We all welcomed the breeze back – the weather in the past few days has been tolerable. Anyone still unconvinced about global warming and the rise of temperatures, just needs to stick his/her nose outside.
Elmar has circulated a press release on September 21st, and I thought it was super interesting since we all have a relationship with our air-conditioners, and we all dread the bill at the end of September, our hottest month of the year.
Elmar reported peak electricity consumption on September 14th, when we jointly used 144.5 megawatts. Then on September 15th we broke two records, first a peak of 146.4 MW, then another record of 151.5 MW.
Keep in mind that the average demand for electricity in Aruba is 98.3 MW, on an ordinary day, but every year in September we break records in search of cooler places.
Last year, in 2022, we registered a consumption peak of 137.6 MW
In 2021 the peak was 128.1 MW, and in 2020, 121.9 MW.
Again we use the most electricity in September, but gratefully the month is almost coming to an end. October tends to be a tiny bit cooler.
No doubt, writes Elmar, climate change and rising temperatures are putting extra stress on our infrastructure, and every heatwave affects our current distribution.
Elmar would like to remind us to save, turn lights off and on, invest in energy-efficient appliances, isolate home windows and roofs against the heat, and most of all be grateful that we have a stable grid, and that the electricity rates here, are the lowest in the Caribbean.
You heard me right.
According to Elmar, we pay the least of all Caribbean islands, but we should use current more conscientiously.
Our distribution company aims at being more sustainable, and reliable, and be able to answer all consumers’ needs, but we must collaborate and do our share to reduce the carbon footprint.
At the end of the release Elmar gave us a little chart indicating the average load of 98.3 MW, VS peak demand of 151.1 MW, which represent an incredible increase YTD.
Investment and expansion? Elmar is determined to mitigate the impact on our environment and is investing to expand its transformers by 7 MW annually, and expanding the distribution cables by 6 MW annually.
While we were talking about the heat among friends, we commented on the drive to ‘beautify’ Baby Beach and environ with more asphalt, clinkers, and parking lots.
It’s time for our decision makers to assimilate the message that parking lots, and clinkers, and concrete contribute to the problem, they bake in the sun, store heat and acerbate the challenge of global warming, we need more trees for shade, local, indigenous, not finicky palms, and more dirt, that doesn’t heat up as much as black tar,
Parking lots are no upgrades. We should aim at having less of them.
