…in energy
Over the last decade, there’s been a lot of talk about “food security” across the world – especially with the world now topping 8 billion and counting. Here, we’ve taken the lead in Caricom’s 25 by 25. Nothing’s wrong about that, cause a man’s gotta eat, doesn’t he?? That’s as primal as you can get…no food, no life!! Some say that “in the beginning was the ‘word’,” but, as far as your Eyewitness is concerned, in the beginning had to be food!! But why food? Food, dear reader, is our “fuel” to give us energy, without which we wouldn’t be able to even lift an eyebrow!! And in Guyana, as we all should know, eyebrows have to be lifted all the time on food!!
This long windup is to emphasize that, projecting from our own lives, everything that moves needs energy. And the more energy we have, the more we can do. So, we started taming animals like oxen and horses, and using them to do work we didn’t have the energy to do on our lonesome. Hence the word, “horsepower” augmenting “manpower”!! After thousands of years, some wise guy thought about using the energy from wind and running water to turn wheels that ground our grains and such like for us to eat. Then came the big breakthrough – steam engines that burnt coal to turn the water into steam to turn all those gears that moved whatever contraption we could think about!! Like ships and trains etc!!
Anyhow, two things happened. We started to burn all sorts of fossil fuels in addition to coal – like petroleum of various grades, and natural gases to move the machinery now placed in “factories”, to make all sorts of things to “improve our quality of life. But, in the last few decades, we realized the hard way that all actions have reactions. Burning all those fossil fuels increased the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and this led to global warming, which now threatens our survival – even though we desperately want to catch up with the “developed countries” which became so by burning fossil fuels. Catch 22, innit?
So, what to do?? Well, to your Eyewitness, there’s only one solution – the developed countries gotta quit burning all those fossil fuels!! Those of us in our sh*thole countries can catch up with the developed countries by getting as much energy as we can from running water, wind and solar – but use fossil fuels to fill any gaps. This is especially true for our country, with an ocean of oil and gas sloshing around off our Atlantic Coast!!
It’s ridiculous for some demented wokes to demand we leave our oil in the ground – while we’re still in the (relative) Stone Age!!
…and cheap energy
After decades of promises, we’re about to get electricity cheap enough so we won’t have to worry about keeping our lights on or eating bread!! Remember when Burnham hocked all the money in the land and shanghaied the youths to give us hydro-power up the Mazaruni?? We got HYDRO all right!! Anyhow, during an earlier PPP incarnation, all the pieces had been put together – plans, financing, contractors, etc – to deliver cheap power from the Amaila Falls. But guess who torpedoed that plan?? The PNC, of course!!
But you gotta hand it to the PPP…they never give up on a noble goal. And securing cheap energy is as noble as you can get. So, the news that the Govt is pressing ahead with the O&G project to construct a 300MW power plant – using our own natural gas – is fantabulous!!
AT a minimum, we’ll match TT’s manufacturing strength, since it’s all built on cheap energy!! Especially when some of the gas would be used as feeder stock to start a petrochemical industry!!
