Sunday, 1st November 2009 - 14:25CET
Energy pricing should reflected cost of oil and encourage lower use - PM
The Prime Minister said this morning he was embarrassed to read certain e-mails he received on illegal migration.
He said during an interview with Francesca Vella, from The Malta Independent, that he told those who wrote these e-mails that the immigrants were people too, that the Maltese were proud of their values and that they should live such values.
He urged the Labour Party to do the same with such e-mails.
Dr Gonzi said that earlier this week he lobbied with a number of European Prime Ministers requesting their country’s support to Malta's bid to host an asylum and care office.
The Prime Minister spoke on energy prices saying that oil had to be paid for so the solution was to have a system which fluctuated according to oil prices and urged people to be careful about consumption.
Energy consumption in the past months, he said, had gone down eight percent showing that people were being more careful.
He said that Malta should not make the mistake of depending on an infrastructure which operated only on only one source of fuel to produce energy.
Other countries faced major problems at the beginning of the year when Russia closed the gas pipeline to the extent that certain factories had had to close.
So a strategy which utilised different sources was needed to ensure that Malta would not be caught without energy, he said.
The government, the Prime Minister said, would be explaining the different mechanisms that would be used to finance different energy projects.
Studies on the wind strength and direction had started in the north of the island and if these studies showed that a wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda was viable, a call for tenders would be issued.
The private sector would operate the farm and the government would buy the energy.
An interconnector, he said, was important not just for the country to buy energy but also to sell any unused energy it produced.
The Prime Minister referred to recent statistics which showed that Malta was 9th with least number of people looking for work from among EU countries. This, he said, was a huge achievement especially since a good number of people had been made redundant in the past year and more than 3,000 had entered the workforce.
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Tista tghidli min qallek li Barack Obama kapaci? Spegali daqsxejn:
free health care lil immigranti illegali Messikani
1.4trillion federal deficit
talk to our enemies (instead of killing them)
spreading the wealth ala Marx
no missile efence system for East Europe
etc, etc
You said ' Gonzi ..........You are a lawyer, and lawyers have no idea how to run modern economies. '
Just for your information:
I am sure you agree that one of the world's most well known 'modern economies' is the USA.
Who is the President of and therefore is a major player in running the economy of the USA? Barack Obama.
What is President Obama's profession? Lawyer.
Barack Obama
jekk baqa' gvern ( jien nahseb li lanqas oppozizjoni ma baqa bi 300 euros li kien hadu il budget liehor ax kieku hemm EFA floppozizjoni kieku kull nhar ta-sibt jamlu protesta strada jrali il belt valletta bla bieb kif gejja issa
lanqas li kontu qed ituh b'xejn.
ghidu il verita ghal darba - issa ninsabu fl-UE u l-politika ta' Malta titmexxa minn Brussel; u huma ma jaqblux mas-sussidji anke jekk ikun hemm raguni socjali. Ghalhekk il-gvern malti (jekk baqa' gvern) qed ikun imgieghel minn Brussel biex jimxi bil-politika tas-suq hieles.
punto. halluna nghixu fil-paci.
So a strategy which utilised different sources was needed to ensure that Malta would not be caught without energy, he said.
what are you waiting for. you have been in government for more than twenty years.
Meanwhile immigrants are being FORCED to live in an overpopulated country with neither the resources nor the space to integrate them successfully. Not to forget that whoever dares trying to escape from here is sent to prison. That is all thanks to the Dublin convention whom the PN government had signed in the first place. A government who ratified the Lisbon treaty without asking for an opt out from that treaty.
Could you please kindly mention just one hedging fund company that accepts a ten year fixed price contract?
Of course you cannot, because no one binds oneself for such a long period.
So, please when you post your comments at least try to be honest and factual.
Thanks.
JC.
Old people do not waste but they do have special needs
If he is the person that converted his house in Mosta to a complete energy saving home where he is even recylicing drain water and won an international award for it should be put as an Engineer to Manage our water and natural energy resources!!
In the last years in Malta even the simple law to have a water resorvoir (BIR) in every house or building was ingnored by building contractors and MEPA should be ashamed!!
Even the Knights 400 years ago aknowledged the problem of water supply on the Island and build reservoirs in Valletta even if they had the Aquadot supplying them!!
What about Mater Dei Hospital where are the solar panels to reduce electricity consumption !!
How much solar water heaters are affordable for Joe the Citizen??!!
Yes Dr.Gonzi people should pay according to the price of oil so why didn't Enemalta buy at least a year supply @ $40 to guarantee prices for that period?
I forgot that Enemalta is almostly bankcrupt and can't afford to fork out money in advance!!
Please be honest and tell people that this corporation can't be subsidied anymore!!
I take it you are a qualified economist who has successfully run modern economies, and therefore more competent than our PM?
We started living beyond our means. Now we don't know any different.
Women went out to work for "airconditioners" now we cannot do without them but the cost of energy is unaffordable.
Women now go out to work to make ends meet because we're used to better living conditions.
We believed that we will always have it so good and if we don't it's ok to take out a loan.
A loan taken you out though!
Whoever said live beyond your means might now consider his responsibility in saying this!
That is why you shouldn't listen to "voices" in a desert by be your own wo/man! When you're down no-one will bother to help you up!
Now the minister wants to switch off street lights!!! What next?
@ Aldo Attard - You said "Why are we letting all this God given rain water to waste?" I fully agree with you, in fact some years ago I suggested that all large roundabouts, especially if they are in a slope, like the one at l-Iklin, be dug as water reservoirs. Even if they are not made waterproof thus leaving the water to seep into the aqufier. Otherwise they might be made accessible to whoever wants to extract the water gathered in them
The sole generator in Malta EneMalta is not informing the public of what measures it has taken this last year to inprove its generation efficiency from the unacceptable level of 23%.
A normal powerstation should run at least at 35% average. If EneMalta could manage this the energy bill would be reduced by 30% , saving millions in the process. Of course , this cannot be managed in one year , but at least EMC should show progress in its generation efficiency.
1) Between Malta- Comino- Gozo there are powerful underwater currents which can be harnessed. Strength is variable, but constant.
2) Any diver can tell you, that on the continental shelf, the underwater currents are impressive. When diving there, it is not uncommon to be overpowered by these currents and flushed down the shelf face. I don't remember how long I was dragged, but it was dizzying. Again these currents can be harnessed, in multiple places, particularly where the shelf is steepest and the current strongest. It is like putting a turbine at the top and bottom of a water fall.
3) We can put photovoltaic cells on the following roofs - gov buildings, churches, convents, schools, airport, hotels, cavaliers and other large fortresses.
4) If you look into the wind farm debate, there are strong pro and con arguments. I don't know which convinces me the most, money wise. What I do know is that solar power is more constant, makes no noise, hardly spoils landscapes, kills no birds :-)
5) One-size-fits-all-policies-from-the-EU-don't-work-for-everyone-all-the-time.Sometimes-you-need-to-say-NO-if-things-lead-to-higher-charges.
But I do not think that the Maltese population is in a state to pay these high bills now.
I was taught that nearly one third ( 1/3 ) of the nation's energy goes to the manufacture of our potable water. It seems that the proportion is always on the increase.
Why are we letting all this God given rain water to waste, flooding our roads and damaging our infra structure.
Why our water supply structure is not studied profoundly and measures take to sustain our invaluable water table.
I am no match for the professionals but this for me makes common sense. ( Common sense is not so common; it seems )
Some time past there was D. M. who started " Risq il-widien "
This is R.R.R ( reuse, repair & recycle).
Un-employed.
"An interconnector, he said, was important not just for the country to buy energy but also to sell any unused energy it produced."
Mr Bezzina, if Gonzi didn't mean selling unused energy (unused by Malta) using the interconnector, what did he really mean?Oh I remember something about stipends remaining the same not to mean that they will remain the same. Or something to that effect.
As for wind farms they are only planned to generate a very small percentage of our needs, so how many farms are we going to have now to have more energy than we need?
As for water storage facilities, of course we have them. If the "surplus" energy is used to run the reverse osmosis plants, their production could be stored in the aquifer to replenish it and lower the salinity of our water.
Marco Cremona
You are correct. Several eu countries have been found to have exported dangerous waste to third world countries as fuel after giving them what they called free energy providers. A Masters thesis by Mr Augustus Debono on the subject can be found on http://www.cnimalta.org/sa.html
2) The price of oil had gone down to the 30-40 Dollar region earlier. Why didn't you hedge at that price, buying oil for 10 years at say 70 dollars ? 70 dollars is bearable. Since oil is running out, 70 dollars for 10 years would have been a bargain!
Quite clearly you don't understand how hedging works. To complete the transaction you would need someone to agree to sell the oil at 30-40 dollars for 10 years. In this case they would shoulder the loss. However if no-one is offering this type of deal, then it can't be entered into.
Who is insulting our intelligence the Prime Minister who has always said the facts about the price of oil and the world recession or Joseph Muscat who said this morning that the Mistra case might have been a decoy and never mentions about the re-rising of the price of oil and the on going recession?
And speaking about lower consumption, why, oh why is there so much waste of electricity in the streets, with lights on during daylight, for hours on end? Who pays for this electricty if not the tax-payer?
you are running a country with 400,000 people ...
as for energy costs reflecting the price of oil here are some pointers:
1) Dollar (down) Euro (up) so change in oil price in Euro terms is negligible. No need to alter charges !
2) The price of oil had gone down to the 30-40 Dollar region earlier. Why didn't you hedge at that price, buying oil for 10 years at say 70 dollars ? 70 dollars is bearable. Since oil is running out, 70 dollars for 10 years would have been a bargain!
3) Why is the EU forcing us to sign the Copenhagen treaty where we will be forced to give money to 3rd World Countries to fight climate change ? This will be reflected in the charges ! 3rd World Countries are corrupt, the money will buy weapons. So why make us pay !?!?
The answer to these questions is...you are incompetent.
You are a lawyer, and lawyers have no idea how to run modern economies.
The energy consumption had gone down 8% in the past months.
People were being more careful.
On the other hand, let us consider:
The energy consumption had gone down 8% in the past months.
The heat had decreased and many did not need to use airconditions anymore.
This would apply if "past months" would mean 2 months, which is plausable, as I doubt people consumed less energy during the summer, had "past months" meant more.
"The Australian government has been struggling to cope with a surge in asylum seekers, there's been more than a tenfold increase on last year's figure of 161..."
If the vast continent of Australia is struggling to cope with 1,600 asylum seekers, what should Malta do in your opinion Gonzi?
The need for an electricity supply link with mainland Europe is not meant to export energy 'because' we can produce more energy than we need - that is putting it too simply - the link is needed so that when the opportunity arises that wind conditions are favourable and Malta produces more energy than can be utilized locally, the surplus can be fed into a large grid network which can absorb the current load, a network we do not have in Malta. If we had surplus water storage facilities we could use the surplus wind generated energy to manufacture drinking water. The latter is a form of cheap energy storage by proxy!
He is giving the impression that people is wasting energy (to justify energy cost increase)
This is an insult to the people! We are getting brainwashed about switching off lamps, switching on waterheater(geeezer) a couple of mins before you go to bath, collecting water of washing machine to reuse it for toilet for eg! and gonzi tells us to lower our consumption...where is this man living?
Dream on, Prime Minister. But please stop insulting our intelligence. You may sell this to your gullible crowd but not to those who have some grey matter in their heads.
Next week you'll be informing us that Malta will be importing waste from the continent to justify the installation of the mass-burn incinerator at Delimara ........ and you will expect that we applaud you !
That's exactly what we are doing with regards to water, Dear Prime Minister..... and with your blessing.
We are destroying our strategic groundwater supplies by the minute, and what are you (and the Resources Ministry) doing about it? Nothing!
We are becoming more and more dependent on our reverse osmosis plants every day. The powers that be have discarded the possibility of recovering water from our multi-million euro sewage treatment plants; we are building infrastructure to channel stormwater into the sea with no plans for re-use.
We will be COMPLETELY dependent on Reverse Osmosis plants for ALL our water needs in a few years time, even for irrigation. What kind of a future is this? Is this sustainable?
And what about vulnerability? What happens if there is a prolonged power cut and our RO plants cannot work? What happens if there's an oil slick and our RO plants cannot operate?
Without our aquifers, this country will only have 2 DAYS supply of water in our reservoirs!! Think about that!!!
I do suggest that our government will copy the Portugese system of providing solor energy for all street lightling. This system only cost the intiial price for the solar system. After, all lighting of streets will be provided by this system free of oil or any charge.
If Portugal can do it, so can we.
Lino DeBono
So do you expect us to keep lumping illegal immigrats and paying for them through our taxes so that you will not be embarrassed? And how many are you suggesting?
"An interconnector, he said, was important not just for the country to buy energy but also to sell any unused energy it produced."
So are we now going to produce so much energy that we are going to export the excess? Am I awake or asleep?
"....and urged people to be careful about consumption."
As if people simply waste energy and not use that which is needed!!!!!!!!!!
Gonzi, you can afford to waster energy with the increase of LM125 PER WEEK you awarded yourself, your Ministers and PS's, but us lesser mortals are not making ends meet.
"...and more than 3,000 had entered the workforce"
How many are working part time?