"Looking for short-term solutions also requires vision

I am a lone man in the desert. My market stand is baking under a scorching sun. On the table, sitting in a tub filled with crushed ice, are cool bottles of Perrier mineral water, sweating in the midday heat.

A Taiwanese entrepreneur crawls past my stand. He is dressed in a tattered suit, collar wide open, dragging his body through the hot sand, too thirsty even to sweat. He glances at the ice-cool green bottles "Water…?" he asks hopefully.

"Perrier", I say proudly. "Only ten cents a bottle".

The parched man looks ahead, thoughtfully. "I only drink Evian water".

"Water is water", I say. "When you're dying of thirst, every drop helps".

He nods towards the distant horizon where the low slopes of a brown crest are shimmering in the haze. "I have heard there is a large Chilled Evian Water Emporium beyond those hills. Fountains filled with Evian, even. You can swim in it if you like. Or so they say".

I look at his parched face, the scraped knees peeking through holes in the pinstriped trousers, the faraway hills. "Ten cents a bottle, " I say again, "Ice cold. Once you're rehydrated, you could run there."

The man nods politely. Without another word, he sets out towards the horizon, his knees leaving a trail in the sand.

This is Taiwan's energy policy in a nutshell, its eyes on a faraway dream beyond the horizon: countless new wind farms will magically appear at sea, all grid issues will resolve themselves overnight, electric vehicles will become cheaper than bicycles tomorrow.

Having an strategy to go electric in ten years is not a reason to ignore other solutions that are available right now. We need actions to save the planet, not dreams, and we need them today, Taiwan!"