The Celtic Phoenix

With all the understandable focus on the credit crunch and contracting economy, the interlinked problems of peak oil and climate change have been lost, and they are a big part of the solution. If we are to maintain our current economic model, the government is going to have to pump money into the economy and what better way than with gifts that keep on giving. A new windmill keeps generating revenue year on year, a house whose energy efficiency has been upgraded with double glazing and insulation, not only releases income for alternative spending this year, but next year and the year after. By moving spend from imports, and nearly 90% of our energy is imported, to locally produced energy, this will put money back into the economy. And moving to a sustainable energy infrastructure, which includes generation, distribution, storage and use of energy, will create a wide spectrum of new jobs. from installation of windmills, redesign of products for lower cradle to cradle energy and oil use, software innovation for improving logistics and installing plug in points for electric cars. There is huge potential for new businesses to manufacture wind and wave equipment, manufacture electric cars and increasing cost of transport makes local production more competitive, especially in food production.

Rather than be sidetracked by the possibility of losing advantages over which we have little control, such as incentives for encouraging foreign investment, lets focus on the advantages nobody can take away. Our excellent wind and wave potential, our good agricultural environment, and above all, our ability to adapt very quickly to changing times.

First there was the Celtic Tiger, now there is the Celtic Mouse, but lets awaken the Celtic Phoenix.