It has been reported on the Times that Minister Austin Gatt has gone on record stating words to the effect that investing in alternative sources of energy (with the exception of nuclear energy) would be more expensive compared to remaining with fossil fuels. He also went on to note that there exists a cable that leads from Malta to Sicily that would enable Malta to purchase electricity from abroad.

Yet Dr. Gatt also went on record stating that investment within a deep sea wind farm is still on the drawing board – never mind that weeks earlier it was reported that the Nationalist government was still looking into exactly how it would implement another electoral promise of energy-saving bulbs.

What was not mentioned however, is how this fits in with the earlier refusal/ stonewalling of an alternative energy laboratory several years ago to have been set up in the vicinity of what has now been sold off to the owners of Smart City.

What is also similarly confounding to common logic is Dr. Gatt’s sound judgement on the viability of alternative energy in the context of a resource as volatile in supply and in price as oil. Is his judgement not as unsound as if the Mayor of Venice were to come out and say that loss of the city to the waves would be viable comparative to the setting up of sea water barriers to keep water levels down at high tide?

What one deeply suspects at this time is that the following may be true. The undersea cable is in itself an expressed interest in purchasing power from abroad. While this may very well make economic sense, the government needs to remember that it is running a country and not a private company. They are running our lives and I for one would like to see that they don’t ruin our lives through furthering the existing dependency culture that persists throughout various segments of society.

Sure alternative energy ‘may’ be more costly in the short run, perhaps over the span of five-to-ten years, but beyond this time an intelligently set up alternative energy grid would pay off big time. We also need to incorporate alternative energy into our daily lives – our architecture – not just out at sea (which I would be wary of, not convinced of the government’s ability to properly set up and maintain such feats of engineering so far out of the discerning sight of its citizens). Furthermore one cannot neglect to mention that alternative energies tend to be greener and this in itself could have a positive effect upon pollution related healthcare costs.

It is a responsibility, but it is firmly my belief that privatizing the family silver is not going to pay up the booze forever. The government cannot continue to shun what used to be and remains its responsibilities and, if it truly isn’t prepared to face the challenges head on, then perhaps it should step aside for those who will as such responsibilities were and remain strategic interests in promoting and upholding the living standards of the people.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Local Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.