MCAST Agribusiness Open Weekend

Starting tomorrow, the MCAST Institute of Agribusiness will be opening its doors to the public for a full weekend with various hands on activities and talks by experts on horticulture, apiculture and other agribusiness topics such as aquaculture. I will also be giving a short talk on the issue of sustainable fisheries and what YOU can do to join the culture change, introducing the fish4tomorrow campaign.

See you there... and don't forget to bring your pets!

Fished Out?

On Friday (25th March) we attended a conference organised by Din L-Art Helwa on the issue of the state of fisheries in Malta, something which is very much at the heart of Greenhouse.

The conference had quite a formal atmosphere, we at Greenhouse are used to student-style conferences and debates, not 5-star hotel conference rooms! There were quite high-profile speakers and guests: the conference was chaired by Prof Victor Axiak, Head of the Department of Biology and leading marine biologist. Other speakers included the outspoken journalist Caroline Muscat , Internation Ocean Institute researcher Dr Alan Deidun, Lawyer Dr John Refalo, DR Simeon Deguara (coordinator of Research and Development with the Federation of Maltese Aquaculture Producers), Dr Vassallo-Agius, a top aquaculture researcher both locally and in Japan and others. I was also invited to give a talk on behalf of the fish4tomorrow campaign, which I gladly accepted.

Representatives of MEPA (Mr Darren Stevens) and of the Fisheries Control Directorate (Dr Adreina Fenech Farrugia) gave us insight into the concepts and systems in place for management of Marine Protected Areas and the control and enforcement of fisheries regulations respectively. Ms Muscat gave an in-depth analysis of the problems associated with Blue Fin Tuna ranching, and struck a chord amongst the audience since she was not afraid to get straight to the point (her presentation has subsequently been published on her website www.carolinemuscat.com). The fisheries representatives were slightly angered by her allegations however it was obvious to all that this same debate had been going on for a long time. Dr Deguara emphasised how the science is showing an increase in tuna stocks within recent years, ever since there was a significant cut in quotas in 2008 and very strict management practices were put into place. Dr Borg also added that new measures put into place by ICCAT have, at least, limited a great deal of illegal activities which were previously resulting in total catches far greater than the actual quotas.

Blue fin tuna was of course the centre of the debate, however other aspects such as by-catch, aquaculture, discards and other important and overfished species such as swordfish were discussed. The atmosphere was on the whole quite calm, apart from some regular banter when the issue of tuna ranching was raised.

The fish4tomorrow campaign garnered positive feedback from both the audience and the panel members, who had already emphasised that education of the market is a key factor that is missing. The fisheries representatives admitted that the bluefin is being ranched as it is because of the strong market demand for high quality sushi and sashimi quality tuna (90% of which is sold to Japan) and that if there were no demand for this then the industry would not bother with it as a product. Therefore the ultimate solution to the problem is to educate the consumers, however this is a little difficult for us to do in Malta seeing as the consumer base is almost wholly Japanese. At least, the fish4tomorrow campaign is targeting the Maltese population, in the hopes of nurturing a culture of responsible consumption on our little island. Hopefully, through educating the local consumer and stressing the importance of making responsible decisions when choosing seafood we will then be able to show the legislators and policy makers that short-term profit is not more important than sustainability.

We've set up a facebook group for fish4tomorrow, like it to receive regular updates on the campaign.

End of the Line & Fish4Tomorrow

On Wednesday we will be screening "The End of the Line" at University (KSU Common Room) as part of Environment Fair from 13:00 and 15:00. The screening is free, so come and watch this interesting, inspiring and intense documentary on the state of the world's fisheries.

We will also be introducing the Fish4Tomorrow Campaign, a project we are working on with other local NGOs (Nature Trust, Sharklab, Din L-Art Helwa and Get up Stand up) and volunteers. The campaign is an attempt at building public awareness on sustainable awareness and an attempt at nurturing a culture of sustainable consumption in this country of ours!

Come to find out more about what YOU can do to help solve this global problem!

Anthony's Trail: Grundtvig Workshop Round-up

To close up these posts about the Grundtvig Workshop on Sustainable Energy I'd like to share some photos taken by Anthony during his week in Lisbon with the new friends he made from all over Europe. 

• The Participants of the Workshop, from Italy, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Lithuanian and, of course, Malta. 

• A sack race competition with a twist! 

• Chiara (Italy) and Ivelina (Bulgaria) trying out some experiments at the Museum of Electricity. 

• Pedro (Portugal) trying out a solar powered car, not a ferrari, but it works! 

• Jose (Portugal) carrying out some energy experiments and debunking some energy myths. 

• Ulderica, Stefano, Chiara and Fabrizio, the Italians during the inter-cultural evening. 

• Raimond, Annija, Ivo and Juris (all from Latvia) during the inter-cutural night. 

For more info on 5elemento, the NGO that organised the fantastic workshop, or the workshop itself visit 5elemento.org or contact Greenhouse (green.uom@gmail.com) 

Anthony's Trail: A Visit to Edificio Solar XXI

While I (Anthony) was in Lisbon on the Grundtvig Workshop with 5elemento, we visited an interesting "passive building" called Edificio Solar XXI. This is a building which was designed to use very little energy, virtually no external energy is used in the building. 

They did this by incoporating a variety of technology including: 

• advanced insulation systems

• innovative ventilation 

• clever design of blinds and apertures to provide as much natural lighting as possible

• solar collectors for heating water

• photovoltaic cells, both on the wall of the building and also on the parking area (this serves as an energy source and also a shelter for cars!) 

• earth tubes for passive cooling

• a ventilation system which serves as heating thanks to the photovolatic cells 

• and much more clever ideas! 

Check out the powerpoint presentation attached for an explanation on how the building was designed. This was presented to the participants of the workshop by one of the engineers that works in the building.

Ed Solarxxi 5elemento

Anthony's Trail: Ivo's Greenhouse

In the previous Blog post we shared some hints and tips on how to reduce your energy consumption in the home. This helpful information was passed on by Anthony (Greenhouse member) who attended a Grudtvig workshop in Lisbon, which was organised by a certain 5elemento, a Portugese NGO that focuses on sustainable energy and much of the information and presentations published in the recent blogs were prepared by Jose and Pedro, our friends from 5elemento. 

So, we've already seen what little things we can do to make our homes more energy efficient without spending much time or effort on it. 

Now, I'd like to introduce Ivo:

(Put pic 2 here)

Ivo is from Kuldiga in Latvia, a country were the temperature is below 0'C for most of the year and where it often goes below -40'C. This kind of climate is very hard to imagine for people who live in a country with such a mild climate, where we never ever have sub-zero temperatures (except for in walk-in freezers!). To get an idea of what it's like in Latvia in winter, the water pipes often freeze up during the worst part of the winter. Soil often freezes for the metre or so under ground. Let's just say it's pretty difficult to keep warm. 

Ivo had an incredible idea. He decided to build his own home from scratch. Apart from the daunting idea of designing building a timber house from scratch, only with the help of family and friends, Ivo also decided to make his home as energy efficient as humanly possible. He knew this would entail a lot of planning, hard work and a good bit of money, but he didn't let that get him down and he went for it. 

One of the most important aspects that Ivo had to consider when designing his house was good insulation. He used a type of insulation very popular in Baltic States called ISOPLAAT which is a composite material which provides very effective insulation. The photo shows Ivo's wife admiring the ISOPLAAT on the half-constructed house. He also used some interesting methods of heating, he built his own floor heating (shown in the next photo) and also created a great system for his furnace which circulated the whole house. 

When asked whether it was honestly worth all the work to create an energy efficient home he replied simply, "100%". 

Here's a powerpoint presentation about Ivo's Green-house, in which he explains how he carried out this great work, with details on the insulation, heating systems and chimneys. 


Ivo's Home Pt 1

Ivo's Home Pt 2

Anthony's Trail: Make your own Green-house!

In a previous blog post we promised that we'd share some hints and tips on how to lower your domestic energy consumption! In Europe, about 75% of the energy used in the home is used for space heating. Luckily, we have a very mild climate here in Malta, but in some other countries the temperature can be in the negative degress celsius for a large part of the year and can go as far down as -40'C. Many countries in Europe have issues such as frozen water pipes during the winter months. In Malta we have more of a space cooling issue in summer than a space heating issue in winter. That said, I've heard many people complain that they feel cold inside their homes in winter, despite having the AC, electric radiators or gas heaters on and I suspect that that has much to do with construction inadequacies. 

Anyway here are some tips on how to lower your energy consumption in the home: 

Change your light bulbs! Energy saving light bulbs can reduce your consumption while not affecting your quality of lighting. Older energy saving bulbs take long to heat up until they reach their full strength, but nowadays there are good bulbs that don't take anytime to heat up, they're just like regular bulbs (but better!). I use 11W energy saving bulbs that shine as much as 60W bulbs and don't take any time to "heat up". Also, it's a good idea to choose the wattage of your bulbs depending on the "activity" you use them for. Identify bulbs you use for reading and ones you need for dim lighting and select appropriate wattages. 

Reduce Vampire Power- this means switching off all equipment from standby. Many people think that this is just a myth, but really, a lot of your energy goes down the drain by leaving music systems, TVs, DVD players, mobile chargers etc etc on standby.

Buy appliances that are rated as energy efficient. Try to aim for A or A+ appliances, these are very common now and most new technology is A or A+. All domestic appliances sold in the EU should be marked with the certificate shown below. Check it - it will save you money. 

Use less energy for heating/cooling: Set the thermostats of your ACs/central heating systems to the lowest temperature which is comfortable, in winter, and the highest temperature which is comfortable, in summer. So in summer your ACs should be set at around 25'C and not 16'C. Setting the AC temperature at too low a temperature puts a lot of strain on the AC unit and is overkill. Also, wear appropriate clothing, indoors, according to the weather: wear several layers in winter and as little clothing as possible (while remaining decent!) in summer. 

That's just the beginning. Check out the presentations, prepared by our friends at 5elemento (a Portugese NGO) attached for a long list of hints and tips for reducing your energy cosumption. Most of these are very simple and don't take any time or money and can save you money on your energy bill.

Tips 1


Tips 2

Anthony's Trail: Renewable Energy in the EU

88.1% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels (in the EU 82% comes from fossil fuels, while in Malta it's 100% of course). The average person uses 2584 kwh however 77% of the world's energy is consumed by just 28% of the population. The European Union has long been trying to lower energy consumption and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, for two main reasons: 

1. Environmental Issues (such as global warming, health effects of pollution & the damage that pollution causes to ecosystems) 
2. Energy Dependency (most of the Union's fossil fuels are imported, resulting in a resource dependency). 

Regarding the Environmental concerns, most of the EU member states had signed the Kyoto protocol, back in 1997, and many (15) have actually carried out the necessary cuts and measures which they promised they would, with Latvia ranking on top, cutting emissions to 48% lower than the Kyoto target. As you can see in the first graph, many countries didn't quite make the cut. Of course Malta is down at the bottom of the list alongside Cyprus for not having actually signed the protocol! 

As for the dependency concern, Malta of course imports 100% of it's energy in the form of fossil fuels and is on the top of the list in the second chart, again alongside our friends Cyprus. 

The EU aims to solve the problem of emissions and dependency with a two-pronged approach: reducing consumption and investing in renewable energy sources. The general public seems to have certain reservations on renewable energy in their homes, mainly because a lot of the choices (such as Photovoltaic cells and Wind Turbines) are pretty expensive! But, there are practical and easy ways to reduce your energy consumption in the home and also use more renewable forms of energy.

In the coming blog posts we'll give some simple hints and tips as to how to lower your energy bill and help save the enviornment at the same time and also share some ideas and experiences with you. 

Check out the powerpoint presentation, prepared by members of 5elemento (www.5elemento.org), about the state of energy in the EU. 

Energy in the World

Anthony's Trail: The Grundtvig Workshop on Sustainable Energy in the Domestic Sector

Anthony, a member of the Greenhouse Exec. had the opportunity to travel to Lisbon to take part in a Grundtvig workshop (http://ec.europa.eu/education/grundtvig/doc984_en.htm) organised by Portugese NGO 5elementos (the fifth element). The workshop was attended by 15 participants from all over Europe (Italy, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and, of course, Malta) and the topic of the workshop was sustainable energy, principally in the home.

We will be posting some of the information and experiences from this workshop here, so watch this space!

To start off with here's a link (www.casamais.adene.pt) to an interactive program which allows you to calculate your house's/apartment's energy efficiency and also determine what your problem areas are and what impacts certain changes will have on your energy efficiency. The program is designed for Portugal, allowing you to choose from different regions of Portugal thus customising the environmental conditions. I suppose that selecting a region in the south of Portugal is the best way of approximating Malta's climatic conditions however maybe in the future we will have a similar programme designed for our little islands!