Suchergebnisse

Like other islands, Malta experiences great challenges to secure its energy supply and independence. Deep renovation of buildings to nearly zero energy and addressing "smart-readiness" are widely believed to contribute to solving such challenges, while meeting the exigencies of the 2018 European Union energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD). Nearly zero energy buildings benchmarks for residential buildings in Malta have been defined using established EPBD cost-optimal methodologies, however these guidelines detailing a one-step and one benchmark definition approach neglects peak loads, building-grid interaction requirements and energy storage. To counteract these inadequacies, this research proposes an innovative multi-criteria approach adapted from ISO 52000-1:2017 standard, which supports the new EPBD requirements for optimizing comfort and addressing energy poverty. This is carried out by first optimizing adaptive comfort in "free-running mode," before switching to mechanical space heating and cooling. When implementing this approach on a case study of an existing 40-family social housing block undergoing deep renovation, it was found that the discomfort hours have been reduced drastically, while the peak demand for the remaining discomfort hours requiring mechanical heating and cooling has been halved. Despite such positive impact of passive measures, the research has quantitatively demonstrated that given Malta's temperate climate, such measures have lower impact on the energy rating of the building, when compared to that achieved with active and renewable energy (RE) measures. Thus, the proposed multi-tier benchmarking approach ensures that each energy efficiency measure is appropriately weighted on its own merits, rather than lumping all measures under a single benchmark indicator. With regards to smartness indicators for load matching and grid interaction, a detailed analysis using system advisor model software demonstrated that battery energy storage systems have the capacity to match the RE supply to the demand, although this approach is still far away from being cost-optimal. The research concluded that RE incentives should therefore move away from feed-in tariffs and subsidize direct energy use, storage, and load matching given their high costs. Furthermore, the cost-optimal analysis should also quantify the costs of thermal discomfort, energy poverty and grid mismatch, to ensure a holistic approach to deep renovation of buildings. ; peer-reviewed

The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU is a step in the right direction to promote near zero energy buildings (NZEB) in a step-wise manner, starting with minimum energy performance and cost optimal thresholds for "reference buildings" (RBs) for each category. Nevertheless, a standard method for defining RBs does not exist, which led to a great divergence between MS in the level of detail used to define RBs for the EPBD cost-optimal analysis. Such lack of harmonisation between MS is further evident given the resulting large discrepancies in energy performance indicators even between countries having similar climate. Furthermore, discrepancies of 30% or higher between measured energy performance and that derived from the EPBD software induces uncertainty in the actual operational savings of measures leading to cost-optimality or NZEB in the simulated environment. This research proposes a robust and innovative framework to better handle uncertainties in the EPBD cost-optimal method both in the building software input parameters and in the global Life Cycle Costings (LCC), making the EPBD more useful for policy makers and ensuring a more harmonised approach among MS. The concept behind the proposed framework is the combination of a stochastic EPBD cost-optimal approach with Bayesian bottom-up calibrated stock-modelling. A new concept of "reference zoning" versus the "reference buildings" approach is also introduced in this research, which aims at providing a simpler and more flexible aggregation of energy performance for the more complex commercial building stock. ; peer-reviewed

The paper presents an overview of some solar photovoltaic grid-tied installations in Malta, and gives a description of their purpose and date of commencement, besides other data. A presentation of the Maltese past and present situations and the future prospects of solar photovoltaics is given. A brief comparison between the performance of existing grid-tied PV systems is made to demonstrate the good potential of generating electricity from the sun, thus making photovoltaics a future contributor to the energy mix in Malta. Finally, some proposals are presented, which could be used by national legislative and statistical offices, in order to foster the wide-spread application of solar photovoltaics in a professional and orderly manner. ; non peer-reviewed

As the year 2020 draws closer, European Member States strive harder to reach their individual mandatory targets for the share of renewable energy in their total final energy consumption. Malta has joined the European Union in May 2004 and has since then, worked towards achieving the required compliance of national energy policies to the relevant EU Directives. Malta has also prepared a number of documents dealing with the main three sectors affecting climate change namely, energy, transport and waste management. Besides, Malta has to achieve 10% share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption by 2020, as well as 10% share of bio fuels in the transport sector. Moreover, Malta should also reduce its electricity consumption in public buildings by 9% by 2016. Within the scope of climate change, Malta has no obligations within the Kyoto Protocol but this could change when Malta applies to become an Annex 1 Member at the Conference of Parties meeting in December 2009 in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, within the European Union Emission Trading System (EU-ETS), only the emissions from Malta's two power stations fall under this system. The Commission has decided that Malta's emissions for the period 2008-2012 should not exceed 2.1 Million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (European Allowance Units EAUs) per year. This is already proving to be a hard challenge to meet, given the projected increase in electricity demand. This paper outlines the current efforts that would contribute towards achieving the renewable energy targets and curbing of carbon dioxide emissions, mainly focusing on energy, transport and waste management. Three different scenarios are also presented for the plausible contribution of different renewable energy sources in the energy mix. It is noted that a number of important plans and policies have been drafted during 2009 and have still to be transposed to national legislation. However, the race against time has already started and it would clearly require a strong political will to drive Malta towards a cleaner energy mix, achieve the RE binding targets and avoid paying non-compliance penalties. ; peer-reviewed

The potential of renewable energies is presented for the territory of the Republic of Malta. These are in the main sun, wind and biogas. Taking the base year 2003 for comparing the percentage contribution of electricity generated from renewables to that generated from fossil-fuelled power stations, it was found that rooftop solar photovoltaic systems could produce 9.1%, onshore wind farms could offset 5.4% and the offshore wind potential lies in the region of 3.4%. Energy from waste could contribute another 5.6%, while widespread solar water heating in domestic buildings could offset 4.8%. Economic analysis of applying renewable energy power systems under the present constraints is carried out. A range of barriers to the use of renewable energy devices is described. The currently available incentives are listed and a number of measures that could be implemented to allow widespread applications of renewable energies are suggested ; peer-reviewed

The 2018 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844, focuses on building energy renovation. With the increase in tourists and working opportunities in Malta, the restaurants' sector is experiencing a business boom. Despite this sector being a major energy consumer, the energy performance of restaurants in Malta has been given little attention. This paper investigates the energy performance of four representative restaurants in Malta. Refrigeration accounted for the highest share of 40% electricity consumption, followed by kitchen exhaust ventilation, domestic hot water and space cooling, which accounted for about 50%, while lighting consumed only 6%. Energy saving potential was primarily identified for refrigeration, water heating and air-conditioning. Although, the fuel sources used for cooking equipment accounted for more than 50% of the overall energy used in these restaurants, electricity is the fuel of primary concern as on average it contributes to 70% of total carbon emissions and results in the highest operational cost. The total potential of carbon emission savings was found to be 17%, when the recommended energy efficiency measures are applied. A benchmark of 14.51 kWh primary energy per person served was established for energy-efficient restaurants. This paper provides evidence-based results that are useful for policy makers to introduce fiscal incentives to support the transition of Maltese restaurants to nearly-zero energy status. ; peer-reviewed

The paper presents an analysis of the four grid-connected systems installed in Malta and monitored by the Institute for Energy Technology of the University of Malta. The systems have varying power ratings, orientation and tilts. Three systems had stationary solar modules, while the fourth one used an active tracking device. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of different systems under the local weather conditions of a typical Mediterranean country. Comparison to other systems in EU countries was made and answers to frequently asked questions were found. The mean monthly Performance Ratio of the systems ranged between 0.51 and 0.80, while the final yield was reported to be between 2.76kWh/kWp/day and 3.61kWh/kWp/day. The final efficiency was also found to be between 5.1% and 7.1%. This compared favourably with results reported by European researchers such as in the Thermie Project. The inverters proved to be safe and did respond as expected during times of grid disturbance. In view of Malta's new membership in the European Union, this study will be an essential tool to support future widespread applications of solar electric systems in Malta. ; peer-reviewed

Buildings are responsible for 36 % of CO2 emissions in the EU. The Interreg Europe project entitled ZEROCO2 ''Promotion of Near Zero CO2 emission buildings due to energy use" aims at addressing policies, actions and investments to facilitate the transition of buildings to nearly Zero CO2 emission buildings due to energy use (NZCO2EB). The project is made up of eight partners from eight different regions and has a duration of 4 years. Project phase 1 (2016-2018), dedicated to interregional learning, has been completed. This paper summarises the deliverables of project phase 1, with a special emphasis on Malta's market needs and policy action plans required to ease its transition to NZCO2EB. It is envisaged that in project phase 2 (2018-2020), the priority policy action plans identified in this paper will be implemented. This will enable Malta to reduce its operating CO2 emissions from buildings, while assisting the country to reach its 2020 energy efficiency (EE), renewable energy (RE) and nearly zero energy in building (NZEB) targets. ; peer-reviewed

Malta, as a member of the European Union (EU), has pledged to become carbon neutral by the year 2050. Concurrently, the need for thermal comfort for people within places of worship has expanded tremendously in recent years. As a result, prioritizing passive methods over mechanical air-conditioning systems in such buildings is an essential step toward protecting the macroclimate while achieving a sustainable and comfortable indoor environment. Using DesignBuilder-EnergyPlus software, this paper examines the effectiveness of selective passive measures in two free-running church buildings. Results show that certain passive measures alleviate severe high and low indoor temperatures, resulting in a more comfortable environment. Environmental control, on the other hand, present difficult conservation challenges. Historic church buildings were initially built to make use of passive design features for internal comfort, and this study shows that they outperform expectations and, in general, outperform more contemporary church structures. ; peer-reviewed

The domestic sector in Malta widely utilises electric boilers to heat water. With the introduction of fuel surcharge on electricity and water bills, the cost of heating water has risen dramatically. The National Census of 2005 showed that only 5,010 solar heaters were installed in homes, covering a mere 3.6% of Maltese households. Government incentives to give capital grants of up to 25%, has increased the uptake of solar heaters to some extent and is now estimated to have reached 12,000 units. ; N/A

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU requires EU Member States to calculate the cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and buildings that undergo major renovation. The European Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 244/2012 and accompanying Guidelines 2012/C 115/01 establish a comparative methodology with regards to number of reference buildings for each building category, number of energy efficiency measures to be implemented in the study and the minimum level of cost analysis that is required. This paper fulfils the above requirements but also introduces an innovative approach that goes beyond the minimum requirements for the cost-optimal study, whereby a two-stage optimisation approach was undertaken. The first stage focuses on choosing a representative set of combined building envelope measures that cover the full range of possible energy performance levels, in such a way that these lie along the line of minimum space conditioning costs, known as the Pareto Front. While the second stage applies combinations of energy systems' upgrades to the selected iterations of stage 1. The scope is to minimize the time cost of these cost-optimal studies without sacrificing on their effectiveness or creating biased results. Cost optimal and nearly-zero energy levels were found for homes for the elderly, hotels, offices, restaurants, shops and sports complexes. Results showed that cost optimal levels are best achieved through upgrades of energy systems and solar shading rather than building envelope U-value upgrades for all building categories. This is primarily a result of the mild Mediterranean climate of Malta. Solar water heating and solar photovoltaics have shown to be cost optimal for all categories, except where these cannot be installed such as in shops and restaurants. Shading, heat pump water heaters and high efficiency air-conditioning systems have also been identified as cost-optimal measures. ; peer-reviewed

The research work disclosed in this publication is partially funded by the Endeavour Scholarship Scheme (Malta). Scholarships are part-financed by the European Union - European Social Fund Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 "Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society". ; This paper aims at identifying anomalies that may exist when an asset rating is compared to the actual energy consumption of a non-residential building. This study is part of an on-going Ph.D. study focusing on the performance gap phenomena between energy consumption and energy modelling using standardized energy performance software. As a first stage, it is important to identify the extent of this gap by studying various local non-residential projects with EPCs, as calculated by the Simplified Building Energy Model for Malta (SBEMmt). Discrepancies have been identified for two buildings (a large hospital and a large office building). A first approach for solving such discrepancies have been made to change or enhance the status quo, so that the EPC would become more meaningful for our local situation and for developing energy efficient buildings in the future. The peculiarity of Malta as being predominately cooling will be highlighted and contrasted. ; peer-reviewed

The Universities of Malta and Valladolid (Spain) developed a measurement campaign, which took place in the Institute for Energy Technology in Marsaxlokk (Southern Malta) between May and October 2012, and it was supported by the Spanish government through the Project titled "Measurement campaign about Solar Radiation, Ozone, and Aerosol in the Mediterranean area" (with reference CGL2010-12140-E). This campaign provided the first ground-based measurements in Malta of erythemal radiation and UV index, which indicate the effectiveness of the sun exposure to produce sunburn on human skin. A wide variety of instruments was involved in the campaign, providing a complete atmospheric characterization. Data of erythemal radiation and UV index (from UVB-1 pyranometer), total shortwave radiaton (global and diffuse components from CM-6B pyranometers), and total ozone column, aerosol optical thickness, and precitable water column (from a Microtops-II sunphotometer) were available in the campaign. Ground-based and satellite instruments were used in the analysis, and several intercomparisons were carried out to validate remote sensing data. OMI, GOME, GOME-2, and MODIS instru- ments, which provide data of ozone, aerosol load and optical properties, were used to this end. The effects on solar radiation, ultraviolet and total shortwave ranges, of total ozone column, aerosol optical thickness and precipitable water column were obtained using radiation measurements at different fixed solar zenith angles. The empirical results shown a determinant role of the solar position, a negligible effect of ozone on total shortwave radiation, and a stronger attenuation provided by aerosol particles in the erythemal radiation. A variety of aerosol types from different sources (desert dust, biomass burning, continental, and maritime) reach Malta, in this campaign several dust events from the Sahara desert occurred and were analyzed establishing the air mass back-trajectories ending at Malta at several heights calculated by means of the HYSPLIT model. Hence, changes in the UV index due to atmospheric aerosol were characterized. ; N/A