September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2015 75 able through wind, solar, biomass, and waste energy, but the key to it is reducing consumption to make those technologies viable and affordable, quickly.” He explains how the savings on energy are possible: “Ja- pan, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, shut down all their nuclear electricity generating plants and went back to oil and coal. The cost of energy went through the roof. So, the government said ‘We’ve got to do something.’ So they came up with a plan – they installed 73 million LED lights. They saved $8.4 bil- lion USD in two years by doing that. So that’s a model that can be easily replicated across the Caribbean and the quickest way to reduce your energy consumption is through lighting.” Will Reid’s goals meet with success? “It’s not a tough sell; people buy into it conceptually,” he explains. “The issue is, most of the governments in the Caribbean are broke; they’re financially stressed. The payback period is fairly short, but it’s just getting that initial in- vestment. So we’re working with some finance houses