PCJ energy competition offers over $1 million in prizes

OVER $1 million in prizes is up for grabs as the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) kicks off the GOJ Energy Champion Competition, an initiative of its Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme (EECP).

The competition, which targets students and public-sector employees, is aimed at increasing awareness about energy efficiency, conservation and sustainability. It began on October 1, will run until year end and involves two components which allow participants to enter individually or as an organisation or school.

For the individual component, students and public-sector workers can enter the competition by creating a video of themselves performing a jingle, poem or dub poetry about energy efficiency and conservation. The video, which should be no longer than 45 seconds, must then be tagged to the EECP’s Facebook and Instagram pages named ‘Ease Up on Energy’.

To be in the running for a prize, videos must accumulate a minimum of 50 reactions that include ‘likes’, ‘loves’ and other emojis in the month posted.

While the individual component of the Energy Champion Competition is social media-oriented, the organisations and schools component is more technical. This area of the competition requires participants to form an energy management committee that will create an energy management plan that takes JPS bills received over the course of the contest into consideration and ultimately complete an energy audit. Therefore, participating entities are required to have their own JPS meters.

The Government of Jamaica has invested more than J$1 billion in energy efficiency interventions and equipment for public-sector entities in the past five years. The EECP aims to sustain this investment by promoting awareness and inspiring behavioural changes among workers at the benefiting entities.

PCJ Group General Manager Winston Watson said: “The Government has spent considerable resources to make public-sector entities more energy efficient in order to reduce the national

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energy bill. To preserve this investment, we are getting public-sector workers and students actively involved in conservation, which should translate into lower energy consumption at workplaces, schools and in homes.”

The GOJ Energy Champion Competition is a team-based approach to energy management, allowing participants to gain points as they complete each step.

The rewards for the winners include energy interventions or energy-saving appliances valued at $500,000 for first place, $350,000 for second place, and $200,000 for third place.

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