For Immediate Release LNG VS SOLAR POWER – AN ALTERNATIVE WHOSE TIME HAS COME
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LNG VS SOLAR POWER – AN ALTERNATIVE WHOSE TIME HAS COME Contact Sam Duncombe sam@reearth.org 242 362 2724
Nassau, The Bahamas July 13 2008 Over the last 2 weeks Aaron Samson, project manager for AES’s LNG facility has been spewing a lot of hot air about running a pipeline from Ocean Cay to New Providence to supply Bahamians with LNG to reduce our emissions and our energy bills. AES has also thrown in a marine research facility in their latest desperate attempt to bamboozle the Bahamian public in accepting their dirty energy plant.
For the record reEarth unequivocally rejects the latest proposal by the LNG facility as nothing more than public bribery and deceit. The demand for gas has skyrocketed and going to the highest bidder, which is often not the US, so one has to ask why the continued push to place an LNG facility in the Bahamas? In case the oil and gas men have not been paying attention to their own industry, not only oil, but gas prices too, are on the increase and are expected to do nothing but rise into the future.
While promising to reduce our emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide at BEC, AES has conveniently forgotten to mention how many hundreds of thousands of tonnes of these same greenhouse gases that contribute to sea-level rise will be spewing into the atmosphere from shipping LNG from it’s source to their proposed LNG facility at Ocean Cay – not to mention the running of the plant itself.
The highly questionable and “fossilized” thinking that recommends these “solutions”, and we use the latter very advisedly, to our environmental, energy and economic problems and issues is at best, well on its way to extinction much like the dinosaurs that provided us with the raw material that our current energy solutions an industry is built on, at worst, it is a highly opportunistic and self-serving tactic to continue to extract wealth from our citizenry and degrade our environment.
Bahamians like other peoples of the world are caught in the pincer of rising food and energy prices and the cynical timing of this clearly propagandistic public opinion manipulation offer is nothing more than an attempt to sell us on an environmental, energy and economic solution that is both insulting to our dignity and intelligence.
LNG is part and parcel of an energy source whose supply-demand dynamics (dwindling supply and rising demand) will only guarantee higher future prices for energy, certainly something that these gentlemen hopefully understand better than most, and so we can only conclude that this is nothing more than an exploitive endeavor to extract unreasonable profits, in short self-interest and greed, masquerading as environmental consciousness and community interest.
Our country is blessed with an abundant, renewable and largely cheap source of energy, SUNSHINE. When the gravity of the economic predicament of our people is juxtaposed against this alternative option for the energy needs of the Bahamas, it is increasingly distressing that successive administrations have not only largely ignored this option, but continue to allow the likes of the AES’s of the world, the time and latitude to cynically reformulate their proposals to the Bahamian people in the hope that Bahamians will tire of this fight or be duped by their bread-crumb-rhetoric.
We respectfully remind our political leaders that they have been elected to represent our interests and those of future generations of Bahamians. In the fullness of time their inaction and lack of leadership in this regard will be manifest.
Next to heating and cooling systems, water heaters are among the largest energy users in our homes, because they work around the clock all year long. A conventional electric water heater’s CO2 emissions are estimated at approximately 8 tons a year and would require 6,400 kwh to heat water for a year for a family of four. Currently the Bahamian consumer is paying 37 cents per kwh (fuel surcharge included). At 37 cents per kwh running a water heater is costing the consumer approximately $2368.00 per year, or $197.33 per month.
A solar water heater creates next to no emissions. A standard 40 gallon solar heater costs approximately $2000.00 installed. As such, changing from an electric to solar water heater can be an excellent source of savings, not only in money but also in emissions. If the government introduced a low interest loan, over a one, three or five year period the consumer could choose a payment plan that would suit their pocket book best. In a year they could pay for their solar heater at the current BEC charges. If the consumer chose the 3 year plan it would cost them roughly $65-70 per month, at 5 years it would cost $39.00 per month. At the end of the “loan” the consumer would enjoy FREE hot water. No LNG pipedream can match that. With the promise of duties going down on solar water heaters, that would reduce the initial cost of purchasing the solar water heater at the same time reducing the payments. Additionally, we would need hundreds of people trained to install these water heaters - if the government wants to create meaningful long term jobs, lower The Bahamas’ carbon footprint and work its way toward energy independence solar water heaters are a first step win-win solution.
The $150-200 million reported to run a pipeline from Ocean Cay to New Providence only assumes the pipeline - what about re-outfitting BEC to accept natural gas - is that a freebee?
If we used the $200 million (which does not include re outfitting BEC) proposed for running an LNG pipeline to Nassau and instead, install solar water heaters on 80,000 homes, we could reduce CO2 emissions by 640,000 tonnes per year. As solar water heaters do not require electricity, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrous dioxide would also be eliminated.
reEarth continues to urge Bahamians to resist this and any future ventures of this nature. We are at a critical stage in our national development where the choices that we make today will affect us and our children.
We’ve just celebrated our 35th Independence. Let us work feverishly toward a post carbon era for our country and decouple our nation from this dirty, diminishing and deadly source of energy; not only is this a potential source of danger for us as we have said in the past but it is also directly and indirectly responsible for the death and misery of thousands of people globally.
Let the SUNSHINE IN!
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