Hot Air: Environment and energy

For an island where a colossal amount of hot air is generated in variously discussing or debating and defending or destroying the environment, Mallorca does one environmental thing particularly badly. Energy provision. It is getting better and electricity supply from the mainland will help to reduce the reliance on the emissions-spewing power stations such as that of Es Murterar by the Albufera nature park, but in overall terms of clean energy, Mallorca is far from clean. In fact, it is downright dirty.

The salvation can seem obvious. Island. Plenty of sun and sunny days. Plenty of wind. Plenty of water, in the form of waves. Renewables, to give these alternative sources their generic title. Plenty of all of them, but what do they amount to? In all, Mallorca and the Balearics generate just over 1% of electricity from renewables. Yes, the environment creates a lot of hot air but there is precious little by way of hot or cold air created by the environment's natural resources.

The recent history of developing alternative energy sources has been a shambles. A much-heralded national plan for a green economy has backfired spectacularly. It has driven up the cost of energy and has created little or nothing by way of new sources. Indeed, central-government policy has been such that getting on for fifty separate projects for solar energy on the Balearics have been rejected.

In addition, and ironically given that the failure of the green economy plan has caused prices to rise, the goverment's wish to reduce the consumer's burden means that that part of the renewables industry which dedicates itself to what solar supply there is will get 30% less revenue.

A reason for the failure of renewables lies with the cost-benefit equation. A factor, however, in the cost of renewables is that of scale. And to increase scale demands investment, which has meant a half-hearted commitment.

Though the failure has been primarily that of central government, there are local examples of how half-hearted this is. A scheme whereby grants from the regional government for up to 30% of the cost of installation of renewable energy could be applied for by householders has been short-lived and has not been heavily publicised; the period of eligibility for applying ends on 22 January.

The regional government, though, is planning to raise its renewables game. Sort of. In accordance with a national desire for renewables to comprise 20% of energy sources by 2020, there is going to be an investment of three million euros for developing renewables installations in the Balearics. Three million. It doesn't sound like an awful lot. In fact it sounds like distinctly lukewarm air being generated by a government that wishes to show it has something by way of green credentials but not very many.

Despite the lack of commitment, new initiatives for creating alternative energy sources keep popping up. One of these is not the first thing you might think of when it comes to Mallorca and its renewables. Rather than sun, wind or waves, there are also the forests, and forests mean biomass. Over 11,000 homes could be supplied, or so it is being claimed, with biomass energy.

There are different types of biomass. Crops are one, forest residues are another. But harvesting woody material from forests brings its own potential environmental problem, which is one of ensuring that stocks do not become depleted and that the ecology of the forests isn't harmed fundamentally. There is a further problem in the Balearics, and that is that there hasn't been a forest-management plan as such. This was highlighted in connection with the fires last year. A plan is meant to now be established along with investment in forests. To what extent this plan is being drawn up in a joined-up fashion between government departments for the environment and energy in order to guarantee biomass supply is anyone's guess.

The Balearics have a fair old amount of forest and woodland: a third of the land to be more or less precise. Biomass would form only a part of the islands' energy needs, but it may well help in getting somewhere near to that target of 20%. Much would depend, however, on how it was processed and converted. It could, for instance, be mixed with coal at the power stations and so contribute to a reduction in both cost of electricity and of emissions.

Biomass does have potential but like other renewables whether ultimately there is the will to exploit it is another matter. The experience with solar has not been encouraging other than in encouraging a lot of debate but very little action.


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