THE Falmouth Infirmary, which was recently retrofitted to reduce its energy consumption, has been reaping the financial reward of that exercise in the last three months, according to mining and energy minister, Anthony Hylton.

“According to the Petroleum Company of Jamaica’s audit (last June), the total annual electricity consumption (at the infirmary was) 25,302 kilowatt-hours at a cost of $184, 923,” the minister said during a tour of the facility.

He added that after being retrofitted last December, there was a significant reduction in the facility’s electricity bill.

“Based on the annualised three-month billing since January, the electricity savings are calculated to be 15,000 kilowatt-hours, amounting to $109, 200 or a reduction of 60 per cent.”

The retrofitting which was conducted at a cost of $149,640 included:

* the implementation of a solar water heater in the laundry area;

* the installation of low-flow showerheads and aerators in the bathrooms;

* the replacement of all 75 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs with 20-watt compact fluorescent bulbs (CF’s) that delivered the same amount of illumination replaced;

* and the replacement of all 40-watt, t-12 fluorescent tubes with 36-watt, T-8 fluorescent tubes.

“I am glad that we have been able to choose the infirmary because in the process, we have been able to improve the quality of life of the residents of the infirmary,” the minister said. “Not only is it uniquely suited because you have a resident population that is always in residence by virtue of their inability to move freely and widely, but its use and dependency therefore on energy is greater than in many other places and certainly greater than the average household use.”

And he said the infirmary’s success showed that energy conservation and cost reduction could be achieved throughout the island.

“This event is a brief but important event to earmark and demonstrate not only the need for energy conservation, but its effectiveness and appropriateness in our institutions and by extension, throughout all the households in Jamaica,” he said.

Hylton remarked that this kind of cost saving can be replicated throughout the length and breadth of Jamaica in both public institutions as well as individual households.

He added that it was for this reason that Government had opted to make energy conservation a “major public policy initiative”.

Under that initiative, he said, it will become a requirement for all public institutions to use solar energy in the heating of water and for engineers and architects to design buildings that require much less conventional energy for cooling, lighting and water heating.

Hylton also noted that as part of his ministry’s continued effort to promote the use of alternative energy sources, a 20 mega-watt wind farm would “very shortly” be developed at Wigton in Manchester.

He said additional sites would be developed later.