Participants in the OECS workshop.
ANGUILLA--Training held in Anguilla through the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) was aimed at promoting a national energy efficiency strategy. Part of OECS efforts towards energy efficiency, the training was called “Zero Investment and Revenue Generating Energy Management Programme.”
Workshop participants included policemen, teachers, firefighters and government officers. They were trained to frame a collective strategy aimed at managing energy consumption in their workplace but also at the national level through a government-driven plan of action.
The training was organised by Programme Coordinator Judith Ephraim and Programme Officer Martin Rufenach of the OECS Sustainable Energy Unit. Both shared their experience regarding the energy efficiency strategy implemented at the OECS Headquarters in St. Lucia since 2014.
“We have put in place an energy management programme at the OECS Commission in St. Lucia two years ago that includes incentives for employees which resulted in a 20 per cent decrease in our electricity consumption,” Ephraim said.
She noted that through this successful programme, both environmental specialists attested that energy savings are achievable by the implementation of zero-cost measures combined with a sensitisation campaign to foster engagement of employees. The programme has also been promoted in Antigua and Montserrat.
