Shock therapy: war forces oil-addicted Asia to finally go green

The age of cheap oil is over and Thailand’s rooftops are reflecting that fact.Across homes, garages and warehouses in the sun-drenched kingdom, the blue-black sheen of solar panels is spreading, as the Iran war has done what years of climate summits could not: turn solar power into a necessity.Demand for solar panels has swamped companies like Wayso, whose managing director is colouring in Thailand’s rooftops as fast as he can find technicians to do it.“We can’t hire quickly enough,” Suwat Cherdvut told This Week in Asia. “We’ve had to start outsourcing technicians just to keep up.”As electricity bills climb, Thais are seeking solace in solar, driven by a growing crisis that has ratcheted up oil prices, triggered fuel shortages and raised the spectre of blackouts that now stalks the region.Asia’s economies depend on imported oil and gas, exposing them to both the fallout of distant wars and the foreign policy whims of faraway governments.Signage displaying fuel prices is seen at a petrol station in Manila on April 7. The Philippines has declared a national energy emergency amid the Iran war. Photo AFP