Month: April 2024

Here comes the sun? Cayman to go fully solar within 20 years

Policy seeks to curb market power of CUC

Solar panels are visible on the rooftops of homes at the Cypress Pointe development.

Cayman’s ambitious new (updated) energy policy seeks to get rid of fossil fuels and petrol-powered cars within a generation, transforming the island to 100% clean energy and electric vehicles.

The revised National Energy Policy, approved by Cabinet, also includes safeguards to ensure fair competition for green energy contracts.

The document, published Friday, was immediately welcomed by the Cayman Renewable Energy Association, which hailed it as “the largest step forward to date” on the road to an affordable, sustainable energy future for Cayman.

The headline commitment to reach 100% energy from renewable sources by 2045 is hugely ambitious given the slow rate of progress on incorporating solar and wind energy in Cayman so far.

Despite the benefit of year-round sunshine, the jurisdiction currently sits at 3% renewable penetration, with the rest coming from diesel-powered generators.

https://bit.ly/4d9eLu2

Five Year Review | Cayman Islands National Energy Policy 2024 – 2045

On 16 April 2024, Cabinet approved the updated National Energy Policy 2024-2045 and the accompanying Implementation and Monitoring Plan.

This is the first update to the National Energy Policy since its initial approval by the Cayman Islands Government in 2017.

Following an extensive consultative process as well as constructive dialogues and stakeholder feedback, the updated National Energy Policy includes revised targets, new definitions, and strategies to ensure market fairness and consumer inclusion. The Policy will be reviewed in two years, to ensure that the goals and implementation strategies remain feasible and aligned with global efforts to combat climate change.

The Vision of the National Energy Policy is:

“Enhancing and embracing a sustainable lifestyle through responsible and innovative energy supply and consumption”

https://www.gov.ky/energy/programmes/national-energy-policy

Lavender, Israel’s artificial intelligence system that decides who to bomb in Gaza

Israel has crossed another line in the automation of war. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have developed a program supported by artificial intelligence (AI) to select the victims of its bombings, a process that traditionally needs to be manually verified until a person can be confirmed to be a target. Called Lavender, this system identified 37,000 Palestinians as potential targets during the first weeks of the war, and between October 7 and November 24, it was used in at least 15,000 murders in the invasion of Gaza, according to a journalistic investigation by two Israeli media, +972 Magazine and Local Call, which was published in The Guardian.

(https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-04-17/lavender-israels-artificial-intelligence-system-that-decides-who-to-bomb-in-gaza.html)