B’dos urged to seek alternative fuels

<a href=www.barbadosadvocate.com>Barbados Advocate Web Posted - Mon Mar 31 2003 By Janelle Husbands

WITH the uncertainty of worldwide oil prices caused mainly by the ongoing United States-led war in Iraq, an ideal scenario for Barbados would be our ability to store fuel when prices are low, suspend purchases when prices are high and wait for the price advantage.

This is coming from John Boyce, a past president of the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers (BAPE) as he gave the feature address at that association’s annual general meeting over the weekend.

According to Boyce, the cost of energy in Barbados is largely determined by international events, not local considerations. For this reason, he believes that “we need to be always looking at what we can do locally to ensure as predictable a cost as we can”.

“Essentially, small island states like Barbados do not have a lot of choices as far as purchases are concerned and usually settle into bi-lateral arrangements with friendly suppliers,” he explained.

He added that Barbados’ ability to buy oil from friendly nations and compete for purchases in the open world market, are high risks, especially in times of scarcity. For this reason we can find ourselves out on the proverbial limb, as nations with higher spending power get the greatest advantage.

Boyce, who is also the Democratic Labour Party’s candidate for Christ Church South, alluded to the fact that world oil prices may vary for a number of reasons, all of which can have serious implications on our economy and are totally out of our control. “The recent troubles in Venezuela, the fighting in the oil region of Nigeria and, most significantly, the fighting in Iraq,” he pointed out.

The mechanical engineer also told the association that a view of the energy sources in Barbados shows a picture of steady growth in consumption of all energy sources, a situation which points to a wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurs.

According to Boyce, although prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil show room for a number of opportunities, there are still not enough photovoltaic installations in Barbados, considering the high level of this type of technology which exists today. “This is the first area of opportunity which need continuous experiments and pilot installations for effective data collection,” he asserted.

Boyce lauded the work of companies, such as Solar Dynamics, Sunpower and Aqua Sol, which he said have shown that the sense of experiment is alive and well in Barbados. However, he suggested that certain steps must be taken and creative policies put in place in order to sustain and develop the business opportunities for energy conservation companies. These include better tax incentives, lowering the payback time for the project, increasing access to investment capital, increasing the knowledge of new technologies, making new systems available locally and the adjustment of laws that may prevent full exploitation of these new opportunities.