As a former director of a global energy exchange, I have a professional interest in Robert Buddan's excellent article in The Sunday Gleaner (June 28).

I believe that PetroCaribe could be the basis of a new approach to local energy trading, and financing through 'unitisation' of energy and 'clearing' energy obligations.

What I mean by this is simply that the producers of energy either in the form of electricity, or in the form of natural gas and refined fuels, such as gasolene, diesel, heating oil, etc could simply issue units redeemable in the energy they supply.

These units would be priced against a unit of measure - a fixed amount of energy which one might term a 'petro' or 'energy dollar' - and exchanged either for conventional currency or for anything else acceptable to the seller.

A carbon levy

Different forms of energy may then change hands on credit terms subject to a mutual guarantee, and with a payment (a carbon levy) made by both seller and buyer into a PetroCaribe Carbon Pool fund.

The fund would be available in the event of defaults and would also be used for direct investment throughout the Caribbean in renewable energy and energy savings.

The outcome is a combination of a Caribbean Energy 'Clearing Union' and a Carbon Pool fund aimed at correcting the current energy imbalances.

'Unitisation' of energy is not rocket science, and it is under active consideration by two major governments, one being Iran.

I am, etc.,

CHRIS COOKE

cojock@hotmail.com

West Lothian

United Kingdom