Ministry of Labour and Social Security JA$9 Million Energy Savings - Mad Money for Happy Workers

Let us have faith tat right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.

Lincoln, Address, Feb., 1860

Sometimes it is the little actions from the Government of Jamaica that make the spotlight for me personally. In this case I choose to highlight the recent announcement of a JA$9 million in Electricity saving by Ministry of Labour and Social Security as stated in the article entitled “Big Payoff - Labour Ministry Saves $9 Million On Energy Bill”, published Friday July 22, 2011, JUS, The Jamaica Gleaner. Not only that, they won JA$25,000 to boot!

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Errol Miller Ministry of Labour and Social Security made it quite clear during their Energy Conservation Awards Ceremony on Tuesday July 19^th 2011AD that this was a battle for the long haul, quote: “Individuals and departments were recognized for their contribution to lowering the ministry's energy bill. We started with behavioural changes, and we have been continuing with those and we have been reaping great rewards from that. As a matter of fact, in 2009/10 our savings were approximately $6 million, but in 2010/11, we saved approximately $9 million”.

Believe it or not, the Happy Workers at North Street achieved this incredible feat by simple behavioural changes, which include:

1. Turning off lights and computers when not in use
2. Removing unnecessary lighting
3. Keeping the air-conditioning temperature at 24 degrees Celsius
4. Using stairs rather than the elevator
5. Water Conservation 

They haven’t begun to carpool fully as yet!

This is indeed in keeping with the call by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding’s call to commit US$90 million of Government of Jamaica Tax Revenues to reduce the Government of Jamaica’s  frighteningly huge JA$10 billion Electricity Bill as stated in the Editorial in The Jamaica Gleaner entitled “Government to start saving Energy”, published Sunday February 13, 2011, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Since then, even the Minster of Finance, Senator Audley Shaw has come out singing the same song as stated in my blog article entitled “GOJ and Government Ministry's Energy Usage - Senator Audley Shaw and the Langoliers” with statistical usage figures to boot.

Not to mention the fact that that my blog article entitled “GOJ and Government Ministry's Energy Usage - Senator Audley Shaw and the Langoliers” is chocked full of other long term ways of saving energy and reducing the Government of Jamaica’s Onerous Energy Bill, including:

1. Using Open Source software as stated in my blog article entitled “GOJ and Project JosephOS Requiem - Open Source Linux Penguin in Happy Feet”.
2. Solar Power and Wind Turbines on all Government of Jamaica Ministries as is now the case in the US of A as stated in the article my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the President - Three Days of the Condor”.
3. Net Metering as opposed to Net Billing as stated in the article “Minister Clive Mullings retrogade step on Energy Sector Liberalization - JPS Co's Monopoly An Inconvenient Truth”
4. LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) as part of the energy mix as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the Revalued Dollar - Cheaper Electricity is Needed” concurs! LNG should be a part of the mix, both for Electricity Generation as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and BioFuels - LNG is the beginning”.
5. Possibly consideration of Nuclear power as part of Jamaica’s overall energy mix as stated in my blog article entitled “Nuclear Power and Net Metering – Paulwell’s Energy Sector Liberalization Chess Game” 

The above achievement provides ample proof that Energy Conservation is more about behavioral changes as opposed to fancy gadgetry, as there is Mad Money (2008) for Happy Workers to be had from saving on Utilities, even it is only JA$25,000 in pocket change! An Example of a carrot-and-stick incentive for other Jamaican Government Agencies to follow! Kudos Ministry of Labour and Social Security!