St. Maarten Private Eye

I don't really have the time this week to write a long post on this issue, but I would like to refer you back to a post I wrote a few months ago entitled SXM and Global Warming - What can we do?. In there you will find a section about energy.

Solar is an attractive and increasingly financially viable option.

Cloudy Germany unlikely hotspot for solar power - 24th August 2007

I could give a dozen links showing how home solar systems are growing more widespread and attractive. However the main attraction and a vital point to it's success is the ability to connect these systems to the grid. When you use more you take and pay, when you use less you get credit. GEBE could lead the way and my previous post explains the way I see it could happen and be financially viable.

A forward thinking govt could also start making regulations for new homes and developments, making such solar systems a requirement.

As for wind turbines. Your argument that we don't have the qualified people to run and maintain them is sort of like Roy Marlin saying GEBE staff are not capable of running a water plant. You are right only in that we are not talking about a nuclear plant here. I think you will find that there are many green companies and banks willing to invest in such projects, with trustworthy and progressive governments of course. I think full training and a maintenance program would be part of the package.

Most importantly, I want to mention energy conservation. The fact of the matter is that we, the present living members of the human race, are living beyond our means and we and our children are one day going to be paying for it.

Drive past the airport one night when it is closed and note the energy being wasted on a building all lit up, inside and out. I bet the bloody airconditioners are running too. Did you know that the rain falling on that huge roof (perfect for a solar system) runs down a drain into the lagoon? Drive past in the day time and note the sprinklers in the greenery, water that is losing GEBE and us, the island community, tens of thousands of dollars a month. The same with the harbor, lit up all night with floodlights, even when closed.

I say there are solutions, for those who want to find them. None of them are cheap in the short term, but I am not thinking short term here. Sadly our politicians and leaders do. Of course, we could just wait for the $10 liter and power cuts and price rises to kick in, which they will eventually, the move to go green and conserve will be forced upon us anyway. Probably too late to make much difference though.

If I recall correctly, the UK Stern report stated that spending now to prepare for and reduce the global warming crisis will cost 10% of what we will have to pay if we do nothing. SXM is small, but morally, as a community we are obliged to be part of the solution along with hundreds of thousands of other small communities around the world. Maybe it's just me that thinks that way?

Caribdude