The solar water heaters on the top of modern blocks of flats all over Cyprus are great. Here is a picture of me with the water heater for a flat I used to live in on Dervenion street in Nicosia. The time has come to replace the water heaters with photovoltaic panels.
The water heaters have been a huge success but they are not much needed in the summer when even cold tap water is often hot enough to shower under.
Modern developments and price reductions in photovoltaic technology mean that these days it would be much more productive for Cypriots to make electricity on their roofs and used some of the power to heat water as required. The rest would be free electricity for cooking, keeping the fridge cool and all the other uses.
As Eni and Total announce yet another delay in drilling for hydrocarbons off Cyprus, the government has cravenly given them an extension of the timeframe.
It is about time the Cyprus government showed some bottle. It should tell the oil companies where to go and finally switch its focus to developing the island’s vast solar and wind power potential.
The government could start by putting some urgency into its support for the development of rooftop photovoltaic power across Cyprus’ thousands of buildings.
Ministers will eventually realise Cyprus doesn’t need gas – imported as LNG or from its own undersea deposits – when sunshine and wind are so abundant. The sooner they see the light the better for everyone.
Cyprus could be carbon neutral 