The British government has just unveiled its 21st century energy policy with a plan to start urgently building a large number of new nuclear power stations with an eye to opening the first few around 2017.
Although some doubt that this will be possible before 2025 due to the lack of skilled engineers in this sector, what also worries some of the deeper thinkers is the amount of available uranium since its peak around two decades ago, although the UK has plenty of weapons grade uranium it could use to plug the gap.
Britain's call to arms regarding new nuclear power stations stems from our own energy security gap that is emerging. The UK will struggle from around 2012 onwards to supply enough power to the national grid and we envision a 30 per cent shortfall in electrical production at a time when demand will continue to increase. In the next few years this will become a new national emergency for the UK as our leaders scramble to find ways to plug the gap, and the UK will serve as an example to others of how to do it, or how not do it!
New projections for global oil production show that by around the middle of the next decade there will be an oil supply crunch as well as a natural gas crunch. With oil futures at or around $100 and the new BRIC countries all wanting cars and air travel we will soon see oil hovering around $200 a barrel.
The Nationalist government of Malta has done a fine job in the past decade shaping Malta for the challenges that lay ahead with European Union integration and the introduction of the euro, the new reserve world currency (or soon to be).
A new and present threat is looming for Malta and will require all the talent that sails in those good Islands. Malta produces 20 per cent of its food needs domestically, the rest is imported. In the long term this is completely unsustainable and must be urgently addressed.
The Mediterranean's fish stocks are dropping from overfishing and industrial pollution from Lebanon to Spain so the Mediterranean cannot be relied upon as a source of stable diet unless policies change across the whole Med., and this will be very difficult to implement.
All of Malta's electricity supply comes from heavy fuel oil and light distillate and this is a recipe for disaster to say the least. A coal-fired power station must be built unless the EU can guarantee 100 per cent Malta's energy security. In the medium term and as undesirable as it is, unless the world wants to sit in the dark and go hungry, mankind will turn to coal to bridge the energy gap.
Malta must also build large water capture basins and store as much rain water as possible for the dry seasons, as failure to do so will cause unmitigated disaster in the not-too-distant future.
Solar PV road lighting is something the Israelis have been very successful with. In Israel most houses are fitted with solar PV for heating water − this needs to be written into building regulations in Malta. Sixty per cent of the world's remaining oil sits under the Arabian sands and Israelis, being the traditional enemy, have had to take precautions so as to not rely 100 per cent on foreign oil.
If the experienced Nationalists take the reins of power again after the coming election, energy security and food security must be a priority for the uncertain decade that lies ahead.