The Editor, Sir:

I have just paid a whopping $500 increase over what I paid three months ago for a 100-pound cylinder of cooking gas.

It has been reported that last year's increase in the price of oil pushed Jamaica's oil bill from US$1.7 billion to US$2.2 billion. High oil costs are forcing us to restrict expenditure for other necessities, as well as to suffer a stultified economy.

Indigenous sources

It is gratifying to know that The University of Technology is researching indigenous sources to reduce Jamaica's oil bill, as well as to produce more environmental-friendly energy sources. Dr Paul Campbell of UTech is hoping that energy adaptations converting indigenous waste will be one of the major means of reducing the use of oil in Jamaica.

The Jamaican public needs to become more informed on what UTech is doing, and in what ways we will benefit.

Advanced countries are well on their way in exploiting and using water as a fuel. We, in Jamaica, who are endowed and surrounded by such an inexhaustible and renewable energy source as the Caribbean Sea, ought not to allow ourselves to be left behind in developing technology to make cheaper and more efficient fuel.

I am, etc.,

OREN COUSINS

cousinsoren@yahoo.com