Alternative energy

The ever-increasing oil prices are affecting the whole world. However, here in Malta we know that during the last 25-odd years the government has done nothing or close to nothing to incentivise people and local industry to start using cheaper and greener ways of energy to produce electricity, minimising the effect of the increase in oil prices on our lives and the economy.

We live in a country which enjoys good sunlight all year round, but the use of solar energy and solar power generation is remote and still expensive.

For three-quarters of the year, we have winds capable of generating electricity but wind-powered generators are still something of the future here.

As an island, Malta can generate wave energy to produce power.

Still, we get all our electrical energy from expensive and polluting oil-burning power stations.

I recently read an article about Iceland, which, unlike Malta, has limited sunlight all year round but boasts another energy asset: geothermal energy which, through geothermal power stations, generates power at less cost.

Geothermal energy is as abundant in Iceland as sunlight is in Malta, and is extremely cheap with no side effects whatsoever on climate and on the environment. The main difference is that in Iceland they use this abundant source and here in Malta we do not use ours.

The changeover has to start from our government and from all European governments with the reduction of taxes and added costs on all green sources of energy.