Efficient energy use, or lack of, has become a hot topic for businesses and organisations in Europe, particularly with mounting gas prices resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

While this issue has been relatively minimised in Malta through unchanged energy prices as the Government has frozen energy prices for 2022 and 2023 to help cushion this blow, energy efficiency remains an important consideration for a number of businesses, both from financial and environmental perspectives.

“The rise in international energy prices has directly and indirectly affected the economy in Malta. Fuel and gas used in industry has been increasing in price and this directly affects many industries in Malta such as manufacturing and as well as hospitality,” says Patrick Spiteri Staines, Managing Director of T4B Services Ltd, a Malta-based firm servicing the building, engineering and manufacturing sectors that also specialises in energy efficiency consultancy.

Indeed, local producers importing raw materials from overseas are contending with an increase in price of those materials, as the factories they are purchasing from are invariably dealing with a spike in energy costs.

“In addition to this, the increase in fuel prices for vehicles and ships in Europe affects the cost of transport which in turn causes prices to increase. Malta is so dependent on supplies for outside our small island that we cannot avoid feeling the effect of these increases,” he added.

However, some business might argue that since Malta is being shielded from these effects, there is no need to focus on energy efficiency. Mr Spiteri Staines remarked that this is a “very short-sighted and inappropriate approach”.

“Even with prices remaining the same for now, no one likes to throw money away. This is exactly what happens if energy efficiency is ignored. Money is wasted on energy costs that could be lower and this affects the bottom line. Even more so with the rising energy prices all around us,” he explained.

“The Government cannot continue completely shielding us from this forever. Now is the time to invest in energy efficiency projects as later it will be too late. There are Malta Enterprise grants covering between 30 to 50 per cent of energy efficiency investments and in many cases the payback is very short,” Mr Spiteri Staines continued.

When asked whether T4B has witnessed a rise in requests for consultations regarding energy efficiency due to rolling heatwaves and a never-before-seen demand for energy by the national distributor, Mr Spiteri Staines replied that this has “definitely” been the case.

“With the extended summer we have had this year, the cooling demand has risen considerably, and this meant higher energy costs for many enterprises. This was one of the main areas we have been tackling with adiabatic precooling systems that substantially lower the cooling cost while increasing the actual cooling capability of the chillers. Our installations have been successful, and clients are demonstrating savings that are in the region of 25 per cent over the hot months. This equates to substantial monetary savings and payback measured in months rather than years,” he said.

Mr Spiteri Staines said that having the air conditioning “at full blast while leaving doors and windows open” is “most inefficient” in high temperatures. “Sounds crazy, but yes, I have seen it. Even something as simple as an automatic door-closer would help,” he added.

Turning to what businesses can do to significantly increase their energy efficiency, he explained that it is best to get a professional energy audit from a registered auditor.

“This important exercise is subsidised by the Energy & Water Agency (EWA), in some cases to as much as 100 per cent. This audit would identify the energy use and what can be done to increase efficiency and eliminate waste, and could be operational, not only investment-based. The lowest hanging fruit would be identified and this would serve as a guide to plan for energy-efficiency investments,” he concluded.