Save your energy to cook your chicken before you eat it…

Facing the growing risk of depleted energy in the whole world, a platform for energy policy dialogue and an integration of energy markets in the Mediterranean basin reveal to be a must.

Amina Khairy - Cairo, Eurojar

The fear of depleted energy and the issue of non-renewable energies are not permanently top topics on people’s agendas. We turn the light on with no fear of energy shortage; we take it for granted to come back home and find our refrigerator cold; we expect to spend the night in an air-conditioned room; we stare hours and hours on the TV watching all what is going on around the globe… but we never feel the fear of energy shortage and consider this as a time-delayed trouble.

Years ago, we began to hear about the depletion of non-renewable energy resources, which constitute a corner stone in the daily life of human beings. Oil, gas, and coil might become history. Unfortunately, this assumption is not far from being a significant reality. Yet, the fear of depleted energy is going hand in hand with a programme called “Support for the enhanced integration and the improved security of the Euro-Mediterranean Energy Market” or MED-EMIP Energy Cooperation.

This could be a complex and incomprehensible title for many people, yet, these are the provisions stipulated in the regional platform for energy cooperation in the Mediterranean region. This project was launched in the year 2007 and will last till the year 2010. With a total budget of 4.5 million Euros, this project aims at enhancing the integration of energy markets in the Euro-Med region and promoting improved energy security and sustainability. It also supports the transfer of knowledge on renewable energy related issues, encouraging its use in the Mediterranean partner countries. This programme covers many countries such as Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Specialized in economic development, and member of the European Commission delegation to Egypt, Dr. Ahmad Badr says that the project is a regional Neighborhood Policy platform for energy issues that aims at exchanging experiences and knowledge on renewable energy. He adds that this project works on diversifying energy sources and reducing the environmental impact of energy-related activities.

Talking about the integration of energy markets in the Euro-Mediterranean region might be worrisome for some countries, in view of the fact that countries of the north of the Mediterranean and those of the south have an imbalanced rate of energy consumption and needs. Badr chooses to borrow the words of Dr. Hassan Younes, the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy, when he says that the Euro-Mediterranean energy market integration is “a win-win situation for both the south and the north of the Mediterranean”.

North and south cooperate for good reasons
Badr goes on to say that the energy resources in the north and the south of the Mediterranean are diversified and the possibilities of transfer of knowledge and experiences are open. He adds:”Thanks to the transfer of knowledge from the north to the south, solar energy fields can be established in the south, supplying the north of the Mediterranean with energy. This will create employment opportunities in the south, where facilities of energy production will be installed, and thus, contribute in boosting the economy of this region.”

The idea of partnership and cooperation in energy resources might seem somehow odd, yet, very logical. Team leader of the Euro-Mediterranean energy market integration project, Dr. Albrecht Kaupp, says that “expanding electricity networks through the region requires an intelligent interconnection infrastructure in order to meet the ever-growing demand for energy and be able to take advantage of renewable energy. Public and private sectors should both take in charge the task of accomplishing this objective, by providing adequate funding to the infrastructure and drawing the legal and organizational frame of this project in order to attract more investment into the energy sector.”

Kaupp prefers the term “modest consumption of energy”, better than “energy efficiency”. In fact, Egypt has a great potential for producing renewable solar and wind energies and aims, by the year 2020, at producing 20% of its total energy through those two techniques. Kaupp praises this approach, which, according to him, requires more than workshops and symposiums. It requires, instead, a great will to turn words into actions. Kaupp admits that such a project requires huge investment and funding, but also finds that “we are lucky to get solar energy for free it is only the conversion to electricity that costs still too much money.” This is why he finds that it is wiser to split the cost of renewable energy infrastructure and add part of it on the non-renewable electricity bills. “In Germany, for example, public electricity subscribers pay about a 4% surcharge on the electricity bill to fund solar and wind energy infrastructure”, explains Kaupp. He also notes that more than one country in the Mediterranean aims at exporting energy to Europe.

The network is already one good step
Badr, from his side, gives more emphasis to the present Mediterranean electricity network, connecting countries of the south and the east of the Mediterranean (except Israel), noting that it is now starting to be operational in some countries. Efforts are being exerted today to include all Mediterranean countries in this plan in order to improve energy security and sustainability in the whole region and reduce electricity bills. This will also lessen the need for building additional power plants to meet the increasing needs for electricity around the Mediterranean Basin.

In this matter, Kaupp says that, in the past, experts needed six decades to establish the oil and gas infrastructure. He thinks that another six decades are required to implement an upcoming infrastructure and network for trading in renewable energies. “Luckily, we already embarked on this project; however, the question is how to accelerate those steps in the south Mediterranean, the same way we did in Europe.”

Wake up!!
Kaupp believes that an average person is not presently too interested in energy issues and fears of loss of energy since supply is still reliable in Egypt. He gets light as soon as he pushes the electricity button switch. Such person has not been confronted yet with the danger of energy shortage. In this regard, Kaupp thinks that awareness campaigns through the television and the media are not the most efficient. A more effective way, according to him, is to build this awareness very early in kindergarten and primary schools, where children could learn that conventional energy resources are limited and will be exhausted sooner or later.

Kaupp recalls the story of a slogan contest that took place among school pupils, which consisted of creating a funny slogan that describes the way of reducing energy consumption at home. One student formulated drastically: “Save energy, eat your chicken raw.” So, before we end up to be constrained to eat a raw chicken, as this child is recommending, it is wiser to endeavor to achieve a unified electricity network in the Mediterranean and support the European Union funded projects that aim at enhancing integration projects and securing energy supplies.

N.B: Text translated from Arabic by Eurojar team

You can also see: MED-EMIP