The two major parties are battling it out on energy proposals in the first round of sparring leading up to the general election in two months time.

We have heard the PN say that the PL’s proposals are just gimmicks – not being prepared to accept any of the individual points as being valid. The PL on the other hand, seems to have underestimated costs, infrastructure needs and has also been a bit vague in its explanations.

But one thing has emerged very clearly. While both parties have focused, to a degree, on renewable energy – it is simply not enough. In true voting mode, both parties have gone for the here and now and opted for reliance on fossil fuels.

Natural gas may be a cheaper and cleaner alternative to what we have at the moment, but it will not be in the future. Both the PL and PN are basing their plans around it – one through a new plant, and the other through a gas pipeline.

This is all well and good. Gas is, indeed, much cleaner and safer than heavy fuel oil. But will it be cheaper in the long run? As with all fossil fuels, gas prices are going to increase over the coming years due to increased demand and less supply – due to that same increase. This is why we question the PL’s claims of a price stability agreement being hammered out. Let us not forget, we are a tiny island with tiny amounts of consumption and economies of scale make it an unlikely scenario that a supplier would find it worthwhile to do so.

What we do need to hear a lot more about is renewable energy. Malta languishes at the bottom of the EU’s leaderboard in terms of energy generation from renewable sources. We saw limited progress in terms of schemes for the installation of solar paneling and photo voltaic units under the outgoing government, but it was never going to be enough. The PL has paid attention to the matter in its proposals and this is very welcome, but it is still not enough.

We need to see a wholehearted effort to propel the country forward in this respect as at present, we are just way off the mark. Other European countries are projecting situations where they would be generating between 50 and 80 % of power through renewable within about 20-30 years. That takes a whole lot of planning and a sincere commitment to kick the addiction to fossil fuels.

We do realise that economies of scale come into play. To simplify the matter: A rooftop full of solar panels will not generate as much energy as the panels themselves take up – taken figuratively. In other words, we need more space. But there are solutions. New modern buildings are now incorporating glass on their sides which harvests energy from the sun – much like solar panels do.

We need to get to a point where every building – especially capital projects and large scale private investments are bounds by conditions of having to incorporate such technology. The truth is that neither fossil, nor renewable energies are cheap. Both are expensive, and both are becoming more expensive.

Both parties must look ahead and plan for decades in advance. This is a changing world and simply going for quick fixes will not help us in the long term. Global experts predict that food and energy are going to skyrocket in price over the next decades. If we do not act now, then we will, as usual, forever be playing catch-up. We will now wait for the PN’s proposals which are due to be announced in the coming days.