Key Services that MER offers include:
- Conduct nearshore and offshore environmental studies
- Consult on environmental, socio-economic issues
- Ensure environmental obligations and standards are met
- Monitor significant marine environmental variables (sample collection and analysis of biological variables e.g. macrofauna, phytoplankton, zooplankton and analysis of chemical variables e.g. refined fuel and crude oil
- Preventative environment impact analysis
- Post-spill evaluation of environmental impacts
- Other marine ecology services
The vast majority of the energy consumed in Cyprus is generated via crude oil combustion which has high rates of CO2 emissions. Electricity production units release warm effluents in the surrounding water and induced impacts have not yet been investigated at Cyprus.
During the past few years there has been an attempt to incorporate the use of renewable energy sources (wind farms and photovoltaic parks) at Cyprus with a 2020 goal to generate 13% from renewable energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emission by 5% compared to the 2005 levels of 9.9m tonnes. The discovery of natural gas reserves in the Levantine basin and plans for exploitation together with the construction of the Energy Centre at Vasilikos open new doors to more secure, cost-effective energy supply in the country.
Marine renewable energy resources such as offshore wind and wave energy remain unexploited at Cyprus but the recently agreed Limassol Declaration on the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy suggests that the future for blue marine and maritime growth at Cyprus is promising.
MER and its external partners use advanced hydrodynamic and dispersal models, cutting-edge sensors and advanced ecological surveying techniques and analyses to help clients involved in energy production and marine resource development maximize the environmental sustainability of their actions and meet their environmental requirements.