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For centuries, the sails of windmills caught the wind that guaranteed fertility in most of Mediterranean
islands. These same winds also helped to pump water to create abundance and brought the sea inland
and, thus, with the aid of the sun, helped to crystallise the salt, bringing fame to islands as flourishing
centres on the powerful salt route. Small waterfalls were widely harnessed in remote areas to guarantee
the survival of the local people.
This is just an idea of the long adventure of survival that islands have lived, cleverly harnessing their few
and fragile resources. Throughout time, all over the world, island peoples have always had to develop
ingenious ways of harnessing the sun, the wind and the water at their disposal.
We only have to look at any of the wide world islands to realise that the traditional house is always an
incredible compendium of passive solutions adapted to the specific conditions of each location to
overcome the hardships of the climate and the isolation.
That is why we can talk of an island strategy to promote renewable energy sources on the threshold of
this third millennium, and this strategy should be understood as a mere continuity of the inherent
tradition of each island.
The new technologies seem to have been designed by islanders. The traditional limitations in the
energy field like distance from the major grids, small scale, distribution difficulties and the lack of large
conventional markets, are more than off-set by the extreme abundance of renewable energy sources,
and the incredible adaptability and capacity of integration of renewable energy technologies; factors that
are in sharp contrast with the progressive inefficiency and high cost of conventional energy systems in
island regions.
In fact, we would go as far as to say that islands have become genuine laboratories of the future of
energy sustainability. The weight of energy costs, along with the enormous social and environmental
implications of using energy in such vulnerable regions, is clearly tipping the scales.
The area in question includes a population of over thirteen million islanders and a surface area of almost
5% of the European Union.
This view is of enormous importance at a time when the Green Paper "Towards a European strategy for
the security of energy supply" is under discussion. In this context, the subject of the islands will have to
be addressed and tackled in accordance with its importance and the new requirements that define the
island factor and how it differentiates islands from the mainland.
Nowadays, sustainable development for European islands cannot be understood without relating energy
aspects with tourism or water production. The seasonal nature of tourism and the fact that it requires
services of this kind to be so much larger than those required by the resident population, however
adapted their development may be, represents a serious headache for energy supply. More than fifty
million Europeans choose island destinations for their holidays, thus creating scenarios that were
unthinkable up until now. The data brings us face to face with a reality that cannot be hidden. This
reality can be summed up by saying that the Greek islands receive more tourists than Portugal; the
Balearic Islands has twice as many tourists as Brazil and the Canary Islands receive twice as many
tourists as South Africa, the great emerging destination of Africa.
A report highlights the need for community policy on island regions to help promote the rational use of
energy, along with a determined decision to opt for renewable, stressing the fact that tourism distorts the
energy balance of many islands by up to 600%.
This same equation can be seen in the water-energy tandem. Limited water resources have forced
many islands to make the leap to desalination to quench their growing thirst. Islands have started to
measure water in terms of units of energy.
In this extremely variable framework, energy options take on a fundamental strategic value for islands,
especially with regard to the aspects of supply costs, quality and security. If we add the environmental
dimension, where islands cannot afford the excessive externalities of conventional systems, in areas
where the environment and the landscape are the principle factor of value added for their future survival,
we come to the conclusion that renewable energy sources are not an option, they are the only
reasonable path to follow in the future.
Islands have made a start. In the face of this situation, overall European forecasts have been exceeded.
Islands no longer talk about 12% RES; they are starting to design 100% RES systems for the future.
And all of these solutions and designs are based on real projects and strategies.
European islands have, therefore, arrived at an important moment in their evolution. Political will,
technological development and the terms of a sensible economic discourse based on sustainable
development make it advisable to open the gates wide to this great idea of energy self-sufficiency for
islands in the third millennium.
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| Photo TOTAL ENERGIE |
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