CHANGE OF PLANS

In development parlance, there’s a term that rises up again and again like the air that carries the wings of a bird around. The trouble is - the words have become more of a ‘compliance’ activity among project planners and donors - rather than something that is valued and understood as a critical element of project development. Have you guessed what the words are yet?

“Stakeholder Consultation”

I can’t say that I don’t often think I have better ideas than the people around me (let’s face it, most people, deep down inside think they’re right about whatever they think; after all the basis of opinions is belief in their righteousness). However, even when I believe I am on the right track, experience has taught me that if my ideas are going to float I’d better check, check and double check that others agree with me unless whatever I am planning to do is a solo operation.

So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me that after only a few meetings scheduled with Grenada Hoteliers, I’m changing my project plans. I had incorrectly assumed that if over 90% of Grenada’s hotel stock had been rebuilt since Hurricane Ivan, the hotels would have already done a lot of energy saving changes to their properties. However, through my individual consultations I have learned that energy audits conducted on three Grenada properties through a project coordinated by the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) revealed that energy saving retrofits could reduce energy consumption by as much as 50%!

What’s more surprising is that the energy audit providing this revelation come from one of two Green Globe certified resorts in Grenada, so you can imagine how much energy could be saved on properties that have not made similar attempts to ‘green’ their operations!

Another interesting thing that has arisen is the broad spectrum of views on the issue. One hotelier was emphatically saying “I am ready to implement all of the recommendations [of the energy audit], we just have to raise the capital” while another hotelier remarked, “we can’t do much to reduce what you consume now can we? I think getting solar panels is the way to go”.



Looks to me like we’ve got to do both.