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Bio-energy training conducted in Belize

Representatives of various organisations in Belize were recently trained in the use of bio-energy resources as part of a course offered by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in cooperation with the GIZ/REETA.

The training, part of its capacity-building thrust, was conducted at the training centre of the CCCCC in Belmopan, Belize, and concluded on Friday. Participants were Gilroy Lewis, General Manager of the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority; Shahera McKoy, Manager, and Nicole Zetina, Project Manager, BELTRAIDE; Jeneva Jones, Head of Science Department, and Ana Hernandez, Agricultural Science Teacher, Belmopan Comprehensive High School; Ryan Zuniga, Lecturer, the University of Belize; Jorge Chuck, Manager, ITVET; Jale Letkeman, General Manager, Farmers’ Light Plant Corporation, Spanish Lookout, and Jomo Myles, student and Sugar Industry Stakeholder.

The two-week course was directed by Tobias Sengfelder of GoGreen Ltd. At the opening, Dr. Kenrick Leslie, Director of the CCCCC, and Dr. Uric Trotz, Deputy Director, both welcomed participants and thanked GIZ for its contribution. They also expressed gratitude to Mr Henrik Personn, of CIM/GIZ for his efforts, especially in the capacity-building and Waste-to-Energy sector in Belize.

Participants, who successfully completed the course, received certificates. They now have the ability to plan, prepare and conduct bio-energy training seminars, and implement bio-energy projects to high standards.

Bioenergy as a renewable energy resource offers many advantages. It can be converted into various forms of secondary and final energy. Biomass, the primary energy source, can be transformed into solid, liquid and gaseous energy carriers. The combustion of these energy carriers can produce heat, cold, electricity, mechanical power or a combination of these. Even better than this, bio-energy is storable, so it can be converted right at the time when energy is needed to balance the differences between energy supply and demand.

 

A press release from the Climate Change Centre said that while Belize aims to increase its share of renewable energy, bio-energy, particularly biogas, was not utilised in industrial scales there. The training programme, the release, said, provided an excellent opportunity for professional development in the renewable energy field while ensuring the sustainable use of the knowledge.

“The course was very informative. We learned to make use of different biomass resources such as sugar cane and corn. I think it is something we can use throughout the Caribbean and not only here in Belize. It seems to
be very useful. It is something we should continue to look into,” said Alton Daly, an intern at the CCCCC.

The head of the Belmopan Comprehensive High School Science Department, Jeneva Jones, felt that the course “was very informative about how to create electricity from different biomass that is readily available to us. We need to put more people in the science field to ensure that the use of bioenergy becomes viable.”

Ryan Zuniga, a lecturer at the University of Belize also had high hopes after completing the course.

“Seeing the output of such a system will garner far more support for science and research. It will assist us in developing ways to curb our energy cost and mitigate against climate change. I think it is something that would be very useful at UB and at the lower levels of the education system,” he said.


Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre coordinates the Region’s response to climate change. Officially opened in August 2005, the Centre is the key node for information on climate change issues and the Region’s response to managing and adapting to climate change. The Centre maintains the Caribbean’s most extensive repository of information and data on climate change specific to the Region, which, in part enables it to provide climate change-related policy advice and guidelines to CARICOM Member States through the CARICOM Secretariat. In this role, the Centre is recognised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Programme, and other international agencies as the focal point for climate change issues in the Caribbean. The Centre is also a United Nations Institute for Training and Research recognised Centre of Excellence, one of an elite few.

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