Making better use of Hurd’s Bank

Quoting, Carmel Cacopardo, chairperson of ADPD – the Green Party in Malta, he praises the decision to substitute the Delimara power station running on heavy fuel oil with one using natural gas and has contributed substantially to reducing Malta’s carbon e

On the other hand, the current policy of encouraging the use of fuel guzzling cars and yachts pulls in the opposite direction. Increasing the capacity of our roads and planning new yacht marinas is not a positive contribution to addressing climate change. Yet it goes on, one decision after the other. There exists an undeniable fact pointing to the ongoing increase in carbon dioxide concentrations and other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide caused by daily activities – due to the explosion in car ownership, not forgetting aviation traffic and cruise liners/container ships running heavy engines. The latter are seen slowly increasing their presence in our ports, not to forget emissions from heavy industry involved in the construction sector – now running on steroids. Economists remind us that such heightened activity in the construction sector has a silver lining as it has contributed generously to recently acquired affluence. The sad truth is this comes at a price.

Not all governments shed tears for the lack of success in reducing the national carbon footprint, which undoubtedly, is contributing to climate change. Between 1990 and 2007, the world experienced greenhouse gas emissions increase by almost 50%. It’s time to start reducing such emissions in order to mitigate the effect of climate change but it is unreasonable to expect that all governments can afford to dig deep into their pockets so as to convert to green energy. There have been various conferences and press releases by the EU extolling the benefits of Renewable Energy Systems and directives were proposed by committees in Brussels to propose ambitious goals for member states to step up their investment in Green energy. The golden grail is reached if by next year the EU would obtain 20% of its total energy consumption requirements from renewable energy sources. Malta has tried its best to speed up the use of PV panels in the domestic and commercial scene but so far not enough investment was seen and unfortunately it is too late to reach the 2030 targets. As a definition, renewable energy includes wind, solar, hydro-electric and tidal power as well as geothermal energy and biomass. We notice that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Mediterranean have increased along with the atmospheric distortion which is giving us colder winters and higher humidity in summers.

All lines of evidence make it unequivocal that increase in carbon dioxide concentrations is human induced and is predominantly a result of accelerated fossil fuel burning. It is a fact, that greenhouse gases, when controlled, can serve a useful purpose that is to absorb infrared radiation from the sun and re-emit it in all directions. This natural greenhouse effect, resulting in the creation of water vapour and carbon dioxide, functions like a shield to protect the earth surface from harmful sun rays. Pierce the shield and the surface temperature would be intolerable. Globally, we also have the problem of a gradual rise in sea levels. It is estimated that over this century, we will encounter a sea-level rise of between 0.18 and 0.69m. It goes without saying that any sealevel rise will adversely impact our economy.

Back home, the private sector investment in Electrogas’ new generating plant running on LNG is also a sheer reminder that eventually we need to replace LNG with green hydrogen (possibly imported via a gas pipeline from Sicily). Sadly, Malta has so far been a laggard in solar energy generation. One may remark why Malta is dragging its feet when modern PV technology, particularly used on floating platforms (such as in Scotland), is becoming more effective. In Malta, a policy simply fitting more panels on rooftops looks easy but the demographic and geographic characteristics of the island create issues of spatial planning, given that space is limited with a high population density reaching 8,155 people per square kilometre. Ask any architect and he will point out that spatial planning is hindered by the limitation of open areas where to fit extensive renewable energy systems (RES). These often clash with other planning needs and for this reason large-scale RES installations are not practical in Malta (unless experiments to link floating sea panels in the EEZ area prove doable).

But it is not all doom and gloom. Having started from zero in 1995 there has been a huge leap in the number of rooftop installations to date. Official statistics indicate that PV has grown at an average yearly rate of 35% from 1995 to 2005 (1,8 kW to 40 kW) and of 63% between 2005 and 2010).

In conclusion, the next elected party must pull up its socks to steer clear from cliches and invest more to save the environment. Having secured our new acreage in the sea due to EEZ, one hopes that after the election more foreign investment is attracted to erect massive PV floating panels in Hurd’s Bank to generate renewable energy, thereby reducing our carbon footprint.

George M. Mangion

is a partner in PKF, an audit and business advisory firm.

gmm@pkfmalta.com