Prime Minister Samuel Hinds urged the nation to conserve energy and to adapt their lifestyles to suit the changing world temperatures as the effects of climate change are becoming more evident, at the Guyana Energy Agency exhibition held at the Umana Yana.
Several organisations displayed energy saving electrical installations and equipment that they have for sale at the exhibition, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said. Hinds urged the audience to use the Low Carbon Development Strategy as a guide and to strive to make Guyana a more energy-efficient country. He noted that “our President and many world leaders have agreed that the concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions is too high, and are trying to reduce [it]. He also noted that energy conservation will lead to savings at the individual and national levels.
Hinds said he was concerned that energy conservation is not taken seriously, noting that complaints of high electricity prices are prevalent in Guyana. In comparing local electricity rates with the rest of the world, Guyana’s was found to be in the middle. The prime minister noted that governments worldwide have been encouraging the use of alternative energy to lessen the dependence on fossil fuels which depletes the ozone layer through increased green house gases in the atmosphere. In this case government has actively embarked on the Amaila Falls hydro power project, a 150MW power plant that, according to Hinds, will meet all of Guyana’s electricity requirements for the next three to five years. As a result a 90% conversion form fossil fuel to hydro-electric power will be realised, the release said.
According to GINA Gafoors Industries Ltd., National Hardware Guyana Ltd., Starr Computers Inc and Farfan and Mendes Ltd and the Guyana Power and Light also gave energy saving tips to the audience which included school children.
