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A short feasibility study on the installation of a combined power and desalination nuclear reactor in Malta., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

Malta, being a very small and densely populated island in the central Mediterranean, has little space for large scale onshore wind turbine or photovoltaic projects. Maltese territorial waters are mostly too deep for conventional offshore wind farms to be constructed save for a handful of near-shore reefs and shoals. The quest for offshore wind turbine structure designs capable of being installed in deeper waters will revolutionize prospects for offshore wind projects worldwide; but even more so in the Mediterranean region. This paper presents a preliminary engineering analysis to develop two cost-optimized offshore floating structures to support (1) a single multi-megawatt scale wind turbine and (2) a solar photovoltaic farm with the same energy production as that of the single wind turbine. The primary objective of this work is to determine the most economically feasibile option for harvesting renewable energy at sea: offshore wind or offshore solar photovoltaic energy., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

The increasing attention to sustainability is pushing the construction sector to build more sustainable buildings. The paper raises the awareness on whether conflicts arise between available rating systems in achieving the overall green building targets and performances., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

Programme for the Sustainable Energy 2015: The ISE Annual Conference held on the 17th of March 2015 at the Dolmen Resort Hotel & Spa, Qawra, Malta., Dolmen Resort Hotel & Spa, Qawra, Malta, N/A

The present local built environment has a common thermal comfort problem namely that most dwellings have a great reliance on electricity for environmental control indoors. The main objective of this research work was to offer a practical and cost-effective working solution to this problem. The feasible energy–saving measures that can be retrofitted to an existing dwelling were designed and applied to an existing building; a top third floor flat in Birkirkara, Malta, thus converting it into a thermally comfortable minimum energy home. The indoor climate of the subject flat, its mirror image apartment and the Birkirkara microclimate were monitored for one year and the necessary tools to analyse this data were utilised: a psychrometric chart analysis with Malta’s defined thermal comfort zones. Compared to its microclimate and the mirror apartment, the results show that the subject flat managed to keep a constant and very comfortable indoor climate across both the hot and cold seasons. It is only for a small portion (a total of 9 out of 122 days – 7% in summer and 16 out of 121 days – 13% in winter) that the energy–saving retrofit measures did not fall within the thermal comfort zones limits. This case study also shows that the combined energy saving retrofit measures had a payback period of 15 years, which eventually pays off with a surplus of over €700., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

Malta, being a very small and densely populated island in the central Mediterranean, has little space for large scale onshore wind turbine or photovoltaic projects. Maltese territorial waters are mostly too deep for conventional offshore wind farms to be constructed save for a handful of near-shore reefs and shoals. The quest for offshore wind turbine structure designs capable of being installed in deeper waters will revolutionize prospects for offshore wind projects worldwide; but even more so in the Mediterranean region. This paper presents a preliminary engineering analysis to develop two cost-optimized offshore floating structures to support (1) a single multi-megawatt scale wind turbine and (2) a solar photovoltaic farm with the same energy production as that of the single wind turbine. The primary objective of this work is to determine the most economically feasibility option for harvesting renewable energy at sea: offshore wind or offshore solar photovoltaic energy., peer-reviewed

Research has amply shown that by improving the energy efficiency of buildings, the European Union (EU) could reduce its total energy consumption and associated carbon emissions by a considerable amount. To address this aspect, the EU in 2002 issued Directive 2002/91/EC (later repealed by Directive 2010/31/EC), primarily requiring Member States to set up a system where buildings would be certified for their energy efficiency. In this context, each Member State was required to develop and institute its own methodology for the certification of buildings. Most countries achieved this through the creation of a dedicated software tool conforming to this calculation methodology. In Malta, the national calculation tool developed is the ‘Energy Performance Rating of Dwellings in Malta’ (EPRDM). Although available since 2009, very little feedback is available on how the software has so far performed in terms of providing a useful platform for the issue of energy performance certificates of buildings. To address this aspect, the research presented in this paper explores and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of EPRDM, by gauging the experience of EPB Assessors in using this particular tool. Finally a number of preliminary recommendations on possible changes and improvements are presented., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

Westinghouse plasma technology has evolved from its genesis producing super high temperature energy for testing the heat shields on space shuttles to application in gasification reactors for the destruction of a wide range of waste materials and the production of renewable energy. A Westinghouse plasma gasification plant is ideally suited to help Malta achieve its waste treatment objectives, move toward eliminating its dependency on landfill, increase its energy self-sufficiency, reduce its carbon footprint, and become a global leader in waste management., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

This paper shows the energy production of some photovoltaic plants located in the province of Ragusa (Italy) and their impact on the landscape. The systems were realized and monitored by the authors since installation. The plants located in Ragusa, Marina di Ragusa, Santa Croce Camerina, Pozzallo, in Ragusa province, have been studied from the point of view of the yield and of their installation compared to the surrounding environment. The goal imposed by Italian regulations and design analysis of the authors, was to find solutions to find a balance between productivity and impact on the landscape., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

NEPTUME is an R&I project funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST), dealing with the treatment of raw municipal effluent to produce quality second class water for irrigation (and other) purposes. This paper presents an innovative two-stage process which uses the combination of a Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) coupled with a Membrane Bioreactor Filtration (MBR) incorporating the benefits of both processes. This setup produces a very high quality disinfected second class treated sewage effluent (TSE) (COD, Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

Despite the focus put on renewable energy sources the largest reduction in carbon emissions over the past 25 years has come from energy savings due to more efficient household appliances. The latest refrigerators use a half of the energy of those from 25 years ago and washing machines use 75% less. The stock of appliances in Maltese households will include 25-year-old low efficiency devices and very latest high efficiency models. This paper establishes the age distribution of appliances in Malta and the amount of energy they use. This will provide a basis for evaluating policies designed to promote energy efficiency., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

The paper is focused on the comparison of the compression strength and thermal insulation of improved prototypes of hollow concrete building blocks to traditional local building blocks, with the aim of developing a new product for the local market that meets the demand for better insulated buildings. The building blocks under test are hollow concrete blocks (HCBs) manufactured by a local company. The heat flow meter method and infrared method techniques are applied to obtain values of the thermal conductivity of the respective HCBs being tested. Dimensions and weight of these blocks have been recorded and compression testing carried out. The correlation between thermal conductivities and compression strengths of the standard and prototype HCBs shall provide useful information on the thermo-physical behaviour of these building elements. The paper reports on the actual setup of the insitu test cells, followed by the description of the material characterisation, the thermal testing methodologies developed and the compression and dimensional testing carried out. The aim is to succeed in obtaining an innovative block with an improved U-value of at least 10% over existing standard local HCBs without reducing the standard minimum characteristic compressive strength of 7.5 N/mm2., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed

This research was aimed at the development of a mathematical model in MATLAB which can be used to analyze the performance of different photovoltaic systems available on the Maltese market. The model uses data regarding the solar radiation patterns of the Maltese islands and technical specifications of the photovoltaic systems to estimate the energy output and economic feasibility of a particular system. The model integrates a number of practical non-idealities such as inverter inefficiencies and yearly panel degradation and estimates their economic effects., Bajada New Energy, Bitmac ltd., Econetique, Energy Investment, JMV Vibro Blocks, Solar Engineering., peer-reviewed