Meeting EU energy targets

Last July, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations was given expert advice that environmental sustainability and poverty eradication were inexorably intertwined - and without checking the current energy patterns in today's world, the situation would only get worse. With economic development, energy use and CO2 larger emissions will increase and the harsh consequence of climate change will not only affect the poorest of the poor but also affect everyone else, some more than others.

This stark scenario is due to the fact that fossil fuels represent 80 per cent of global energy use and changing this in the short run is unrealistic, in spite of the price of oil. Barring any major breakthrough or scientific advancement, ECOSOC was advised that the most efficient, cheapest, practical and reliable way to limit CO2 emissions is to limit energy use by increasing energy efficiency.

Malta depends practically 100 per cent on imported fossil fuels for its energy. Even the water we drink is energy costly. This is why the situation here is more stark than the one painted to ECOSOC and why it is essential that the government's programme gives priority to reducing this dependency and to push relentlessly for environmental sustainability in all sectors, including tourism.

The EU set a target for Malta to decrease this dependency by five per cent by 2010. This does not appear realistic since our renewable sources of energy are rather limited, and according to available studies we will not be able to achieve this. Apart from solar and wind energy, we have limited capabilities. This does not mean, however, that we should not take things more seriously and not look more for newer technologies in solar and wind generation and other possibilities.

There seems also to be some potential in the exploitation of biomass waste, landfill and sewage treatment gases. But this is not expected to add up to much.

Other renewables like tidal flow, geothermal, hydropower, biomass energy crops and wave power are not considered exploitable.

I do not have any basic disagreement with this evaluation, but would reserve a view on wave power. Ocean-power technology, including wave power, has recently seen a resurgence around the world in diverse places like the west coast of the US, the coast of Portugal and even the East River in Manhattan, New York. For Malta, this may prove to be more reliable in the future than wind power.

New technologies in solar and wind are encouraging and should be exploited. For example, the development of thin solar panels that are offering solar power at a fraction of the cost of the traditional PV panels might be easily manufactured in Malta for local demand and export too. In addition, advancement in wind technology, like the Swiss-made wind turbine 'Aventa AV 7' for low wind speeds should also be investigated if it has not yet been done. Solar panel and wind turbine production might be an ideal venture for the Smart City complex.

Waste of resources is never helpful, but in Malta it should not be tolerated. It does not rain here too often, but when it does, no water should be wasted and allowed to go to the sea. Yet this is still very much the case.

In a country with such a high car-to-person ratio, fuel-efficient engines should be encouraged and more serious pollution control should be introduced for all vehicles, including buses.

Malta is probably more advanced than most of the transition countries. But these, some of them new or potential members in the EU, are aggressively working to upgrade their energy policies and are being assisted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) in the area of energy efficiency. ECE is currently the foremost agency in Europe for energy efficiency. If requested, it could share some of this experience with Malta.

There is no point for anyone to suggest that Malta should have looked into these matters earlier, before the spiralling of oil prices. Rather, what matters is to move forward and exploit the position now with better results, since solar and wind technologies are so much more advanced.

This, coupled with hard work and Maltese ingenuity, should help to overcome some of our energy deficit.