“I don’t know whether we have we have lost our focus or whether we are paying attention, but our focus on renewable energy, we need to pay attention to that,” Vanterpool said in the House of Assembly recently.

But the legislator noted that more is required than just simply paying attention to that resource.

“Where is our renewable energy policy? Where are we with it? How are we going to address it? How are we going to invest in it? There is need for an investment in it,” Vanterpool said.

He continued: “It requires capital investment to get renewable energy on our agenda and make it work for our territory and for the globe as a whole.”

According to Vanterpool, some 400 billion dollars was recently approved by the US government with an emphasis on renewable energy.

“What are we doing here in our little territory to emphasise renewable energy in the direction that we should be going?” he asked.

“[There is] 13- or 14- or 15 thousand homes in the territory of the Virgin Islands and everyone has forgotten that we have the sun shining down and the sun can give us energy to produce electricity in all of our homes in many ways without any major, major capital investment,” Vanterpool said.

Vanterpool made reference to a programme that he said was previously executed in the neighbouring United States Virgin Islands that allowed homeowners to attach their water heaters to renewable energy sources and said a similar programme could possibly be implemented in the BVI as part of its efforts in reducing global warming.

He said the issue of global warming is affecting local food prices and energy costs and said ultimately affects people and individual homes in the BVI.

“We think it’s in the abstract, it is not. It is facing us directly into our eyes on a day-to-day basis as the cost of shipping has almost quadrupled over the last 12 months,” Vanterpool said.