WASHINGTON (CMC) – The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association and the Ministry of Tourism have launched a major energy efficiency programme for hotels with support from the Inter-American Bank (IDB) and international partners.

The Caribbean Hotel Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action-Advanced Programme (CHENACT-AP) is also scheduled to be launched in Jamaica in February.

The objective of the programme is to improve the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized hotels through improved use of energy, with the emphasis on renewable energy and micro-generation.

Additionally, there will be “positive impacts to the environment in terms of reductions in greenhouse gases and ozone layer depletion,” the IDB said. The first phase of the programme will involve energy audits of participating hotels and recommendations on how to improve energy savings.

The energy audits will then be transformed into financial proposals that could be presented to international or local financial institutions to obtain funding for implementation.

The programme will fund energy audits amounting to US$1 million for participating hotels in the Bahamas, the IDB said.

“Energy-related costs represent 15 to 20 per cent of a hotel’s operating budget; therefore, the programme is timely and welcomed”, said Glenn Sampert of the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) .

“There is every reason to believe that this is not going to change by itself,” he added. “It will take more aggressive and determined efficiency and conservation measures by hotels, policies which encourage the use of energy-saving equipment, and bold new approaches to energy generation.”

The IDB said the project will aim to bundle the carbon emission reductions (CERs) from the Bahamas, Barbados, and Jamaica, as a result of the energy efficiency measures and renewable energy applications.

Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserver

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver