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THE GLOBAL EUROPEAN RES POLICY
Institutions like the European Commission, UNESCO, the World Bank etc. have a great role in
promoting the harnessing of the natural resources for the well-being of human society. Major initiatives
have long been taken towards this goal and great progress has been achieved in recent years.
In Europe it all started in 1996 with a Green Paper followed by a White Paper and an action Plan for a
Community strategy on renewable energy sources. This paper contains a comprehensive set of
measures to attain the objective of 12% for the contribution of renewable sources to the EU energy
consumption by the year 2010.
A campaign for Take-off was launched as an essential part of this action. The Commission believes that
an early and visible stimulus to the strategy would accelerate the necessary trend towards increased
investment in key renewable technologies.
The EU Parliament in particular, took a spectacular initiative at the end of 1998, in favour of Renewable
Energy Technologies by assigning 60% of the 1999 RD budget inside the 5th Framework Programme to
the renewable energy sector.
Additional sources of funding, necessary to reach the objectives of the White Paper, should come from
national energy programmes and schemes as well as from private sources.
THE ISLANDS CONTEXT AND APPLICATION
In recent decades, the foundations for inter-island co-operation have been laid at many different levels.
New island options must be clearly and independently defined within the framework of globalisation,
based on the premise that safeguarding our natural heritage and the natural and cultural diversity of
islands is a basic asset in the construction of the future.
The island world encompasses territories that are characterised by their extreme diversity and
complexity. Remote archipelagos or islands that lie close to the mainland, some with just a few dozen
square kilometres of land to the largest islands, but all with one common denominator: In the area of
energy, and indeed in many other areas, islands have an enormous variety of circumstances. Their
extreme diversity and singular nature are what differentiate them in a world wide context.
In this context, it is a major milestone for reinforcing a common policy to promote energy sustainability in
island regions.
In the Minorca Conference, island representatives stated unequivocally that "All energy sources, other
than renewable energies, should be considered as provisional solutions for solving the energy problems
of the islands in the long term. "No other regional or world wide forum has ever mooted such a daring
alternative as this. And that is precisely what the island factor is; we have different conditions and
resources, our problems are very different and, therefore, we need specific strategies to tackle them.
The option of using renewable energy sources to the maximum is presently a real objective for islands,
but, there is a clear determination to put the theory into practise. Sustainable energy in the islands
already has well defined strategies and actions. Islands are in a position to promote a clean and distinct
energy strategy, based on the features that distinguish them from the mainland and its real potential for
change.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE ISLAND ENERGY FACTOR
The external dependence of islands in energy matters, is a factor that determines the basic aspects of
their development. In most cases, especially in small and medium-sized islands, energy products
account for over 15% of all island imports. The cost of electricity production in islands can soar above
the same cost in other regions.
Small and medium-sized islands encounter costs that are between four and twenty times greater than
on the mainland, in cases where there is no cable or gas pipe line connections with the mainland. But it
is not just electricity production that is excessively expensive, in many places, energy consumption by
the transport sector alone can account for over 60% of the energy balance. These figures in themselves
explain shortages of supplies in many small islands, or the fact that they have to bear an unacceptable
financial burden to survive.
At best, excessive specialisation of most island economies often forces them to install over-sized energy
capacity, as there are other determining factors like acute seasonal peaks and troughs in consumption,
abrupt changes in demand or greater territorial fragmentation than in other regions.
The environmental impacts produced by conventional energy sources and technologies are more far
reaching than on the mainland, due to the fragile and vulnerable nature of island regions.
Concerning energy efficiency, the systematic import of rigid mainland models of production and
consumption generally adapt very poorly to the energy sources used. Islands cannot support
conventional energy models in either physical or economic terms, and we should not forget that this kind
of mistake has caused really serious problems in the past, in fact part of the work we face in the next
few years is to solve these problems.
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF ISLAND ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY
Most islands have excellent renewable energy resources available in sufficient abundance to guarantee
very often, a large degree of self-sufficiency in energy terms. These are currently under exploited in
comparison with their real potential.
Much of the energy forecasting and planning work done in recent years in island regions indicate that
potential energy sustainability is highly feasible. The example of wind energy shows that, in an
international context, the largest growth in wind farms has taken place in islands.
The scale of islands allows for highly modulated energy planning, with renewable energies accounting
for a large proportion, a factor that must be considered as a value added aspect. It is hardly surprising,
therefore, that projects with a heavy bias in favour of RES are implemented in islands, giving rise to the
first initiatives promoting 100% renewable energy. This is a possibility that would have been unthinkable
a few years ago, but which has been favoured by technological advances and by a firm will to change
the existing model. But, along with the rediscovery of the great potential of RES, one of the main
challenges for islands is achieving an acceptable level of energy efficiency in practically the entire range
of domains and activities.
Islands are also excellent laboratories for researching and developing appropriate, clean and low impact
energy models. The scale of islands makes it possible to introduce and test new solutions within an
acceptable time scale.
OVERCOMING ISLAND BARRIERS
One of the main lessons to have been learned from the past is that the barriers impeding the
development of sustainable island energy are not exactly of a technological nature. The obstacles
impeding the implementation of renewable energies are political, financial, legal and training barriers
that must be overcome in order to create a favourable and technical and social – economic climate,
especially in the area of comparing them with conventional energy sources.
The lack of differentiated energy policies for island regions at all the main levels of decision making:
local, national and international, is another major handicap. Sustainable energy strategies for island
states and regions must go beyond merely introducing conventional energy policies. One of the main
pillars of island energy policies must be to establish incentive mechanisms and instruments to foster
energy saving and rationalisation. Specific frameworks that create favourable conditions for overcoming
these shortages must also be promoted. In this work, the international agencies involved can make a
powerful contribution toward this essential change.
It is also surprising to see the enormous deficit that exists in differentiated market strategies and
initiatives, making it impossible to convert the islands into one of the greatest real niches in the
renewable market. Individually, islands generally do not achieve an acceptable critical mass, but as a
whole, they are the largest current gateways to the great RES market of this XXI century.
Current trends in energy policy are basically aimed at achieving greater competitive plan. A consensus
must be reached in the long term however, on the essential outlines of a common energy strategy for
the EU that also considers other factors: respect for the environment, job creation and assuring supply.
One can not forget the commitments the EU assumed in Kyoto, with regard to reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. Energy efficiency and renewable energies represent one of the few really effective options
for reducing CO2 emissions.
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