Met with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Yesterday, I met with Mr. Alejandro Tapia, the Regional Programme Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was an amazing fellow, with good energy and a lot of enthusiasm. Originally from Bolivia, Mr. Tapia is a global citzen, having lived and worked in many parts of the world and worked for many institutions including the World Bank. I joked with him that his job now was a karmic pay-off for high carbon footprint for his life so far! We had a lot of jokes and a lot of laughs and that makes me very excited about what's ahead.

Along with Mr. Alejandro, was Grenada's local consultant, a man named Mr. Telesford. I don't know much about this man yet, but I think we will be well aquainted in a few weeks time!

The International Renewable Energy Agency is conducting a renewable energy assessment of Grenada and Peru (pilots). These assessments will identify what forms of renewables would best suit Grenada and well as generating a roadmap for renewable energy conversion. They were organizing individual meetings with stakeholder groups in advance of a larger workshop. I was nominated by the Non-State Actors Panel to participate.

The workshop is scheduled for July 23rd and may be anywhere from 1 to 3 days long. I suggested that if we had such a meeting it would be good to book a venue that could provide catering on real dishes instead of disposable meal containers. It would seem a shame to be generating a bunch of garbage at a meeting designed to evaluate our readiness to reduce our carbon footprint! :o)

Drafting the Roadmap Has Begun

Grenada is a phenomenally beautiful place to visit, and because of this most people in Grenada are accustomed to receiving visitors. In our household, we currently have our 5th international visitor in our home in the last 30 days, with two more expected before the middle of July! There's a reason why everyone wants to visit - Grenada is beautiful and the beaches (and diving!) are the best!


While playing host to these visitors, the drafting of the GHTA Zero Carbon roadmap has begun. Interviews with the individual members of the Hotel Cluster have been booked to obtain property specific data needed for proposal writing and at least the first three sections of the roadmap have been drafted already. The Roadmap will feature background and contextual information, a collection of information gathered, and a series of recommended actions to assist the Hotel Cluster to reach the Zero Carbon Goal.

There is no 'scheduled' publication date at this time, but it will be available once the data and stakeholder consultant is sufficiently completed to release it.

It is worthy to note that the GHTA is financing the production of this roadmap without external financial assistance.

Background for Grenada's Hotels Zero Carbon & Energy Liberalization Campaign

It's an ambition that is being pursued against the backdrop of a business community that has encountered more than its fair share of challenges in recent years. Eight years ago, over 90% of Grenada's homes and hotels (buildings of all types, really) were destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. Imagine a small island state where over 90% of the buildings have literally been stripped to their foundations! The reconstruction process did provide jobs for the local populace, but the owners and operators of the hotels lost a lot of money while their properties were out of business as they rebuilt.

Grenadian business people are resilient, and despite their losses, many used the devastation as an opportunity to upgrade their properties, including environmental retrofits (which will be profiled on this blog later). But then, just as the hotels climbed out of rebuilding after the hurricane, the global economic recession hit and pummelled tourism and Grenada's economy. In 2009 Grenada economy contracted by nearly 8% and it hasn't grown above 1.4% since.

Seems like an usual time for hotels to be worrying about the environment doesn't it?

Well according to the President of the Board of Directors for Grenada's Hotel and Tourism Association (GHTA), Grenada's hotels endure more than hurricanes and recessions - they also endure the world's highest energy prices (Grenada being among the top ten). Renewable energy provides the opportunity to reduce those costs, as well as to revitalize the nation's tourism sector as it responds to the growing environmental conscience of their customers.

So, with the help of Ethical Ideas, the GHTA is pursing a zero carbon future and energy liberalization. We have a lot of supporters already and I am very confident we will achieve the goal. Watch this space as I post updates on what we're doing and how we're progressing!