Tips for energy saving homes

Combining traditional building techniques with more recent energy saving technologies could help the Maltese consume up to 20 per cent less energy to heat or cool their houses.

A document on the Conservation of Fuel, Energy and Natural Resources, launched yesterday by the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry, is proposing to reinstate laws which make the use of double leaf masonry wall (hajt doblu) in all new buildings mandatory.

"Double-glazed windows and thermal insulators in house ceilings should become minimum specifications when a new building is erected.

"These could slightly increase the initial costs of construction but they would definitely reduce energy wastage in the long run," Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit, an architect by profession, said.

Addressing architects and engineers at Le Meridien Phoenicia, in Floriana, Mr Zammit said Malta was obliged to adopt a European Union directive on better use of energy in buildings by January, but this could possibly be delayed by three years.

Mr Zammit said Malta would adopt the regulations after January as the document, launched a day after the government announced a hike in electricity bills, was still at consultation phase.

Besides imposing minimum standards on the building's shell, the EU directive also lays down that member states should adopt systems to control heating, air conditioning and artificial lighting.

"We felt that another mandatory feature should be the construction of wells or cisterns for collecting rain water given Malta's aridity," Mr Zammit said. The law that a new house should have a well has been in place since the 19th century but it has not always been enforced.

The public consultation document, which is highly technical, covers measures on how artificial lighting efficiency may be calculated, limiting the passage of heat through the building fabric and the level of window glazing depending on the geographical orientation of the window.

The document can be downloaded from www.bicc.gov.mt and reactions can be submitted to bicc@onvol.net.