Stephanie Coleman, Gleaner Writer
Francene Thelwell (left), manager of information and corporate affairs at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), presents the winning trophy to Christina Naylor of Bishop Gibson High School during yesterday's poster awards ceremony at the PCJ Auditorium, Trafalgar Road, St. Andrew. Christina won the first prize for the PCJ's energy conservation and efficiency poster competition. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE FOCUS of the National Energy Policy 2006-2020 will be to wean the country off its oil dependency by the diversification of energy sources and conserva-tion, said Ruth Potopsingh, group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ).
Speaking yesterday at the Energy Conservation and Efficiency Poster Competition Awards ceremony at the PCJ auditorium, Mrs. Potopsing warned that dependence on oil to meet 90 per cent of the country's energy needs was draining the public purse.
Mrs. Potopsingh stressed that energy diversification was critical to the country's development. She called for an increase in the development and investments in renewable energy resources such as hydropower, biomass, wind energy and solar energy.
The PCJ managing director noted that Government spent over US$1 billion (J$65 billion) on its energy bill in 2005. The cost will rise as the world demand for the commodity will grow by 18 per cent in five years. Jamaica's own energy appetite grows by three to four per cent annually. Mrs. Potopsingh said the dependence on imported petroleum hikes up production costs and makes Jamaican businesses less competitive with other oil producing countries.
"For every dollar of export merchandise produced in Jamaica, the country pays 66 cents for imported petroleum. The demand for foreign exchange to purchase petroleum helps to trigger inflation," she said.
"It is critical to find new energy sources which are less expensive and indigenous and do not require significant foreign exchange expenditure," she added.
