Malta’s national energy efficiency action plan aims to improve efficiency that will lead to energy end-use savings of nine per cent within nine years, said Resources Minister Ninu Zammit yesterday.
Mr Zammit said that this aim was in line with the EU’s 2006/32/EC directive. He said there had been only one or two years when energy production dipped, and last year stood at 2,300 gigawatt hours. “When I first took over responsibility for energy in 1987, that figure was at 1,000 gigawatt hours. The nine per cent reduction will not mean that energy production levels will drop by that amount, but it will mean that the curve will not continue to rise as steeply,” he explained.
Mr Zammit said that the main measures in the domestic sector included the launch of schemes to encourage the take up of energy efficient technologies through financial incentives.
He said the main culprits for electricity use were water heaters. “When they are not in use, they should simply be switched off, and what’s more people would save on their bills,” said Mr Zammit.
He also pointed out that leaving appliances such as televisions or DVD players on standby was a waste of power.
“If the whole of Europe decided tomorrow to turn such appliances off at the switch, the energy saved could power Malta’s power needs for years on end,” Mr Zammit said.
In the domestic sector, lighting, fridges, freezers and washing machines were the biggest power drainers, said Mr Zammit.
He said that nowadays, there were plenty of energy saving models of such devices. “Again, at the end of the day, it will be consumers who save on their bills. Energy saving light bulbs, for example, can cut power use by substantial amounts,” he said.
Mr Zammit said that since the introduction of a 20 per cent subsidy, up to a maximum of Lm50, on energy saving domestic appliances in the last budget, an average of 60 applications were being received every day. “That shows that people are taking the initiative and are trying to replace older appliances with more modern energy saving ones,” he said.
This scheme followed on from subsidies on solar water heaters, electric vehicles, thermal roof insulation, photo voltaic systems and wind systems.
He concluded by saying that the aim of the campaign was to educate consumers through the dissemination of information on Malta’s dependency on oil, measures to reduce that dependency and the benefits of sustainable energy use.