phased-in. The phase-out schedule could begin as early as January 2019 with the 100 watt incandescent bulbs, with further restrictions on smaller lamp sizes entering into force in incremental stages over a number of years.

The decision to develop the phase-out programme was taken at the recently-concluded Meeting of CARICOM Energy Ministers. The Meeting was held at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana on 19 April, 2018,  and was chaired by Senator the Hon. Darcy Boyce, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados with responsibility for Energy. The Ministers took the decision as part of the menu of quality measures that are being undertaken to steer the Community towards energy efficiency and sector regulation.


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Work advances to make CCREEE fully operational by June

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The just-concluded Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Energy has made progress on the full operationalisation of the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) by the middle of this year.

This was one of the key outcomes of the meeting which was held on 19 April, 2018, at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, according to Chairman of the Meeting, Senator the Hon. Darcy Boyce, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados.

He told the Communications Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat that the meeting made “good progress” on labelling of energy efficient equipment which would serve as a guide to the populace to buy more efficient  appliances and equipment.

Resilience in electricity grids was discussed substantially, particularly in the context of the natural disasters that have been occurring in the Region, Minister Boyce said.

Listen as the Minister speaks (above) about the outcomes of the Meeting.