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Re: Green TownHouse-Ja?
Give greater focus to alternative energy
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
In September 2005, this newspaper reported on the benefits of solar power being enjoyed by Ocho Rios-based attorney Mr Mike Drakulich.
The report essentially told the story of how Mr Drakulich was able, with the use of solar and wind energy, to drag his monthly electricity bill from $58,000 down to $9,000 for his law office and a tour company which he operated from his five-bedroom seafront villa in Ocho Rios.
The investment, Mr Drakulich admitted, wasn't cheap. He spent about $1.5 million installing the systems after Alternative Power Sources, a Spanish Town-based firm, provided him with a comprehensive audit of his energy usage and needs.
However, within two years of making the investment, Mr Drakulich said he had saved close to $1.2 million. "It's a big investment, but you recover your cost in a couple of years," the lawyer was quoted as saying at the time.
We were reminded of Mr Drakulich's experience after reporting, last Friday, on the development of a solar-powered vehicle by four final-year University of Technology (UTech) mechanical engineering students - Messrs Donald Beaufort, Robert Burnett, Leon Reid and Derrick Solay - under the direction of Dr Noel Brown and Mr Brian Silvera, the acting project supervisor.
The Solcar, as it is being called, is really a golf cart fitted with a solar panel on its roof. It has a range of 30 miles and can run for two days after being fully charged, we were told by Mr Silvera.
A short-term goal of the project, Mr Silvera said, was to eliminate the use of gasoline-powered golf carts islandwide. It is a commendable effort which should be fully supported by the administrators of the island's golf clubs, many of which represent an essential offering of the country's tourism product.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial...TIVE_ENERGY.asp
Give greater focus to alternative energy
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
In September 2005, this newspaper reported on the benefits of solar power being enjoyed by Ocho Rios-based attorney Mr Mike Drakulich.
The report essentially told the story of how Mr Drakulich was able, with the use of solar and wind energy, to drag his monthly electricity bill from $58,000 down to $9,000 for his law office and a tour company which he operated from his five-bedroom seafront villa in Ocho Rios.
The investment, Mr Drakulich admitted, wasn't cheap. He spent about $1.5 million installing the systems after Alternative Power Sources, a Spanish Town-based firm, provided him with a comprehensive audit of his energy usage and needs.
However, within two years of making the investment, Mr Drakulich said he had saved close to $1.2 million. "It's a big investment, but you recover your cost in a couple of years," the lawyer was quoted as saying at the time.
We were reminded of Mr Drakulich's experience after reporting, last Friday, on the development of a solar-powered vehicle by four final-year University of Technology (UTech) mechanical engineering students - Messrs Donald Beaufort, Robert Burnett, Leon Reid and Derrick Solay - under the direction of Dr Noel Brown and Mr Brian Silvera, the acting project supervisor.
The Solcar, as it is being called, is really a golf cart fitted with a solar panel on its roof. It has a range of 30 miles and can run for two days after being fully charged, we were told by Mr Silvera.
A short-term goal of the project, Mr Silvera said, was to eliminate the use of gasoline-powered golf carts islandwide. It is a commendable effort which should be fully supported by the administrators of the island's golf clubs, many of which represent an essential offering of the country's tourism product.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial...TIVE_ENERGY.asp
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