AD urges incentives for use of alternative energy

Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday urged the government to introduce fiscal and other incentives to save energy, encourage the use of alternative sources of energy and reduce the country's dependence on oil.

Speaking against a background of rising oil prices, AD chairman Harry Vassallo said the party had long been proposing an energy audit in the industrial and domestic sectors to establish the opportunities that existed to reduce the energy bill.

For example, it was inconceivable in this sun-drenched island that an average of 20 per cent of electricity bills in Malta went towards water heating, when this could easily be done through solar heating. Unfortunately, however, there was no effective incentive to promote the use of solar heating.

Each new home should have a solar collector and those investing in such a collector should be given an incentive on the rest of the electricity bill, he said.

A price should also be established at which Enemalta could buy energy from individuals and organisations that produced more energy than they required.

There was also need to improve substantially public transport as a way to reduce the number of cars on the roads. And more vehicles needed to operate on cleaner fuel.

Malta, he said, could become a model for the world rather than have unsustainable levels of traffic and pollution which were among the highest in the world.

Dr Vassallo said it was unfortunate that the Malta Resources Authority was not making its presence felt.