Ronnie Vella, Enemalta Corporation's manager, distribution, urges greater awareness on the use of energy, alternative sources and wasteful practices

The outlook for global energy supplies and the deleterious effect on the environment resulting from energy consumption looks very bleak at the beginning of the third millennium. Europe, with its relatively few energy resources and a per capita consumption well above world average, is extremely concerned about its future energy supplies.

Consider the following facts:

If no drastic global action is taken within the next 20 to 30 years the environmental impact of energy will be untenable.

Europe's dependence on external supplies of energy is currently at around 50%. At present rates this is estimated to rise to 70% within the next 20 years. Dependence on oil will be 90%.

In 50 years' time, at the rate oil and gas are being consumed and squandered, the remaining oil and gas reserves will be too costly to extract. Yet oil and gas consumption are still increasing and the additional demand for energy is expected to be 2% every year from now to 2020.

These concerns are expressed in the European Commission's Green Paper on energy supplies, which is aimed at raising awareness on the energy situation in support of the EU's energy objectives, namely security of energy supply and overcoming Europe's dependence on external supplies.

Various sources of energy supplies

What choices does Europe have for its energy requirements?

Oil will continue to play a leading role mainly due to the transport industry. In the air transport industry it is currently impossible to replace oil. For road transport there are substitutes in the form of biofuels and natural gas. The former however have very high production costs while the latter will not make any significant impact unless seriously assisted.

In Europe and indeed worldwide there is still an abundance of coal. Coal is very bulky to transport and store, and it is significantly polluting, although very costly state-of-the-art technologies render it less polluting in the electricity production industry.

The use of natural gas is becoming ever more popular in Europe because it is easy to use, it pollutes less than other fossil fuels, and it is currently abundant and relatively cheap. As a result of these advantages however gas prices could easily escalate unless means are adopted to enhance competition among suppliers and to build in alternative energy supplies to reduce complete dependence and hence vulnerability.

Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest and cheapest forms of energy if one were to set aside waste disposal and the potential hazards associated with it. Europe holds 2% of the world's uranium reserves, although there are vast uranium deposits on the planet.

The EU is still uncertain about the future of nuclear energy. Some member states have decided to gradually decommission their nuclear power stations and only Finland has plans to increase its nuclear generation capacity.

Apart from the hazards normally associated with nuclear energy, as far as oil and gas are concerned, one has to add the physical risks asso-ciated with transportation to related atmospheric pollution. While oil tanker disasters have unfortunately become relatively frequent, with the recent Prestige tragedy just off the Spanish coast, gas transportation is considered to pose a more serious risk.

Resort to renewable sources of energy appears to be the only bright star in this gloomy scenario. One has to be practical however, and a look at the situation will easily show how far we have yet to go in this respect.

The present energy market share of renewables in Europe is 6% and the outlook is that it will stagnate at 7% over the next ten years. If a significant amount of financial assistance is given to renewables, their ultimate contribution to Europe's energy balance could go up to 12%.

Using energy more intelligently

The situation is certainly not encouraging for future generations. There is however a brighter star to which we can aspire, and this consists of using energy more intelligently.

The overall efficiency in the use of energy from fossil fuels is only 25%. This means that we are currently wasting 75% of such energy resources available to us and, to make matters worse, such wastage translates mainly into irreversible environmental pollution.

For example, in Malta the state-of-the-art combined cycle generation plant at Delimara power station has a peak efficiency of around 50% under ideal loading conditions. Energy is needed upstream of the power station to extract and transport the fuel and of course down stream of the power station there are unavoidable technical losses in the transmission and distribution system.

Adding to this the energy wasted by the final consumers, one can roughly account for an overall 75% of the available fuel energy that is lost.

With modern technology some gain can still be achieved to optimise further generation efficiency and to reduce transmission losses. However it is by managing demand and using energy more efficiently that we can hope to achieve the greatest savings.

A conference on the strengthening, sustainability and competitiveness of the European economy through a more intelligent use of energy was organised by the European Parliament and the EU's Danish presidency on November 14.

As expected, emphasis was made on the need to proceed with the liberalisation of the European energy markets as a vital means to enhance efficiency in energy supplies, resulting in more affordable prices for the final consumers. Unless controlled, such a policy can easily degenerate into even more waste. Hence the emphasis should be directed at energy efficiency in use.

The EU energy efficiency potential represents over 30% of the EU final energy consumption of which 15% is in industry, 35% in the residential and service sector, and 50% in the transport industry

Apart from direct energy saving in terms of switching off equipment and appliances when not in use, there are two other aspects concerning efficiency which could make a significant impact on saving energy, mainly in the residential and service sector. These are efficiency in buildings and labelling of appliances.

In the last week of November, the Council of EU Energy ministers adopted a directive on the energy performance of buildings - both new and those being renovated.

The directive is intended to establish a common methodology for calculating the energy performance of buildings, the application of minimum standards in this area and a system for certifying buildings and the inspection of heating and cooling installations. It is claimed that up to 22% of the energy consumed in buildings can be saved.

The other issue concerns the labelling of appliances in Europe where there is a general reluctance by consumers to take advantage of energy efficiency technologies. This labelling of appliances, where implemented correctly and especially when mandatory minimum efficiency standards are in place, has proved to be quite a successful policy.

All appliances on sale should carry a standard form of label which basically indicates how efficient they are relative to a uniform scale. The consumer will be able to compare the efficiencies and hence the energy consumption of the various brands of appliances before deciding which to buy. Naturally, labelling goes hand in hand with an education campaign.

Energy labelling in the EU was introduced in 1995 and now covers most white goods, although mandatory minimum efficiency standards are applicable only to cold appliances, fuel boilers and ballasts. The impact of the labelling policy is that on average cold appliances on sale in Europe are now 27% more efficient.

The Israeli experience

During the conference organised by Enemalta on October 18/19 to mark its 25th anniversary, delegates heard a speaker from the Israeli Ministry for National Infrastructure describe the advances made in Israel in energy efficiency.

Over the past 20 years, Israel embarked on a programme which includes a wide range of activities to reduce expenditure on energy to end users through cost-effective measures which do not impair the energy services and contribute to environmental protection. The programme is based on regulation.

The Israeli government is convinced that regulation has the greatest potential for energy conservation, while maximising direct savings at the least possible cost.

In Israel the regulatory labelling system extends to practically all energy-consuming appliances and enforcement is very strict. Apart from this, minimum efficiency standards for appliances on sale are mandatory, and are upgraded regularly. This also applies to buildings, which need to be certified as being energy efficient prior to being occupied.

Industries have to employ a trained energy efficiency inspector who has to submit energy audits regularly, while the government also double-checks such audits. New buildings in Israel have to be equipped with solar water heaters and this condition is included in their development permit. Subsidisation by government is no longer needed, given that the long-term benefits are obvious.

The Israeli government has also invested in anaerobic sewage treatment plants which produce enough biogas to generate practically all the electricity requirements of the plants themselves in addition to water for irrigation purposes.

The same applies to municipal and certain kinds of industrial wastes which are treated at both large and small scale dedicated plants to generate electrical energy from biogas.

Lethargic attitude

Appreciating how Europe is lagging behind in the efficient use of energy and the lethargic situation that prevails when it comes to cutting down on losses, a Member of the European Parliament, speaking at the November 14 EU energy efficiency conference, declared: "We all know the problem, so let's get out there and do something about it."

The WWF representative did not miss this ideal forum to hit back at the EU. According to him: "There is a 1% to 2% annual increase in CO2 globally. Energy intensity (the quantity of energy needed to produce a unit of wealth) decline of economy is too slow to level off economic growth. Renewables are penetrating too slowly. This is leading to high CO2 stabilisation levels which results in global warming and a rise in sea level."

DG-Tren, the Directorate-General which is responsible for the EU's Directive on Transport and Energy, was also under fire. The EU was urged to:

¤ put climate changes and emissions reduction into the Directive objectives and agree to set an EU-wide target;

¤ introduce dynamic standards for various and most important end-use efficiency equipment;

¤ promote "best in class" products by giving VAT reductions; and

¤ phase out inefficient products.

Otherwise, according to WWF, DG-TREN should stop talking about energy security.

The EU is fully conscious of the situation and the solutions but as yet it seems that it is hardly taking any action to combat pollution and to control the steady dwindling of resources.

Renewables and energy efficiency in Malta

What are we doing in Malta? Less than the average EU member state, unfortunately.

On the supply side, we have to continue to depend mainly on importation of fossil fuels, given that we have no indigenous fuels.

We are doing next to nothing to promote the limited amount of renewables we have which are wind and sunshine. It is high time that these renewables are given a helping hand to develop.

With the liberalisation of the electricity market in Malta, Enemalta would virtually be in competition with generators from renewables. For Enemalta every unit generated from renewables will reduce sales and increase idle capital.

It would be very egoistic however for Enemalta to discourage the use of renewables, considering the escalation in the prices of oil and the unavoidable environmental pollution resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.

Last April the Malta Resources Authority issued a consultation paper on the development of a strategy for the exploitation of renewable energy sources for electricity generation.

Once the potential of these renewables is identified, MRA is expected to take the necessary steps to guarantee their penetration into the liberalised market, given that currently, from a purely economic point of view, the production of electricity from renewables is not a viable proposition.

MRA would have to develop fiscal frameworks to enable renewables to benefit from preferential conditions to render them competitive with traditional energy supplies.

Moreover Enemalta as the transmission network operator would have to provide access to its network for such generators, subject to certain conditions. Once the legal technicalities are in place, one should not expect an overnight miracle.

Wind energy

Malta does not have ideal wind conditions for electricity generation purposes. During the Enemalta energy conference in October a paper was presented by two researchers from the University in Malta and details were given on the potential that exists to generate electricity from wind in Malta.

Using the wind data available from Luqa, Wied Rini and Gordan (Gozo), it was estimated that the wind generation potential for a wind farm of 24 rotors each rated at 750 kW at the best site is 81 GWh annually.

Obviously, it is not practical for various reasons to locate such a wind farm on land, although it is technically feasible to have it offshore.

However, assuming that offshore wind conditions would probably be equal or slightly better than land conditions, the 81 GWh annual output from such a relatively large and capital intensive project would still be a far cry from the 2,000 GWh generated at Enemalta's power stations in 2001.

Yet wind generation projects should certainly be encouraged and assisted at all costs, since from an environmental point of view they are a step in the right direction.

Solar energy and efficiency in buildings

As regards solar energy, we should stop dreaming about photovoltaics. They are too expensive and have very low efficiencies rendering them far from competitive in a country where conventional electricity is available all over the place.

Economics are still too negative for this technology even for the most environmentally conscious. Solar water heating however is a different story altogether.

Israel has identical solar conditions to Malta. The Israeli speaker at the October energy conference confirmed that solar water heating in Israel substitutes 5% of the total electricity generated.

Solar water heating is not just restricted to domestic buildings but is used for example to provide practically all the hot water needs of the 650-bed hospital in Hadera. What is stopping us from emulating the Israelis from this point of view?

In Malta solar water heaters cost around Lm450, excluding installation. In Israel a complete domestic solar water heating installation costs Lm200.

The basic difference is that solar water heaters in Israel are of the open loop type which are not compatible for use with local water, although the situation should improve if the blend of water reaching our taps had to have a higher proportion of RO-produced water.

Solar water heaters in Malta are of the closed loop type with a heat exchanger and as such are more expensive. Given the large business potential that exists locally, one expects that if solar water heaters were to be subsidised, market forces alone would bring prices down.

On the other hand it is a pity to see major local projects like the new hospital without a large-scale solar water heating installation. Similarly, one wonders why other large scale private projects like the Tigné and Manoel Island project are allowed to materialise with no imposition by MEPA on standards concerning their overall long term overall energy performance.

On the other hand, the initiative taken by the Malta Housing Authority to introduce the "low energy house", even though on a limited scale, is certainly to be commended, although the "spectacular" photovoltaic system being proposed is absorbing a large proportion of the overall budget available when the returns from the resulting electricity savings are minimal in comparison.

Mandatory labelling of appliances at last

Our greatest drawback is the lack of concern on the efficiency of imported appliances. Unless this issue is controlled, Malta will remain the dumping ground for cheap, inefficient appliances. It is very welcome to learn that, as from January 1, 2003, the Malta Standardisation Authority, through Legal Notice 99 of 2002, is introducing a labelling system based on the EU model.

As a result, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, driers, dishwashers, ovens, water heaters, lighting sources and air conditioning appliances should bear a standard label giving product information on the consumption of energy and other resources, such as water.

However, having the legislation framework in place is not enough, and one also expects to see follow- up action consisting of an intensive education campaign aimed at introducing the general public to the system to render it effective.

The need to choose more efficient appliances, albeit perhaps more expensive in the short-term, cannot be overstressed. Hopefully one also expects the Consumer Competition Division to enforce the system to facilitate choice by making sure that all appliances on sale which fall under the proposed legislation will carry the standard label, which is uniform for all equipment brands.

Mandatory minimum efficiency standards and coefficients of performance should also be introduced, especially for cooling equipment (refrigeration equipment and air conditioners), which are becoming so prolific in Malta.

It has been calculated that on average a unit of electricity saved from cost-effective improvements is 40% to 80% cheaper than the same amount of additional electricity from power stations. In other words one can also argue that "the cheapest form of energy that exists is that which is not used".

This is especially applicable to us in Malta where every unit used implies the equivalent of four units of energy importation in fuel terms.

Hence while renewables should be encouraged at all costs, our main concern should be energy saving. In this way besides reducing our energy bill we would also be making our little contribution to safeguard the environment for ourselves and the next generations.

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