I REFER to by Mr Tilak K. Doshi's article on Tuesday ("Renewable
energy, at what price?").
He argues that feed-in tariffs would have a regressive impact on
public financing in land-scarce Singapore. On the contrary, with
the abundance of public housing, solar panels could be installed on
the rooftops of HDB flats, where the power generated from it can be
shared among HDB unit dwellers.
This is an ideal solution for an island nation with abundant
sunshine and where a majority of residents dwell in high-rise
buildings.
He argues that "a growing body of research suggests there are
cheaper ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions". However, his
solution requires continued consumption of fossil fuels, albeit on
a lower trajectory - that is, gas versus coal.
This is not to say we can do away with fossil fuels any time
soon. In fact, 20 years from now, we will still be generating the
bulk of our power needs from fossil fuels, but the point is if we
do not start doing anything now and continue with business as
usual, we are going to pay an even heavier price in terms of
climate change.
There is incontrovertible evidence of rising global
temperatures, retreating polar icecaps and glaciers, with
concomitant rising sea levels and increasing frequencies of extreme
weather conditions like flooding and droughts. The author fails to
take into account that there is a price on carbon.
He argues that government largesse in promoting renewable energy
is ineffective by quoting the example of Spain. He fails to mention
that while mistakes have been made in government attempts to create
a regulatory environment and to provide fiscal incentives that
promote the development of sustainable energy, some of the lessons
learnt from these nascent steps are being fine-tuned elsewhere.
In addition, a growing number of countries are starting to
realise the long-term economic benefits of developing indigenous
renewable energy industries.
This will take time and persistence, and giving up at this
juncture could lead to potential long-term devastating
consequences, with a far higher economic toll from unmitigated
climate-change disasters.
Clarence Andre
