cem, energy efficiency and conservation strategies among retailers in jamaica and beyond, february...

8/20/2019 CEM, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategies among Retailers in Jamaica and Beyond, February 2013

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CEM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES

ENERGY EFFICIENCY ANDCONSERVATION STRATEGIES AMONG

RETAILERS IN JAMAICA AND BEYOND


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CEM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES February 2013

An information paper by Ramona McConnel

CONTENTS

Summary

1. Introduction1.1 The economic and geographic context of Jamaica1.2 Energy efciency in the retail sector

2. Investigation of energy efciency in the retail sector2.1 Desk research2.2 Qualitative study2.3 Quantitative study

3. Results in context3.1 Awareness of the benets of energy efciency3.2 Actions on energy efciency3.3 Energy-efciency policies in action

3.4 Barriers to improving energy efciency3.5 Addressing the barriers3.6 Existing incentives

4. Discussion and recommendations

5. Conclusion

References

Further reading

About the author

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Energy efciency and conservation strategies among retailers in Jamaica and beyond

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The actions we all need to take to reduce greenhousegas emissions are common global concerns, althoughthe likely impacts of climate change will vary dependingon location; and the underlying benets – for theenvironment and for business – are common too.

This paper presents an investigation of the energy-saving strategies adopted by the retail sector inJamaica. It uncovers valuable lessons for both smallshopkeepers and chainstore owners, and provides –possibly for the rst time –indicators that could assistthe Jamaican Government and retailers in the

evaluation of the retail sector’s progress in contributingto the national energy cost reduction goals and with theformulation of baseline data.

In addition, this paper provides the insight thatJamaican retailers – and other retailers around theworld – require in order to convince them of both thetheoretical and practical connections between energyconservation strategies and operating costs.

SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The economic and geographic context of Jamaica

Jamaica is a Caribbean island coveringapproximately 11,000 km², with a population ofaround 2.85 million (compare with, say, Wales,which is some 21,000 km² and has a population ofapproximately 3 million). Jamaica is tropical, hot andhumid, with a generally temperate interior region.

Storms and other natural disasters are predicted toincrease under the impacts of climate change and,according to the Pew Centre for Climate Change(2009), those negative impacts include mean sealevel rise and north Atlantic tropical storms. Jamaicais particularly vulnerable in this respect, due to itsgeographical location. Even before the predictedimpact of climate change there is an increased riskof hurricanes in the region from July through toNovember, although they can occur at any time ofthe year. On average, Jamaica loses 2% of grossdomestic product (GDP) annually due to naturaldisasters. For example, the value of losses and

damage from the passage of tropical storm Gustavin 2008 resulted in $15.5 billion or 1.7% of 2007nominal GDP. According to the Economic and SocialSurvey Jamaica 2009 (Planning Institute of Jamaica2010), Jamaica’s trade balance for 2009 was a decitof US$ 3745.5 million.

The map of Jamaica (Figure 1) shows locations of thecapital and major towns where most retail businessesare concentrated.

Energy consumption across all sectors in Jamaicahas increased at a much faster pace than economicgrowth and, because the country is almostcompletely dependent on imported oil, it is at themercy of potentially dramatic swings in energy prices.This has a considerable knock-on effect on theeconomy in general and also affects the demand forforeign currency. This situation is exacerbated by:


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• A foreign exchange adjustment which is addedto electricity bills by the sole electricity supplier,Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company, tocompensate for uctuations in the US dollar toJamaican dollar exchange rate;

• A multiplier that is applied to electricity bills toenable the supplier to recover costs related tonatural disasters;

• High interest rates on loans, which are adisincentive to potential investment in energyefciency projects;

• The high cost of producing electricity (at the timeof the study, US$ 0.27 per kilowatt hour);

• A general consumption tax added to commercialelectricity bills in 2010, as part of the government’sefforts to reduce the national decit, whichincreased the cost of energy to retailers;

Jamaica’s Ministry of Energy and Mining identiesenergy conservation and efciency as the country’sonly short-term response to mitigate this adverseenergy situation. The Jamaican Government’s Energy

Conservation and Efciency Policy (ECEP) (Ministryof Energy and Mining 2008) aims to coordinateall sectors of the economy towards signicantlyreducing national energy consumption, with the aimof achieving a minimum national target of a 2% cutin energy consumption per year. The ECEP has alsosuggested that an annual target of 1.4% (equivalentto more than 200,000 barrels of oil per year) couldbe achieved through proactive energy efciencymeasures including upgrading plant, equipment andend-use devices.

In addition, with the establishment of the CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM) under the KyotoProtocol, energy efciency measures could providefurther benets to the Jamaican economy by:

• Enabling the country to participate in thetrading of carbon credits derived from energyefciency projects;

• Giving the country access to the United Nations’ Adaptation Fund which will enhance accessibilityto nancing for adaptation projects andprogrammes.

FIGURE 1: Map of Jamaica


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1.2 Energy efciency in the retail sector

Retail is an important industry in Jamaica becauseof the high volume of sales. It is generally believedthat high operating costs in the industry will fuelination and worsen the economy, and so greatereffort in energy efciency and conservationstrategies is necessary for the industry to reduceprices to consumers.

Information garnered from Yudelson (2009), Esty andWinston (2009) and Hawken et al. (1999) suggeststhat about one fth of the electricity consumption ofJamaica is attributable to the group of commercialusers which primarily comprises retailers.

At the time of the study, most of Jamaica’s energyefciency activities had centred on the public sector –with the assumption that the public sector would leadthe drive towards energy efciency and conservation.There were plans to expand to all sectors but this hadnot begun at the time of the study. However, Jamaicahad adopted the International Building Code (in 2008)and published several Application Documents (suchas IS 308:2009 and IS 309:2009) which cover thepeople, planet and prot aspects of energy efciencyand conservation strategies.

According to Hawken et al., ‘…no industry lackspotential for radically better energy efciency’(Hawken et al., 1999). Furthermore, Hawken et al.(1999) suggest that energy efciency can satisfy anumber of political and environmental imperatives:there is something there for those who want improved

jobs, competitiveness, quality of life, public andenvironmental health, individual choice and liberty.

While the general principles of energy efciency andsustainability are widely applicable across all industrysectors, they have particularly important benets forretailers, as described by Yudelson (2009):

• Reduced energy costs;

• Increased building value, through higher net

operating income;• Improved productivity and reduced health

impacts of building operations;

• Improved sales and letting of properties;

• Increased sales from daylighting (averaging 5%);

• Marketing and public relations benets;

• Recruitment and retention of key people;

• Access to funding from institutional sources;

• Trade benets on the international market.

The key question, then, for Jamaica and othergovernments around the world, is how best toencourage the retail sector to embrace the energyefciency and sustainability imperative.

The rst step to achieving savings, whether nancialor environmental, is to understand the status quo.This paper describes a single study – thought to bethe rst of its kind in Jamaica – of the attitudes ofretailers towards energy efciency, energy-savingmeasures already adopted, and an assessment ofthe potential for savings based on examples fromother, similar countries and economies.


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The study of energy efciency among retailers inJamaica was in three parts:

• Desk research – covering both the situation inJamaica and globally;

• Qualitative study – a detailed interview with anindustry expert in Jamaica;

• Quantitative research – a survey of attitudes to andactions on energy efciency among Jamaicanretailers.

2. INVESTIGATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE RETAIL SECTOR

Denition of ‘retailer’

A retailer is a business that sells goods to the end user (consumer), as opposed to wholesalers orsuppliers which normally sell their goods to other businesses. Retailers range in size from smaller,independent locations such as a family-run bookstore operating from a kiosk, to large businessessuch as superstores and international chainstores.

Jamaica’s sole electricity supply company, JPS, places retailers in the classication of ‘SmallCommercial – General Service’. This group, which includes supermarkets, retail shops, gas(petrol) stations and light manufacturing, accounts for 21% of the energy consumed by JPScustomers. (The categorisation is limited and does not include all retailers in Jamaica, resulting ina potential underestimation of energy consumption by the industry.

2.1 Desk research

At the time of the study, very little secondary datacould be found on the topic of energy efciency perse in Jamaica, beyond government policy documentsand information on public sector activities. Sourcesconsulted included research papers, journals andcorporate websites (see further reading).

Because of the lack of local information, the study wasbroadened to involve a brief review of overseas casestudies. Such case studies benet from having beencertied by third party organisations, many of which

are publicly traded businesses with the responsibility ofkeeping proper records. (Local retailers are not typicallytraded on the Jamaican Stock Exchange and do nothave the scrutiny as with larger or traded companies.)The case histories reviewed as part of this study showhow energy efciency and conservation strategies helpto reduce operational costs, attract and retain talent,and pre-empt efciency laws.


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2.2 Qualitative study

An interview with Dr Earl Green, Group Chief TechnicalDirector at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica(PCJ) was used to explore the wider themes of energyefciency in the context of Jamaican retailers, and as

triangulation for the questionnaire results. Dr Greenwas a key player in the Jamaican Government’s plansfor energy efciency and conservation as a means ofmeeting national targets on energy security.

2.3 Quantitative study

A questionnaire of Jamaican retailers, inspired bya survey of corporate energy efciency strategies(Prindle and Fontaine 2009), was developed andtested. The nal survey comprised seventeenquestions, on:

• Demographics;

• Retailers’ awareness of the benets of energyefciency;

• Extent of implementation of energy-savingmeasures;

• Extent of savings achieved;

• Incentives and barriers.

Respondents were drawn from several majorJamaican towns as well as the capital parish ofKingston. An online system was used to deliver thesurvey (see methodology). Potential respondentswere sent the survey link by email either directly orthrough their business association. Twenty-sevendetailed responses were received and analysed (notall respondents answered all the questions).

Most respondents were from the Kingston area(46.2%), followed by St. Andrew (26.9%). Otherareas represented were: St. Catherine, Trelawny,Manchester, St. Thomas, and Clarendon. There wereno participants from St. Mary, St. Ann, St. James,Westmoreland, Hanover, Portland or St. Elizabeth.

The respondents represented a range of retailersin line with the JPS classication (see Denition of‘retailer’): automotive (spares and repairs), computerstores/services, light manufacturing, plants/ agricultural, eye wear, fashion, restaurants, petrolstations/convenience, art gallery, variety/generalgoods, furniture, jewellery store, pharmacy and onemembership club.

Just under half of the respondents (45.5%) operatedin stores that could be categorised as small (under2,000 square feet; 185 m²), with 27.3% runningmedium-sized stores (2,000–10,000 square feet;185–930 m²) and 13.6% being from large stores(over 10,000 square feet; >930 m²).


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Methodology

There are inherent difculties in studying attitudes to energy efciency, as well as to gathering actualdata on business performance, due to both condentiality and lack of interest among potentialsubjects. For student researchers, these problems are compounded by lack of budget and lack ofaccess to key personnel.

The use of an online questionnaire bypassed some of these problems, because it was quick, easy andcheap to implement; the problem is to garner sufcient responses. In this study, in Jamaica, retailerswere approached directly by email, followed up with letters and telephone calls, and also an appealwas issued to business associations to circulate the survey link among there members. Nevertheless,the response rate was fairly low. (In the following discussion, percentage values have thereforebeen rounded to the nearest whole number.) Expert opinion (Dr Green) was useful, therefore, in theinterpretation of the responses.


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3. RESULTS IN CONTEXT

Unlike commercial ofce facilities and educationalinstitutions, which tend to focus on the link betweenproductivity and energy use, retail organisations linkenergy use to sales gures.

Understanding this connection between efciency andprotability is therefore critical for retail organisationswho are considering energy efciency measures.

Savings on energy costsanticipated or experienced (in % of total energy costs)

No of respondents Percentage of respondents

no reply 7 26%

0-5% 4 15%

6-10% 5 18.5%

11-20% 6 22%

over 20% 5 18.5%

TABLE 1: In the long run, how much can retailers reduce their operational costs by implementing plansto reduce energy consumption or access more economical energy sources?

3.1 Awareness of the benets of energy efciency

Table 1 shows that a signicant majority of Jamaicanretailers who participated in the study are aware ofthe potential benets of energy efciency. Whenrespondents were asked to estimate what level of

savings could be achieved, approximately 60% statedthat they thought it possible to reduce energy costs byat least 6% or more, with almost fth of respondentssuggesting that savings of more than 20% are possible.


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3.3 Energy-efciency policies in action

It is widely acknowledged that one of the key factorsin successful energy-efciency campaigns is forbusinesses to have a written strategy, endorsed bymembers of the board or company directors.

Example: Energy savings generate bottom linebenets. Estimates by the US Environmental

Protection Agency’s Energy Star® Program showthat every dollar a grocer saves has the same effecton prots as selling $80 of merchandise.

The US-based company Food Lion LLC partneredwith a lighting manufacturer to nd a lamp thatdoubled light output and decreased energy use by

40%. The energy manager at Food Lion estimated thattheir refrigerator case retrots alone saved 100,000kilowatt hours annually. (Source: Thurston 2002)

The questionnaire found that only a few respondents(12.5%) had a written strategy (Figure 2), although35% of respondents said that all levels of staff wouldplay a role in an energy efciency and conservationstrategy. In other words:

• around a third of respondents understand thatstaff involvement is crucial, but most are notaware that this involvement is best harnessedthrough a corporate strategy.

FIGURE 2: Written energy eciency and conservation strategy

Yes

No

Will write one in the future

My written strategy is incomplete

That is unimportant

DOES YOUR BUSINESS HAVE A WRITTEN STRATEGY TO REDUCE ENERGY DEMAND AND REDUCE

THE COST OF ENERGY THAT IS SUPPLIED?


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Building construction

Lighting

Air conditioning

Business specic equipment

Photovoltaic cells (PV) / solar power

None

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Plan to do some in the future

Will not do any now or later

INDICATE ALL THE ENERGY EFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION PROJECTS THAT YOU HAVE IMPLEMENTED

Among this group of retailers, changes to lighting and air-conditioning equipment were the most popular energy-saving measures, as shown in Figure 3.

These technologies are generally regarded as‘low-hanging fruit’ – that is, easy and generallycost-effective to implement. However, unlessautomatic lighting controls are incorporated into thenew schemes, manual controls will not deliver theanticipated benets without the enthusiastic inputof staff, and this is best achieved in the context of awritten policy.

Example: The US-based BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. reported that its energy management system(EMS) which, in addition to controlling lights,regulates the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system and refrigerationset points, and has contributed to its total ofUS$ 4.8 million in energy costs annually. Otherenergy-saving initiatives include sub-metering,

partnering with a green power marketing rm tohelp generate solar power, and a programme inits New York stores to cut lighting use in 25 storesduring peak demand times, with no detriment tosales observed. (Source: Lobash 2003)

FIGURE 3: Energy efciency and conservation projects implemented by respondent


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Given that so few retailers in the study had conductedLevel 2 or Level 3 energy audits, it is understandablethat the retailers were unable to measure the levelof savings from their investment. The questionnaireshowed that over 80% of respondents believedthat the implementation of energy efciency andconservation strategies reduced operating costs.However, only 14% of respondents knew theexpected or actual returns on their energy-efciencyinvestment. The others said they did not know thereturn on investment for the energy projects they hadimplemented. Respondents varied in the metricsused for reporting their energy savings: percentages,kilowatt hours and dollar amounts.

Example: In 2005, Walmart built twoexperimental stores in McKinney, Texas and

Aurora, Colorado. Knowledge garnered from theoperation of those two stores was incorporatedinto Walmart’s High Efciency one (HE1)

pilot stores. Three HE1 stores were opened in 2007 and they were expected to reduce energyrequirements by 20% compared with a 2005baseline. Four second-generation (HE2) pilotstores opened in 2008, and a new store openedin Las Vegas, Nevada in March 2008 (HE5) wasdesigned to perform up to 45% more efcientlythan the prototype stores built in 2005.

Energy-efciency improvements includedenhancements to the HVAC systems, using light-emitting diode (LED) technology in freezer casesand exterior signage, installing nineteen solar

power systems since early 2007 ( two storesin Hawaii and seventeen in California), andincreasing daylighting via skylights in more than

2,200 stores. (Source: Yudelson 2009)


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3.4 Barriers to improving energy efciency

Barriers to the introduction of energy-savingmeasures were explored in the question:What barriers prevent Jamaican retailersfrom implementing an energy efciency andconservation strategy?

The responses were (in order of importance to theretailers):

• Initial cost (cited by 94% of respondents);

• Lack of government incentives (61%);

• Lack of knowledge (56%);

• Unavailability of technology (22%);

• Low return on investment (11%).

‘Other factors’ (unspecied) were mentioned by17% of respondents, and these included:

• The inaccessibility of energy-efcientequipment due to the prohibitive initial costs;

• Inefcient equipment in their specic line ofbusiness is a hindrance to the development ofenergy efciency strategies.

Several respondents thought that there was a needfor a strategic approach and that not enough wasbeing done in Jamaica about energy efciency andconservation. These results reect the choices ofenergy-saving measures already discussed (Figure3). Respondents were most concerned about theirlack of knowledge of the available equipment

and technology on the market and the lack ofknowledge about the topic in general.

The second most frequent response related tothe lack of government support regarding theimplementation of energy efciency projects.This response highlights a gap between whatthe government plans for energy efciency andconservation and the retailers’ awareness of theseincentives and plans.

The following conclusions can therefore be drawn:

• Because initial costs and lack of nancialincentives are the most commonly citedbarriers, there is considerable scope forgovernment-funded support schemes forretailers;

• With more than half of the sample citing‘lack of knowledge’, it is likely that a nationalawareness-raising and information campaigncould have a positive impact on the uptake ofenergy-saving measures.

In addition, the following barriers were identied byDr Green (2010):

• The retailers themselves do not recognisethe importance of energy efciency andconservation;

• Retailers were too risk averse to considerthe benets of working with energy servicescompanies (ESCOs);


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• The quality of available products from astandards perspective (e.g. no standardlaboratory testing of energy-efciency claims isprovided by the Jamaica Bureau of Standards);

• Problems in the development of the energy-efciency equipment industry and of theenergy-efciency building code (which hadbeen in development for over 10 years at thetime of the interview);

• The absence of reinforcing legislation;

• The scaling down of the energy efciencylabelling programme started by the JamaicaBureau of Standards.


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3.5 Addressing the barriers

Figure 4 shows the factors the respondents said would incentivise them to implement an energy efciencyand conservation strategy.

Help Jamaica meet its targetedenergy consumption reduction

Rising oil prices

Impress existing andprospective customers

Legislation (local laws)

Improvement in employee satisfaction

Increase in protability

Improvement in customer service

Reduction in operating costs

Number of respondents for whom this is a factor

Global warming

0 5 10 15 20

MARK THE FACTORS THAT WOULD PUSH YOUR BUSINESS TO IMPLEMENT AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY

AND CONSERVATION STRATEGY

FIGURE 4: Incentives for implementation of energy efciency and conservation strategy

Understandably, reducing costs and increasingprots were the most popular inuencing factors. Itis interesting to note that employee satisfaction and‘impressing existing and prospective customers’are the least likely factors to inuence retailers –

suggesting that there is a considerable informationgap among Jamaican retailers. In the UK, forinstance, appearing to be ‘green’ is a signicantdriver of energy-efciency measures.


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3.6 Existing incentives

In October 2008, the Development Bank ofJamaica (DBJ) ofcially launched the PetrocaribeSmall and Medium Enterprise Energy Fund(the Petrocaribe Fund), which providesnancial support for energy audits, ESCOs andmanufacturers of energy efciency equipment anddevices. One billion Jamaican dollars was madeavailable through the Petrocaribe Fund, although,at the time of the study in 2010/11, there had beeninsufcient interest in the scheme.

According to Dr Green, the PCJ would like to seethe emergence of ESCOs, which would provideretailers with an energy audit and then implement theopportunities identied at a percentage of the retailers’monthly energy bill over an agreed period of time.

In December 2010, the DBJ lowered the rate onloans for energy projects from 12% to 9%. Duringthe interview stage of the study, Dr Green conrmedthat retailers would qualify for those loans.


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4. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Since the late 1990s, leading US and global retailbusinesses such as Walmart, Tesco and Kohl’s(which has stores in 49 US states) have been spurredinto action to reduce their impact on the climate andto inuence governments’ environmental policies.Such corporations are no longer primarily concernedwith risk management and protecting the bottomline; they are now nding ways to lever new businessopportunities. According to Yudelson (2009) a 2007survey by a major consulting rm demonstratedthat the ‘best-in-class’ retailers not only achievedramatic cost savings (20% decrease in energycosts) – especially when compared to industrylaggards (39% increase in energy costs) – but alsodramatically improved customer loyalty.

Those companies that have already responded tothe energy efciency and sustainability imperativeshave done so, at least in part, because they wanta head start over their competitors in learning howto reduce their emissions, but also due to growingpressure from stakeholders such as investors andconsumer groups. Stakeholders are pushing fortransparency on climate-related risks and the

integration of climate concerns into companies’ corebusiness strategies. There may also be considerablerisk to a company’s brand and reputation ifcustomers, partners, investors and employees donot view the rm as acting responsibly with regardto climate change. The potential physical impact ofclimate change on business operations is anotherconcern among corporate leaders.

According to Lubin and Esty (2010), business leadersfocus on four principal stages of value creation:

1. Reduce cost, risks and waste and deliverproof-of-value;

2. Redesign selected products, processes orbusiness functions to optimise performance;

3. Drive revenue growth by integrating innovativeapproaches into core strategies;

4. Differentiate value propositions through newbusiness models that utilise these innovations toenhance corporate culture and brand leadershipto secure a long-lasting competitive advantage.


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Ever increasing energy consumption will make itnecessary to generate more electricity; and becauseelectricity production is an energy-intensive process(that is, not all fuel burned converts directly touseable energy), reductions in electricity use providegreater environmental and cost benets (Wright, 2010).This means that if energy efciency and conservationstrategies are implemented by retailers, their energyuse – and, by extension, their operating costs – willreduce while also beneting the wider environment.

The rst challenge in implementing an energyefciency and conservation strategy within theretail sector is cost. Other challenges include: thecapabilities of the design and construction teams toprovide green features on conventional budgets, thedisparity between the building owners, as the partythat incurs the costs of green features and tenants isthe party that get the benets. Other issues relate towriting green tenant guidelines.

Many of the retailers who have begun to reduceenergy use in stores have done so with the guidanceand assistance of LEED and BREEAM systems.

In general, Jamaican retailers have yet to pursuethese international certications. Greater awarenessof these options should therefore be a priority action.

The study sheds light on the awareness,implementation, savings, barriers and incentives toenergy efciency and conservation strategies in theretail industry in Jamaica. It revealed areas wheresystematic changes could be made to improvethe industry’s contribution to the national target ofreducing fossil fuel energy consumption while beingnancially benecial to the retailers.

Below is a summary of recommendations based onthe ndings and experience during the research:

• Organise retailers and other sectors to make themost of government resources and incentives toimprove energy efciency and conservation;

• Teach retailers how to calculate their returns oninvestment and how to quantify their actual orestimated savings from implementing energy-efciency measures;

• Provide a national ‘community of practice’ spacefor ideas, results and experience of failures andsuccesses to be recorded and shared betweenindustries;

• Improve the system of tracking retailers (whichwill also help many other government effortsincluding tax collection);

• Improve the quality and quantity of industrystatistics held by the Statistical Institute of Jamaicato cover the number of retailers by parish;

• Encourage professionals in the constructionindustry to design for energy efciency and withdue consideration to initial and life-cycle costs;this means that the Bureau of Standards Buildingcode needs to be promulgated and reinforcedby legislation in the interest of the nationalconsumption targets;

• Introduce and promote third party certicationsuch as LEED which will help to increaseawareness, implementation and nancialbenets for retailers;


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• Develop a case study locally to highlight bestpractices and stimulate implementation;

• Encourage retailers to publish their achievementsin the implementation of energy efciency andconservation strategies to increase knowledgewithin the industry.


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5. CONCLUSION

Jamaican retailers are aware of energy efciencyand conservation strategies and have begunimplementation to a limited extent. The removal ofthe barriers identied and the addition of incentiveswill multiply the achievable reductions in operatingcosts. Still, many Jamaican retailers prefer to waitand see the people, planet and prot benets of thestrategies before outlaying their capital.

The comparisons of geographically similar retailmarkets presented in this study serve to highlightwhere Jamaica may go next in terms of policies andactions to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

The economies of scale enjoyed by large overseasretail establishments might not be available for smalland medium-sized retailers in Jamaica, as retail storesrarely reach sizes of over 20,000 square feet. However,the small size of the local stores should not dissuaderetailers, because many smaller retailers in othercountries have designed LEED and BREEAM-certiedstores. Certication is also available for stand-alonestores, those placed in malls or strip centres.

In general, retailers seem interested in thestrategies and the Jamaican Government shouldtake advantage of their interest by providing thenecessary assistance for wide scale implementation.

Although respondents said that the Government didnot show enough interest, the research uncoveredGovernment plans to drive forward its efforts in 2011through the Petrocaribe and Adaptation Funds.

With this in mind, two key nding of the study areparticularly pertinent:

• Initial costs and lack of nancial incentives arethe most commonly cited barriers to introducingenergy-saving strategies among Jamaican retailers– suggesting that there is considerable scope forGovernment-funded support schemes;

• With more than half of the sample citing ‘lackof knowledge’ as a barrier to energy efciency,it is likely that a national awareness-raising andinformation campaign could have a positive impacton the uptake of energy-saving measures.


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REFERENCES

Esty, DC and Winton, A (2009). Green To Gold: HowSmart Companies Use Environmental StrategyTo Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive

Advantage. New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Green, E (2010). Private communication (interview byRamona McConnel, 29 November 2010).

Hawken, Paul, Lovins, Amory and Lovins, L Hunter(1999). Natural Capitalism Creating the Next IndustrialRevolution. Boston, USA: Little, Brown and Company.

Lobash, M (2003). ‘Stores Slash Energy Costs:Investment in energy-saving technologies is a smallprice to pay for reduced electric bills’, BuildingOperating Management, July 2003. Available at:

[Accessed 20 November 2012].

Lubin, DA and Esty, DC (2010). ‘Lessons for leadersfrom previous game-changing megatrends’, HarvardBusiness Review, May 2010, pp. 43–50.

Ministry of Energy and Mining (2008). ‘EnergyConservation & Efciency Policy 2008–2022’.Ministry Paper No. 61/08. Kingston, Jamaica:Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Pew Center for Climate Change (2009). Climate 101Understanding and Responding to Global ClimateChange. January 2009. (Revised 2011 and publishedby Center for Climate and Energy Solutions) Availableat [Accessed 20 November 2012].

Planning Institute of Jamaica (2010). Economic andSocial Survey of Jamaica 2009. Kingston: PIOJ.

Prindle, W and Fontaine, A (2009). CorporateEnergy Efciency Survey Results, Pew Centre onGlobal Climate Change. Available at: [Accessed 20 November 2012]

Thurston CW (2002). ‘Big Business/Bagging theGrocer’, Energy Customer Management, May/June2002, pp. 58–64.

Wright, RM (2010). Energy The New Agenda.Kingston, Jamaica: Raymond M. Wright.

Yudelson, J (2009). Sustainable Retail DevelopmentNew Success Strategies. International Council ofShopping Centres (pp 74, 75, 76, and 181)


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FURTHER READING

Lockwood, C (2006). ‘Building The Green Way’,Harvard Business Review, June 2006.

Ministry of Energy and Mining (2006). ‘Green Paper:The Jamaica Energy Policy 2006–2020’. Kingston,Jamaica: Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Ministry of Energy and Mining (2009). ‘NationalEnergy Policy 2009–2030’. Kingston, Jamaica:Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (n.d.). Policydocuments and related materials, available from:.

Planning Institute of Jamaica (2008). Vision 2030:Jamaica’s National Development Plan. Kingston,Jamaica: Planning Institute of Jamaica.

Schneider Electric (2008). ‘White Paper: Makingpermanent savings through active energy efciency’.

Available at: [Accessed 20 November 2012].

Stringer, L (2009). The Green Workplace:Sustainable Strategies that Benet Employers, theEnvironment, and the Bottom Line. New York, USA:Palgrave Macmillan.

Taylor, J (1993). Energy Conservation andEfciency: The Case Against Coersion. WashingtonDC, USA: Cato Institute. Available at: [Accessed 20 November 2012].


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Studies at the University of Technology, Jamaicacommenced my journey into the world of RealEstate, Construction, Project and FacilitiesManagement. Having held a Real Estate Brokerlicence in Jamaica and worked as Property Ofcer,Property Services Ofcer and Senior EstateOfcer for approximately ten years, I enrolled atthe College of Estate Management for the secondtime in the RICS Post Graduate Diploma inProject Management course. Later, I successfullycompleted the MBA in Construction and RealEstate with the University of Reading, UK.

My most signicant experience with energyefciency and conservation strategies was gainedat work with the Government of Jamaica from2007-2012 when I worked as Facilities Manager.There I designed and implemented an energy andwater conservation strategy. The programmeincluded among other projects, a simpledelamping exercise to remove excess lightingxtures throughout the premises, the installationof motion sensors in restrooms, the installation ofenergy efcient window lms, the reallocation ofbase loads for chiller units and installing a waterrecycling plant to use the waste water from the airconditioning units for landscaping purposes.

All the efforts saw a reduction in resourceconsumption, which was new and exciting fora government agency that is perennially underbudgetary constraints. It was very intriguingfor me and I was on a self imposed missionto implement any project that could save thegovernment money. I had discovered the linkbetween people, planet and prot.

I have been married for eight years and have twochildren. We recently migrated to the UnitedStates and I am anticipating the next phase ofmy career. I was the recipient of a British Councilof Shopping Centres (BCSC) award in 2010and am a member of the International FacilitiesManagement Association (IFMA).


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© College of Estate Management 2013

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nor as to any projections contained in this report which are necessarily of anysubjective nature and subject to uncertainty and which constitute only CEM’sopinion as to likely future trends or events based on information known to CEMat the date of this publication. CEM shall not in any circumstances be under anyliability whatsoever to any other person for any loss or damage arising in any wayas a result of reliance on this publication.


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The College of Estate ManagementWhiteknights, Reading,RG6 6AW United Kingdom

CEM is the leading provider of education, training andresearch for the real estate and construction industries.No other institution offers the same range and qualityof specialist expertise to the property profession.

Over the past 90 years, we have helped more than150,000 people, at all levels of the profession, with a

wide range of business and academic backgrounds, togain the skills they need to enhance their careers.

While we are an independent organisation, we have a closerelationship with the University of Reading and strong linkswith a range of professional bodies and major propertyrms. CEM is increasingly global in outlook.

Drawing on our extensive knowledge base, professionalcontacts and independent standpoint, research is a corearea of CEM’s activities, both to ensure the quality andrelevance of our education programme and to offer avital service to the property profession.