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Dr Henry Herbert Lartey, Chairman and Leader of the GCPP, has described solar power as a major saviour to Ghana�s energy requirements. According to Dr Lartey, GCPP believed that Ghana must positively promote a policy of solar homes and energy efficient communities so that it could use renewable energy technologies to create jobs for Ghanaians. In the light of this stance on renewables, Dr Lartey said the GCPP was naturally happy and proud that President John Dramani Mahama was showing great interest in the solar energy sector. He spoke to the Daily Graphic yesterday. During the 2012 electoral campaign, the GCPP highlighted a number of points on energy in their party manifesto. Why solar energy? In the view of Dr Lartey, energy was the cornerstone of modern economies. Without it, he stressed, �we are powerless in every sense of the word.� Globally, the GCPP leader insisted that energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies were the keys to ensuring both environmental protection and economic progress. Here in Ghana, Dr Lartey pointed out that �we have access to the whole spectrum of renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, hydropower, and fuels made from crops and plants (biomass).� He, therefore, described the inauguration of the first ever solar plant project in the north by President John Dramani Mahama as marking the beginning of a new era. Government, he also said, had distributed more than 10,000 solar lamps to communities that were not connected to the national grid, while more communities would be supplied with the facility to avoid the use of kerosene in the country. Why sustainable communities? According to Dr Lartey, sustainable development, through planned energy efficient communities, was a common sense approach to making change. The most recent statistics, in the account of Dr Lartey, suggest that Ghana�s population had grown by 28 per cent in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, he said that this population growth had neither been accompanied by equivalent increases in economic activities, nor had it been matched by improvements in residential housing. Ghana, he also said, must chart a path to create sustainable residential communities in Ghana that recognised the growth in our population and reflected our needs and aspirations, not only for moderate improvements in GDP and theoretical living standards, but for a real Modern Ghana that could be seen on every street, in every classroom, and in every home. Why electric cars? �While most people discuss electronic cars in terms of costs or the kilometres they can drive, few Ghanaians appreciate the business and economic benefits behind the automotive industry,� he lamented. For example, Dr Lartey said that in 2011, Mercedes Benz sold 1.3 million cars, which generated the company revenues in excess of �106.5 billion. To put that into perspective, Ghana's GDP during the same period was only �37 billion. This means that one German car company produces more than three times the monetary value of our entire nation, he stated and, therefore, challenged Ghanaians to work to build a modern Ghana and manufacture solar panels, promote solar economy and electric cars domestically, thereby creating a knowledge-based society and jobs for millions of people. �Domestication is still the best policy for Ghana and Africa,� he declared in conclusion.