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– local banks urged to flexEnergy consultant, Eaton HaughtonThe Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GM&SA) has initiated a pilot project that will target a number of prominent business to lower their energy costs.According to the private sector body, the five businesses are the International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA),Authentic NFL Jerseys Wholesale China, Brass Aluminum and Cast Iron Foundry (BACIF), National Milling Company Guyana Limited, Edward Beharry and Company Limited and GTM Fire and Life Insurance.According to GMSA, cognizant that energy costs account for more than 30% of the average Guyanese company’s overheads in any given month,Jerseys NFL Wholesale China Online, it started to examine ways to assist in reducing it.“Guyanese manufacturers in almost every category of industry, whether metalwork,wholesale jerseys, food production, infrastructural and vehicle repairs, household artifacts or building accessories, have struggled with astronomical power costs for decades.”GMSA said it found an answer in 2010.“The association crafted a finely defined strategy for better energy management for companies in the manufacturing and services sectors to make the most efficient use of their installed applications, whether they receive power from the national grid or self-generate.? Simultaneously they would be guided in the application of the most effective methods of conservation.”GMSA approached the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for assistance with funding the project.The bank gave its approval in 2011 and the jointly-funded project…IDB 70%, GMSA 30%… was signed into being on June 6th last.The five companies, spanning different sectors, were selected to serve as pilots for the two-part project.“The first involves a detailed energy ratings survey and baseline study on each company, which is being conducted by Jamaican, Eaton Haughton, the CEO/owner of Caribbean ESCo Ltd,” GMSA disclosed in its statement.“He is working in tandem with locally-based electrical engineering firm,Adam Loewen Canada Jersey, Dynamic Engineering Company, that has recently ventured into energy conservation as a new service line.”Less costsHaughton is himself a high profile energy consultant, renowned throughout the Caribbean Region.? Over the past 25 years he has completed or contributed to several internationally funded projects for the governments and private sectors in Belize, the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.? He was instrumental in installing hospital solar water heating systems in Grenada and implemented energy audits and energy services projects for the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), and on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.More recently, in 2011,cheap nfl jerseys china, he completed an extensive energy audit at the Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, CARICOM Secretariat.Haughton is currently visiting the pilot companies that are participating in the IDB/GMSA project and will shortly commence the process of measuring power input and output on each location and assessing the viability and suitability of their electrical installations in their factories, workshops and offices.? He is examining each company’s systemic and operational energy demand for analysis against their needs. These will eventually be amalgamated with consumption patterns and costs and factored into workable energy management formulas for each category of enterprise.Since his arrival,cheap nfl jerseys, Haughton has met with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who holds ministerial responsibility for the energy sector.“My first objective is to find the means that will enable Guyanese companies to save money.? I am all about the ‘bottom line’,” Haughton said.He explained that he found that companies and even householders opted for expensive installations that eventually proved that they were compensating for inefficiencies in their own consumption patterns.“Reducing energy consumption and proper monitoring and maintenance of equipment that conduct electricity from the exterior to the interior of buildings is much more cost effective,” Haughton stated.Banks’ helpHe cited commercial banks as one more key factor that generally inhibits companies’ ability to sustain their power efficiencies.? “Banks are generally conservative and reluctant to deviate from normal practice,” he said, referring to a pervasive reluctance to grant commercial loans for improvement or advancement of technical electrical equipment and components.He cited the Jamaica experience, noting that the banking systems there had not been geared just a few years ago to cover technical equipment.? “Fortunately, now the Jamaican lending institutions are beginning to recognize the value of investing in electrical equipment.? There has been a paradigm shift,” Haughton said.? The biggest hurdle is awareness, and the rest is the domino effect.The ultimate objective of this project is to guide Guyanese enterprises across the business spectrum towards effectively managing their energy costs through the application of conservation methodologies, technological adaptations and Best Practice techniques.The project is geared to include Energy Conservation, Energy Consumption and alternative energy sources.GMSA said that workshops will also be held for business owners and representatives operating in the commercial, food and agricultural, services, manufacturing and other sectors.? The first workshop will take place in January 2013, mainly to sensitize the business community to the bottom line value of efficient energy management.GMSA President, Mohindra Chand, has noted that this energy efficiency project has deep implications for Guyana’s manufacturers who are ‘hurting’ as a result of debilitating energy costs.The consequent high costs of production of Guyanese products,Cheap NFL Jerseys Supply, he noted, have had a serious impact on the ability of these products to compete well on the international market. |
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