Progressive Minds

I served in the Regiment from 2003 to 2006. In my first year of service Bermuda was struck by Hurricane Fabian, and in subsequent years I served in Operation Cayman Comeback and Operation Spice (actually, I can't remember the official name for that one...) in the Cayman Islands and Greneda respectively. Both of those non-Bermuda operations were concerned with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. These experiences have left a deep impression on me concerning hurricanes and their impact on social welfare.

One particular issue that struck me from these experiences was the importance of food storage, food preparation, security and continuing education. With the power grid temporarily knocked out, food stored in the fridges quickly goes off, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure proper cooking of food and potable water (this is of particular importance for pregnant women/new mothers, and the elderly), security - especially for women and elderly - is reduced due to lack of light, as is the capacity for children to pursue their studies after dark.

Now Bermuda has some rather strict building codes, mostly just for the purpose of reducing damage and injuries from hurricanes. As such, I wonder whether or not it is now time to add to these building laws to ensure that each house is capable of generating enough energy to power a fridge, a stove-top and at least one outdoor light and one indoor light. I'll accept that it may be practically difficult to power a stove-top and not the whole oven, so maybe it should be removed from that list for now, with bbq's perhaps fulfilling that role. Another possible idea would be to power a pump for the water tank.

The lights should be those energy-efficient compact flourescents (CFLs), and all that would be required are two, one indoor, preferably in the kitchen, and one outdoor by the main door. I think the 20watt CFLs would be the correct substitutes for two 60watt 'traditional' light-bulbs. I haven't found the energy requirements of an energy efficient fridge though, so I am unable to offer that here.

I am of the understanding though that existing solar panel technology is sufficient to allow the mounting of a unit on each residential building that would power a fridge and these two light-bulbs. I understand that there may be some concern about aesthetics, but I personally think the pros outweigh the cons, and could actually enhance our tourism product. In addition there are transparent solar panels that could further reduce the aesthetic impact of solar (an example link is below). Small scale wind power generation could also be of use in this area.

I would advocate that government pursue a study to determine the possibility of such a system, and then attempt to adjust our building laws accordingly. This of course would primarily affect the future construction of homes, but subsidies can be made to encourage the conversion of existing homes along these lines, with emphasis being on areas of high population density.

I also think that commercial buildings should have a mandatory percentage (say 25%) of their energy use self-created. Alot of the commercial buildings have roofs that would be prime locations for solar panels, and policies can be implemented not only to make a certain percentage of generation mandatory, but to provide incentives for producing above this quota. I reckon alot of those flat rooftops in Hamilton could benefit from such a policy. And all of our social welfare would benefit also.

And just think about how much the post-hurricane noise pollution of emergency generators could be decreased by such an initiative? Naturally, during regular times, when we haven't been hit by a hurricane and had our electricity grid knocked out, these systems can still power the lights and fridge, and contribute to a reduced demand on BELCO, not to mention cheaper electricity bills!

Transparent PVs - http://www.pvresources.com/en/transparent.php