Mick O’Reilly
Editor
Cambrian News
9 January 2022
Editor,
Patrick O’Brien has certainly given us all food for thought. With the price rises for energy looming and climate change affecting our lives already, we need to have a debate about where our energy comes from, how much we can sustainably use and how we pay for it. These are questions that have to be answered and are only underlined by the current expectation that energy prices are due to escalate.
I have personally argued for some kind of energy rationing for decades, to bring about equal access to sustainable energy needs. If that energy comes from local wind turbines and solar panels, even better. Ceredigion is indeed well-placed to generate enough electricity to keep its households in relative comfort. Whether there would be enough to supply for every household to run two or more electric vehicles is doubtful. That’s why we need to have this debate. No household should have to sit in the cold while another household carries on living as if there is no tomorrow.
So thank you to Patrick for writing about this critically important issue. He also mentions the massive council offices in Aberystwyth. I remember well how controversial this building was at the time. Our council tax bills have increased beyond belief. Now this building is standing empty. So we clearly never needed it in the first place. Let’s have a discussion too then on what we can use this building for. I’ll start with my suggestion. How about a day centre for the elderly?
Yours sincerely
Ian Foster