Will Mallorca and the Balearics ever have a significant proportion of the islands' energy needs provided by renewable sources? Here are islands with a great deal of sun and a fair old amount of wind, to say nothing of waves and biomass. Of these, it is the former that should be heading the list of renewables. Should be, but when? Ever?
Depending on which figure you want to take, the percentage of renewable energy production in the Balearics is either around two or three per cent. The difference in the figure is immaterial. Either is pitifully low, and to give an indication as to just how low, one only has to consider a region like La Rioja. Stuck away on the northern mainland, it can manage to supply 80% of its energy needs from renewables. One imagines that this isn't being generated by converting surplus stocks of wine.
The Balearics is not alone in having enormous dependence on conventional sources of energy. The figures can again be quibbled over, but in the Canaries information from those islands' regional government puts renewable supply at around 10% of megawatts in 2011. There are those who would argue that it as low as 5%. Either way, it's more than the Balearics.
Both the Balearics and the Canaries are way behind the national average. La Rioja might be said to skew the figure of 30% green energy, but there again La Rioja isn't a big region. The national thirty per cent is at least ten times more than the Balearics. The situation here, as in the Canaries, is a total absurdity.
Just how absurd this situation is becoming can be determined from arguments surrounding the creation of two giant photovoltaic plants in Mallorca: one in Manacor and the other in Llucmajor. To the fore of the arguments against, almost unbelievably, are environmental pressure groups, such as GOB. It's not as though they are against solar energy - quite the contrary: they are expressing their opposition on the grounds of energy sovereignty. In other words, they don't want private investors reaping fat rewards from investment in plant and the energy companies controlling and charging for the supply. Laudable though this stance might be in seeking to retain control of natural sources of energy and to guarantee its cheap consumption, it isn't particularly realistic. If there were to be true and full energy sovereignty, derived from some form of co-operative mechanism and the public sector, then the chances of there being significant supply between now and climate change apocalypse are probably only slightly better than zero.
To further add to the absurdity, we have the situation being caused by stasis at national government. It is currently an acting government. It is not, therefore, making decisions or starting projects of an important nature, and one of these projects is firmly to do with solar and especially in the Balearics.
The ministry for energy and industry, which just so happens to be combined with tourism and is presided over by the Canaries PP politician, José Manuel Soria (he who has been so wedded to oil exploration off both archipelagos), should by now have set in motion procedures for an auction of solar energy. The government in fact passed a decree commanding this two years. Nothing is happening because the ministry, as with other ministries, is in acting mode, waiting to find out what is going to happen with the next government. This auction is meant to fund a first phase of solar energy production and supply in the Balearics. Because it isn't happening, various photovoltaic projects are on hold. GOB and the others have nothing to fear just at the moment. The 60 million euros investment in the Manacor solar park is on ice along with another 40 million or so euros of investment, included in which is a project to which I have previously referred on more than one occasion: one of around 16 million euros for a photovoltaic plant by the power station in Alcudia (which produces much of the islands' electricity). It would be capable of supplying the equivalent of the total normal population of Alcudia.
The delay in the auction may be considered to be just that: a delay. A new government, especially one with stronger environmental principles than the PP, might be expected to move rapidly towards a renewables policy. But would it and how might it be able to if the likes of GOB have their way in insisting on public sector control? The fear in the Balearics is that the projects currently on hold might not be realised at all, thus dashing ambitions (stated ones) of a minimum 20% renewables supply by 2020. And time to meet those ambitions is rapidly running out.
Sun and wind. You wouldn't think it would be proving to be so difficult. But it is. The 2020 20% is a pipe dream.
Showing posts with label Energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Energy. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Friday, November 08, 2013
The Lunatics Now Have Permission To Enter The Asylum
Why is there not the most almighty outcry about this legislation? Even by the standards of other legislative vandalism and of failures to rectify previous legislative errors, that which is contained in the new law for the electricity sector is the most absurd yet and envisages the levying of fines for non-compliance which are not simply punitive but totally outrageous, so much so that they would of course be impossible to collect, even were they to actually be levied.
To remind you what this legislation entails, all solar panels have to be registered. No longer will it be possible for householders to "sell" excess capacity to the grid, as has been the case and, moreover, panels will have to be connected to the grid, which will enable - wait for it - a tax to be levied on their use. If the panels are not registered and not connected, then the fines can kick in.
The legislation all but signals the end of the hope that householders could be self-sufficient in their energy production and consumption. It is legislation brought about by the government's energy tariff deficit and by the muscle applied by the large electricity suppliers who could see their oligopoly status being undermined. The government has caved in to the industry, has given it what it wants and taken away from the consumer what he or she wants and also taken away from the environment and green energy what it wants. It is an absolute disgrace.
And it gets worse. Included in the bill is a provision whereby inspectors will be able to enter properties to check that connections are as they now must be. They won't need a court order, only if the householder refuses entrance and then has to wait the return of the inspectors along with the police. Already, there are grave doubts being expressed as to the legality of enabling inspectors to act in such a way.
The bedlam that has been created by successive governments' energy policies is now at its most manic. The householder, who could have claimed asylum from invasion by an inspectorate (and not even the police), will find he has no sanctuary. The lunatics in government long took over their own asylum and now they are giving permission for other asylum to be violated. I say again, it is an absolute disgrace.
But why should we be surprised? Why should we think that governments wouldn't bow down to the demands of specific industries. In the Balearics, we have a regional government which has prostrated itself in front of the hotel industry and given it all it wishes, while at the same time having no answer to the question as to how all tourists can be accommodated only in hotels or other permitted accommodation. It has acted without logic, without appreciation of what its legislation will produce. It has acted irrationally, as it has also acted irrationally with its implementation of trilingual teaching.
This is also a regional government which has acted in a discriminatory fashion. Faced with threats from another business sector, the retailers, it found an excuse for not applying its in-any-event idiotic green taxes. It bowed down to the retailers while at the same time failing to scrap the one green tax that has been introduced. The one that has meant, in certain instances, water bills doubling since the start of this year. For households with high water use and with solar panels, life has become that much tougher. And for those households which do have solar panels, they had better get wise as to this new legislation and pretty damn quick. Otherwise, they could find themselves presented with a fine in the several millions.
What will the tax on the solar panels amount to? Good question. But one report has suggested it will be that high that it will be profitable for only a few households to bother with producing their own solar energy.
The sun may have been shining nicely in Mallorca for the past few days, but for all the good it does for green energy, it may as well not bother shining. Ludicrous.
Monday, August 26, 2013
No Money In Mallorca's Biomass
The irony is not lost. Mallorca imports waste from Europe and incinerates it at Son Reus. Italy, a country which sends its waste to Mallorca, creates clean energy using woody biomass that is exported from Mallorca.
In January last year I wrote about the potential to use biomass as part of a programme of renewable energy in Mallorca. The Balearic Government was talking about upping its renewables game by investing three million euros (not a huge amount) on renewables installations, an investment in accordance with a national government wish to raise the contribution of renewables to energy sources to 20% by 2020. Biomass was spoken of as one of these sources in Mallorca. Over 11,000 homes could be served by biomass energy, or so it was said.
The forests of Mallorca possess a great deal of biomass. They possess rather less than they did now that parts of the Tramuntana and the Llevant nature park have gone up in flames, but there is still a good deal to go round and to go to Italy.
Various reasons have been given as to why the Tramuntana fire spread as widely as it did. One of these was that the forest is not sufficiently well maintained, which means that the ground is not attended to well enough. It is littered with woody debris, which burns an absolute treat but which burns as a better treat when it is put to productive purpose.
It is idealistic to believe that a renewable like biomass could be anything more than a small contributor to overall energy sources. It comes at a cost, and one cost is that of its gathering. But this doesn't seem to deter the operation which does gather biomass and which ships it for use in Sardinia where there is an altogether greater premium placed on ecological energy than there is in Mallorca. Indeed, there is an altogether greater commitment to producing clean energy in Italy than in Spain, despite what the government might say. And as the national government has cut support for renewables, then whatever commitment there was has been diminished.
Between them, Mallorca and Menorca exported 7,000 tons of biomass last year. Productive use in the Balearics stands at less than one out of every ten tons of biomass that is retrieved, and there are very few examples of productive use; one is in Sant Antoni in Ibiza. This is not a project operated by Tirme, the GESA-led coalition of companies that has a monopoly on waste management and recycling in Mallorca and which needed the waste imports to help pay for its Son Reus incineration plant. Tirme accept that biomass is highly adaptable as an energy source but that without governmental support, unlike in Italy, its cost is too great; collection and production would outstrip its return. It's not profitable, therefore.
Although the biomass in the mountain forests is a natural resource and one which, through its very nature, is free, it isn't of course free. The Tramuntana fire reminded everyone of the fact that vast areas of the mountains are in fact privately owned. This ownership came up as an issue when the mountain range was awarded its World Heritage status. It was all well and good talking about opening up the mountains to more tourism, but what about rights and permissions to access private land?
Criticisms of the regional government's environment ministry that the lack of forest maintenance contributed to the fire overlook what is a more complicated situation than simply saying that gangs of workers should be packed off into forests in order to clear the debris and the biomass. The complication comes, in part, because of ownership. These owners have, in turn, been criticised for themselves not having looked after their forests, but then what incentives do they have to do better? One could argue that they shouldn't need incentive and that they have a duty to maintain the forests properly, but this is too simplistic a view.
Were there a genuine incentive, i.e. in the form of payment for the biomass, then the forests might at least be in a better state and might be less vulnerable to devastating wildfires, but such payment needs balancing, and, or so it would seem, the use of this biomass is just not profitable.
It seems crazy that there are tons of a potential energy source lying around in Mallorca's forests doing nothing more than being ripe for adding fuel to fires. It seems crazy that, at a time when environmental concerns are being raised about the extension of a different energy source - the gas pipeline to Alcúdia's power station - that a more benign source is being neglected. But this is so often the story with renewables. They have much to offer but they don't make money.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
In January last year I wrote about the potential to use biomass as part of a programme of renewable energy in Mallorca. The Balearic Government was talking about upping its renewables game by investing three million euros (not a huge amount) on renewables installations, an investment in accordance with a national government wish to raise the contribution of renewables to energy sources to 20% by 2020. Biomass was spoken of as one of these sources in Mallorca. Over 11,000 homes could be served by biomass energy, or so it was said.
The forests of Mallorca possess a great deal of biomass. They possess rather less than they did now that parts of the Tramuntana and the Llevant nature park have gone up in flames, but there is still a good deal to go round and to go to Italy.
Various reasons have been given as to why the Tramuntana fire spread as widely as it did. One of these was that the forest is not sufficiently well maintained, which means that the ground is not attended to well enough. It is littered with woody debris, which burns an absolute treat but which burns as a better treat when it is put to productive purpose.
It is idealistic to believe that a renewable like biomass could be anything more than a small contributor to overall energy sources. It comes at a cost, and one cost is that of its gathering. But this doesn't seem to deter the operation which does gather biomass and which ships it for use in Sardinia where there is an altogether greater premium placed on ecological energy than there is in Mallorca. Indeed, there is an altogether greater commitment to producing clean energy in Italy than in Spain, despite what the government might say. And as the national government has cut support for renewables, then whatever commitment there was has been diminished.
Between them, Mallorca and Menorca exported 7,000 tons of biomass last year. Productive use in the Balearics stands at less than one out of every ten tons of biomass that is retrieved, and there are very few examples of productive use; one is in Sant Antoni in Ibiza. This is not a project operated by Tirme, the GESA-led coalition of companies that has a monopoly on waste management and recycling in Mallorca and which needed the waste imports to help pay for its Son Reus incineration plant. Tirme accept that biomass is highly adaptable as an energy source but that without governmental support, unlike in Italy, its cost is too great; collection and production would outstrip its return. It's not profitable, therefore.
Although the biomass in the mountain forests is a natural resource and one which, through its very nature, is free, it isn't of course free. The Tramuntana fire reminded everyone of the fact that vast areas of the mountains are in fact privately owned. This ownership came up as an issue when the mountain range was awarded its World Heritage status. It was all well and good talking about opening up the mountains to more tourism, but what about rights and permissions to access private land?
Criticisms of the regional government's environment ministry that the lack of forest maintenance contributed to the fire overlook what is a more complicated situation than simply saying that gangs of workers should be packed off into forests in order to clear the debris and the biomass. The complication comes, in part, because of ownership. These owners have, in turn, been criticised for themselves not having looked after their forests, but then what incentives do they have to do better? One could argue that they shouldn't need incentive and that they have a duty to maintain the forests properly, but this is too simplistic a view.
Were there a genuine incentive, i.e. in the form of payment for the biomass, then the forests might at least be in a better state and might be less vulnerable to devastating wildfires, but such payment needs balancing, and, or so it would seem, the use of this biomass is just not profitable.
It seems crazy that there are tons of a potential energy source lying around in Mallorca's forests doing nothing more than being ripe for adding fuel to fires. It seems crazy that, at a time when environmental concerns are being raised about the extension of a different energy source - the gas pipeline to Alcúdia's power station - that a more benign source is being neglected. But this is so often the story with renewables. They have much to offer but they don't make money.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, July 19, 2010
All That Gas: Butane in Mallorca
The "butanero" delivered the other day. He does so only infrequently in summer, as there is only limited demand for gas. It was red hot, around two in the afternoon. How was he? "Bad," he replied, with a laugh. Well, you try driving a butane-gas truck around in the heat, getting in and out of the cab, lugging a heavy bottle onto the kerb. Just shifting one bottle will induce a sweat, and he's doing this time and time again.
One of these days, the butanero may well be no more, as there will be no more the chaps who try and come and check gas installations and who are always frauds. The butanero and butane may still rule the energy roost, but natural gas has now arrived (in Palma at any rate), and oil, solar and (expensive) straightforward mains supply electricity are alternatives. The demand for butane has been falling. A report from "The Diario" yesterday stated that sales have fallen by 20% since 2005. Even the cold winter past saw only a slight increase in sales over the norm.
Nevertheless, Mallorca and the Balearics form one of the most significant markets for butane in Spain. Demand may have fallen, but it is high compared with other regions, a reason being that, despite what can sometimes be very cold spells during the winter, the climate is such that it doesn't justify the costs of installing other systems of heating. The cost, though, of the gas itself has generally risen over the past decade. It does sometimes go down, but at a current price of 12.50 euros it is at least a third more expensive than it was seven or eight years ago. Only when you go into the inner sanctums of some larger restaurants and see the lines of bottles hooked up, do you begin to appreciate how much the whole economy and not just homes rely on a mode of energy supply that seems ridiculously outdated.
"The Diario" also spoke to one of the chaps who attends the butane collection points. He's been doing it for 15 years. Like the chap in Puerto Alcúdia, he is well known in his local community in Palma. Everyone knows the butane man, and he knows everyone and the inside of their car boots or the backs of their vans. For anyone who doesn't know him, he resides, together with his truck of orangey-red bottles, on a road near to the commercial port. In summer he is quiet, but in winter he can attend to whole lines of cars which have to turn around on a road unsuited for such a manoeuvre in order to park up by the truck.
Butane supply is a relic, as is the method of distribution. For all the sophistication of Mallorca, an important part of its energy provision is via something that most Brits will only ever encounter if they go camping. One day it will surely cease to be, but there is something satisfyingly old-fashioned in having such community figures as the butane delivery man and the chap at his collection point.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
One of these days, the butanero may well be no more, as there will be no more the chaps who try and come and check gas installations and who are always frauds. The butanero and butane may still rule the energy roost, but natural gas has now arrived (in Palma at any rate), and oil, solar and (expensive) straightforward mains supply electricity are alternatives. The demand for butane has been falling. A report from "The Diario" yesterday stated that sales have fallen by 20% since 2005. Even the cold winter past saw only a slight increase in sales over the norm.
Nevertheless, Mallorca and the Balearics form one of the most significant markets for butane in Spain. Demand may have fallen, but it is high compared with other regions, a reason being that, despite what can sometimes be very cold spells during the winter, the climate is such that it doesn't justify the costs of installing other systems of heating. The cost, though, of the gas itself has generally risen over the past decade. It does sometimes go down, but at a current price of 12.50 euros it is at least a third more expensive than it was seven or eight years ago. Only when you go into the inner sanctums of some larger restaurants and see the lines of bottles hooked up, do you begin to appreciate how much the whole economy and not just homes rely on a mode of energy supply that seems ridiculously outdated.
"The Diario" also spoke to one of the chaps who attends the butane collection points. He's been doing it for 15 years. Like the chap in Puerto Alcúdia, he is well known in his local community in Palma. Everyone knows the butane man, and he knows everyone and the inside of their car boots or the backs of their vans. For anyone who doesn't know him, he resides, together with his truck of orangey-red bottles, on a road near to the commercial port. In summer he is quiet, but in winter he can attend to whole lines of cars which have to turn around on a road unsuited for such a manoeuvre in order to park up by the truck.
Butane supply is a relic, as is the method of distribution. For all the sophistication of Mallorca, an important part of its energy provision is via something that most Brits will only ever encounter if they go camping. One day it will surely cease to be, but there is something satisfyingly old-fashioned in having such community figures as the butane delivery man and the chap at his collection point.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Cold Comfort - Winter in a Mallorcan house
The afternoon coffee and cake is a German tradition. Walk the promenade of little Germany, Can Picafort, and, in summer, boards outside the bars will invite you to "Kaffee und Kuchen". Be invited into a German-owned house and you will be presented with a jar of coffee and a plate of pastries. A further German tradition is that houses in Germany tend to be like ovens. Germany has cold winters, but its houses and apartments are pretty much air-tight, they are like vaults, nothing can come in, nothing can escape. In Germany, there are laws obliging landlords to heat rental properties to a certain level. No-one, theoretically, be they owner or tenant, should freeze through inadequate heating.
It snowed, after a fashion, yesterday. A brief flurry, at sea level. It looked more like hail, but it was snow, some said. Meteorological definitions didn't matter, save for one - cold. Mallorca, unlike Germany, doesn't have cold winters. Of course it doesn't. Well not on a German scale it doesn't. But it has cold spells. Even during these, like the current one, daytime temperatures at sea level rarely fall to freezing, and when the sun puts in an appearance, it can still feel warm - outside. The problem is not outside, it's inside.
There are new German neighbours. Kaffee und Kuchen. It's a tradition. The icy state of the living-room, for them, most certainly isn't. Surprises there can be for those new to Mallorca: one that most do not bargain for is just how cold it can get and just how cold their newly bought houses might be. I hadn't put on the ski socks (to compensate for the stone floor) and the long-johns (to compensate for the air). The coffee cooled rapidly. Even the cream in the cake seemed to crystallise as though in a freezer.
There was a wood-burner, unused. There was wood, but lying next to it. The cost of wood is astronomical. There were radiators, not on. There has been publicity about the rising cost of electricity. Moreover, the room was large, open plan. The oil-filled radiators give out some warmth, but only so long as you're more or less sitting on top of them, which is not a wise thing to do. "Do not cover" is the warning they all carry. Gas, I said. Eleven euros for a bottle of butane. It might last a week. Possibly. That's not so bad, they said. Certainly against the cost of wood. Mind you, the one dehumidifer, the one that eats electricity, might need to be added to. Someone, a Mallorcan, rubbing his upper arms in a gesture of "qué frío", said the other day that the problem in Mallorca is the damp atmosphere. Clings, he said, in winter. Damp and then sometimes cold, like an invisible fog. This will be why damp course is a rarity, like insulation and double-glazing. All this in a country that is meant to have committed to energy efficiency and the saving of Mother Earth. Don't make me laugh, or make new German neighbours laugh.
There's no natural gas, they enquired. Not outside Palma. It will take them years to run pipelines across the island. Think of all the endless environmental discussions, the politics, the bankrupt state of state finances. And then there was a coincidence. An announcement two days ago that there are indeed plans to develop a gas network. That will teach me to go around saying it would take twenty years. Or maybe that might not be wrong. The announcement also referred to economic conditions and planning regulations. Projects have a habit of taking years to be implemented, and even when there is funding in place, agreement cannot be reached by competing political interests.
There's another German tradition, among Germans who have adopted Mallorca. And this is that they all seem to have read George Sand. A winter in Mallorca, and the health of Sand's poor old husband, Chopin, deteriorated because of the dampness and chill of Valldemossa. But that was when? Some time in the nineteenth century. A long time ago. When they had wood, but didn't have butane or electricity. And when they didn't have double-glazing or insulation, or natural gas.
These things take time, you know.
** (Last night it snowed. Properly snowed. Snowed as in covered the grass.)
Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
And while on matters German, yesterday I met Klaus Fabricius who does the Mallorca Daily Photo Blog (http://mallorcaphotoblog.wordpress.com) and whose work I first came across when I was alerted to an entry explaining and depicting the sea-grass origin of those kiwi-like, oval balls that proliferate on the beaches. If you have not been following Klaus's blog, let me issue a recommendation once more. It is highly informative and the photography is outstanding, as it also is on a sort of sister blog - Plantarium (http://plantarium.wordpress.com).
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It snowed, after a fashion, yesterday. A brief flurry, at sea level. It looked more like hail, but it was snow, some said. Meteorological definitions didn't matter, save for one - cold. Mallorca, unlike Germany, doesn't have cold winters. Of course it doesn't. Well not on a German scale it doesn't. But it has cold spells. Even during these, like the current one, daytime temperatures at sea level rarely fall to freezing, and when the sun puts in an appearance, it can still feel warm - outside. The problem is not outside, it's inside.
There are new German neighbours. Kaffee und Kuchen. It's a tradition. The icy state of the living-room, for them, most certainly isn't. Surprises there can be for those new to Mallorca: one that most do not bargain for is just how cold it can get and just how cold their newly bought houses might be. I hadn't put on the ski socks (to compensate for the stone floor) and the long-johns (to compensate for the air). The coffee cooled rapidly. Even the cream in the cake seemed to crystallise as though in a freezer.
There was a wood-burner, unused. There was wood, but lying next to it. The cost of wood is astronomical. There were radiators, not on. There has been publicity about the rising cost of electricity. Moreover, the room was large, open plan. The oil-filled radiators give out some warmth, but only so long as you're more or less sitting on top of them, which is not a wise thing to do. "Do not cover" is the warning they all carry. Gas, I said. Eleven euros for a bottle of butane. It might last a week. Possibly. That's not so bad, they said. Certainly against the cost of wood. Mind you, the one dehumidifer, the one that eats electricity, might need to be added to. Someone, a Mallorcan, rubbing his upper arms in a gesture of "qué frío", said the other day that the problem in Mallorca is the damp atmosphere. Clings, he said, in winter. Damp and then sometimes cold, like an invisible fog. This will be why damp course is a rarity, like insulation and double-glazing. All this in a country that is meant to have committed to energy efficiency and the saving of Mother Earth. Don't make me laugh, or make new German neighbours laugh.
There's no natural gas, they enquired. Not outside Palma. It will take them years to run pipelines across the island. Think of all the endless environmental discussions, the politics, the bankrupt state of state finances. And then there was a coincidence. An announcement two days ago that there are indeed plans to develop a gas network. That will teach me to go around saying it would take twenty years. Or maybe that might not be wrong. The announcement also referred to economic conditions and planning regulations. Projects have a habit of taking years to be implemented, and even when there is funding in place, agreement cannot be reached by competing political interests.
There's another German tradition, among Germans who have adopted Mallorca. And this is that they all seem to have read George Sand. A winter in Mallorca, and the health of Sand's poor old husband, Chopin, deteriorated because of the dampness and chill of Valldemossa. But that was when? Some time in the nineteenth century. A long time ago. When they had wood, but didn't have butane or electricity. And when they didn't have double-glazing or insulation, or natural gas.
These things take time, you know.
** (Last night it snowed. Properly snowed. Snowed as in covered the grass.)
Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
And while on matters German, yesterday I met Klaus Fabricius who does the Mallorca Daily Photo Blog (http://mallorcaphotoblog.wordpress.com) and whose work I first came across when I was alerted to an entry explaining and depicting the sea-grass origin of those kiwi-like, oval balls that proliferate on the beaches. If you have not been following Klaus's blog, let me issue a recommendation once more. It is highly informative and the photography is outstanding, as it also is on a sort of sister blog - Plantarium (http://plantarium.wordpress.com).
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
So Natural
You may have missed the news, but something momentous occurred in Mallorca two days ago. No, it wasn't yet another letter about prices, nor was it a story about the litres per square metre of rain that have swamped the island. It was about some cubic metres - those of natural gas supply.
Work on a pipeline from Dènia on the mainland started at the end of 2008. The first gas is now flowing into Mallorca. Initially, it will serve Palma and the immediate area. One day, you never know, it might be available across the island. There are infrastructure issues to be factored in, not least those to do with domestic supply, but the resultant advantages are clear - lower bills, cleaner air and greater safety. It is a significant development, yet one wonders why news of the arrival of the gas was not given greater prominence.
Gas supply in Mallorca is largely confined to butane and propane. This is about to change. And not before time. Butane can be dangerous - explosions are not unheard of. There is a danger with any gas supply, but with butane the risks are greater. Poorly maintained connections and installations; out-of-date tubing and heaters; ill-fitting mountings. Moreover, the reliance on butane makes domestic life akin to living in a permanent camp-site. There are the bottles, and there is the constant likelihood of the gas giving out during the cooking of a roast chicken, followed - nearly always it seems - by the hunting of a torch to go and disconnect the empty container while someone holds an umbrella over you or the wind batters the gas house door shut. There is also the sheer effort involved. Butane bottles are heavy. Expect the incidence of hernia operations to decline as a result of natural gas. The chiropractors of Mallorca must be cursing its arrival. Pity the poor bastards who live on the fifth floor and don't have a lift. It's like camping, but it's also energy by Heath Robinson and from the manual of poor back health.
Butane is neither much cop when it comes to general health nor for the state of domestic walls. There is little less suited to Mallorca's winter climate of dampness and humidity than butane, given the watery vapours that appliances pump out. The use of natural gas to also generate electricity will see a lowering in demand for that electricity as the dehumidifiers can be turned down to their minimum settings.
The remoteness of Mallorca has been an issue, but the fact that it has taken until 2009 to get a pipeline functioning is a reminder of what, only relatively recently, was the inadequacy of infrastructure. Spain is still playing catch-up after the years of economic and civil engineering neglect. It is easy, though, to be critical of this johnny gas-come-lately. Britain has enjoyed natural gas for years. I can, however, still recall the strangely cosy, stale smell of my great aunt's house with its boiler, fired by Calor.
The arrival of the gas also signals what will eventually be the demise of the "butanero", the gas man. And signal the end of the truck clanging its load and hooting its horn to announce its weekly appearance. Mallorca still has its quaint deliveries and domestic services - the whistling tin dustbin on wheels of the bloke who sharpens knives and garden tools is one, the wine-dispensing vendors of towns like Sineu another. In Britain, there used to be the knife-sharpener with his stone, the Corona man, the fish man, the laundry man, the paraffin man. Maybe there was also a butane man. Not that I remember one. But they have all been consigned to a history dump caused by shopping centres and supermarkets, efficient domestic appliances and central heating. That's progress. And the butane man is likely to be looking for a new job.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Megadeth, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_awouQcIOo. Today's title - boy, was she good. Think Rochdale.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Work on a pipeline from Dènia on the mainland started at the end of 2008. The first gas is now flowing into Mallorca. Initially, it will serve Palma and the immediate area. One day, you never know, it might be available across the island. There are infrastructure issues to be factored in, not least those to do with domestic supply, but the resultant advantages are clear - lower bills, cleaner air and greater safety. It is a significant development, yet one wonders why news of the arrival of the gas was not given greater prominence.
Gas supply in Mallorca is largely confined to butane and propane. This is about to change. And not before time. Butane can be dangerous - explosions are not unheard of. There is a danger with any gas supply, but with butane the risks are greater. Poorly maintained connections and installations; out-of-date tubing and heaters; ill-fitting mountings. Moreover, the reliance on butane makes domestic life akin to living in a permanent camp-site. There are the bottles, and there is the constant likelihood of the gas giving out during the cooking of a roast chicken, followed - nearly always it seems - by the hunting of a torch to go and disconnect the empty container while someone holds an umbrella over you or the wind batters the gas house door shut. There is also the sheer effort involved. Butane bottles are heavy. Expect the incidence of hernia operations to decline as a result of natural gas. The chiropractors of Mallorca must be cursing its arrival. Pity the poor bastards who live on the fifth floor and don't have a lift. It's like camping, but it's also energy by Heath Robinson and from the manual of poor back health.
Butane is neither much cop when it comes to general health nor for the state of domestic walls. There is little less suited to Mallorca's winter climate of dampness and humidity than butane, given the watery vapours that appliances pump out. The use of natural gas to also generate electricity will see a lowering in demand for that electricity as the dehumidifiers can be turned down to their minimum settings.
The remoteness of Mallorca has been an issue, but the fact that it has taken until 2009 to get a pipeline functioning is a reminder of what, only relatively recently, was the inadequacy of infrastructure. Spain is still playing catch-up after the years of economic and civil engineering neglect. It is easy, though, to be critical of this johnny gas-come-lately. Britain has enjoyed natural gas for years. I can, however, still recall the strangely cosy, stale smell of my great aunt's house with its boiler, fired by Calor.
The arrival of the gas also signals what will eventually be the demise of the "butanero", the gas man. And signal the end of the truck clanging its load and hooting its horn to announce its weekly appearance. Mallorca still has its quaint deliveries and domestic services - the whistling tin dustbin on wheels of the bloke who sharpens knives and garden tools is one, the wine-dispensing vendors of towns like Sineu another. In Britain, there used to be the knife-sharpener with his stone, the Corona man, the fish man, the laundry man, the paraffin man. Maybe there was also a butane man. Not that I remember one. But they have all been consigned to a history dump caused by shopping centres and supermarkets, efficient domestic appliances and central heating. That's progress. And the butane man is likely to be looking for a new job.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Megadeth, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_awouQcIOo. Today's title - boy, was she good. Think Rochdale.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
It's A Gas, Gas, Gas
Two coincidental but quite illuminating pieces from "The Bulletin" point to the part played by transport in polluting Mallorca. Much of it is self-evident, but it does highlight how dependent the island is on motorised transport. The head of the natural gas foundation points out that people here are "unused to using public transport" and that this public transport is "underdeveloped". He also says that the fleet of rental cars has risen by 40,000 in the past four years (from 20,000 to 60,000), though it is a bit unclear to where he is referring. In the other piece, it is said that this fleet increased from 20,000 to 65,000 between 1992 and 2007. As always, a bit of editorial inconsistency, but the point is still clear - there has been a substantial rise. Moreover, the number of taxi licences (in Palma) has not increased since the early '80s and the number of school buses has decreased.
Mallorca is an island built on the motor car. It has the highest ownership of cars per head of population in the whole of Europe. It is largely understandable though. Outside Palma, even were the metro actually operating (which it is still is not), the public transport network is not good. Trains are largely useless, though the proposed extension from Sa Pobla to Alcúdia would be welcome. Buses can be ok, but when they press the reserve buses into service during the summer, you want to try driving behind some of the exhausts that belch out filth.
As a result, the idea of converting buses to natural gas, in Palma at any rate, is also welcome. Natural gas is on its way to the island, which should be an advantage not just for some transport but also for household consumption which still relies on the vapour-full butane gas, though God knows what this might mean in terms of pipeline laying and therefore ever more roads and streets being ripped up in order to create the infrastructure.
However much the authorities may wish to see a move towards public transport, they will have a heck of a job. This is four or five vehicle per household land, not just two. And where, one might well ask, would any further public transport be built? At the same time as concern is being expressed regarding the growth in the island's population (demanding more housing etc), the pressure on land use comes from all manner of needs - and don't forget the strength of the eco-lobby that would put obstacles in front of most land development. Natural gas may be useful, but only up to a point.
QUIZ
Yesterday - Alicia Keys. Today's title - where's this from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Mallorca is an island built on the motor car. It has the highest ownership of cars per head of population in the whole of Europe. It is largely understandable though. Outside Palma, even were the metro actually operating (which it is still is not), the public transport network is not good. Trains are largely useless, though the proposed extension from Sa Pobla to Alcúdia would be welcome. Buses can be ok, but when they press the reserve buses into service during the summer, you want to try driving behind some of the exhausts that belch out filth.
As a result, the idea of converting buses to natural gas, in Palma at any rate, is also welcome. Natural gas is on its way to the island, which should be an advantage not just for some transport but also for household consumption which still relies on the vapour-full butane gas, though God knows what this might mean in terms of pipeline laying and therefore ever more roads and streets being ripped up in order to create the infrastructure.
However much the authorities may wish to see a move towards public transport, they will have a heck of a job. This is four or five vehicle per household land, not just two. And where, one might well ask, would any further public transport be built? At the same time as concern is being expressed regarding the growth in the island's population (demanding more housing etc), the pressure on land use comes from all manner of needs - and don't forget the strength of the eco-lobby that would put obstacles in front of most land development. Natural gas may be useful, but only up to a point.
QUIZ
Yesterday - Alicia Keys. Today's title - where's this from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
I’ll Light The Fire, You Place The Flowers
The weather so benign there were people in swimwear on the beach today hardly sounds like the introduction to a piece on winter heating, but it is appropriate. An absurdity of Mallorcan winters is that it is often warmer outside than inside. The reason for this is simple, and it is a reason that makes somewhat absurd some of the environmental and housing debate that I have referred to recently.
Much of Mallorca’s housing stock is inadequate for winter. Only relatively recently has there been a move towards anything like proper insulation and damp-coursing. The norm is neither. The old stone buildings, attractive and romantic that they may be, are usually freezing cold in winter. More modern buildings are similarly cold. The wooden-framed doors and windows in much housing are often sure makers of draughts.
Stone flooring, lack of carpets, large single-paned windows or terrace doors - these all make sense in summer, but in winter they are a nonsense. The solutions to the coldness of much of the housing are: expensive air-conditioning units, noxious and vapour-making butane heaters, ineffective electric radiators, wood-burning chimneys, oil-based central heating. Ah but a wood-burner is so cosy. Yes, if the space is enclosed and not subject to draught, but even then most of the heat escapes up the chimney anyway. Butane heaters - give off a fair amount of heat but also give off a significant amount of water, requiring an electricity-draining dehumidifier. The dampness of much property in winter also requires these dehumidifying monstrosities. Coal is shipped from South Africa to supply the power station for electricity that disappears through radiators and heaters that cannot compensate for the illogic of interior design, exterior thinness and draught holes.
None of the solutions is optimal unless housing design and materials are themselves optimal. That open-plan living-room with a marble stairway and an attractive large window heading towards the landing? Great in summer, a nightmare of lost energy in winter.
It occurs to me that perhaps some practical solutions need to be found - like insulation. Perhaps they are the unsexy side of the environmental and housing debate and, unless I have been missing something, they are not subjects widely addressed. I think it is about time they were.
HUGO AND THE KING
Imagine if you will a meeting of the Commonwealth heads of state. One of the less-savoury of these heads is mouthing off about something. The Queen, not amused, interrupts and tells the head to put one’s sock in it. Couldn’t happen, could it. The Queen maybe not, but King Juan-Carlos is not so reticent. To Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez at the Ibero-american gathering in Chile he said: “¿por qué no te callas?” (why don’t you shut up?). Brilliant. The King, I suspect, has said what many others would have liked to.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Mercy Mercy Me”, Marvin Gaye. Today’s title? It’s the first line from a song about a house by a famous group.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Much of Mallorca’s housing stock is inadequate for winter. Only relatively recently has there been a move towards anything like proper insulation and damp-coursing. The norm is neither. The old stone buildings, attractive and romantic that they may be, are usually freezing cold in winter. More modern buildings are similarly cold. The wooden-framed doors and windows in much housing are often sure makers of draughts.
Stone flooring, lack of carpets, large single-paned windows or terrace doors - these all make sense in summer, but in winter they are a nonsense. The solutions to the coldness of much of the housing are: expensive air-conditioning units, noxious and vapour-making butane heaters, ineffective electric radiators, wood-burning chimneys, oil-based central heating. Ah but a wood-burner is so cosy. Yes, if the space is enclosed and not subject to draught, but even then most of the heat escapes up the chimney anyway. Butane heaters - give off a fair amount of heat but also give off a significant amount of water, requiring an electricity-draining dehumidifier. The dampness of much property in winter also requires these dehumidifying monstrosities. Coal is shipped from South Africa to supply the power station for electricity that disappears through radiators and heaters that cannot compensate for the illogic of interior design, exterior thinness and draught holes.
None of the solutions is optimal unless housing design and materials are themselves optimal. That open-plan living-room with a marble stairway and an attractive large window heading towards the landing? Great in summer, a nightmare of lost energy in winter.
It occurs to me that perhaps some practical solutions need to be found - like insulation. Perhaps they are the unsexy side of the environmental and housing debate and, unless I have been missing something, they are not subjects widely addressed. I think it is about time they were.
HUGO AND THE KING
Imagine if you will a meeting of the Commonwealth heads of state. One of the less-savoury of these heads is mouthing off about something. The Queen, not amused, interrupts and tells the head to put one’s sock in it. Couldn’t happen, could it. The Queen maybe not, but King Juan-Carlos is not so reticent. To Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez at the Ibero-american gathering in Chile he said: “¿por qué no te callas?” (why don’t you shut up?). Brilliant. The King, I suspect, has said what many others would have liked to.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Mercy Mercy Me”, Marvin Gaye. Today’s title? It’s the first line from a song about a house by a famous group.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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