Chapter 3: Latvia

(continued)

3.5 Demand for Environmental Technologies

Demand for Environmental Technologies - Overview

Within the air sector, the demand for air pollution control technologies was ranked moderate to low. The highest demand among air technologies was for air pollution control/flue gas purification equipment (e.g. filters, scrubbers). Growing demand can be expected for instrumentation and process control/software as well as air sampling/laboratory analysis equipment.

In general, the demand for water and wastewater technologies is moderate but might be expected to be higher. Demand in the water supply sector concentrates on treatment processes, monitoring/sampling/laboratory analysis and inspection, and reconditioning of existing supply networks. Demand is expected to rise for facility operation technologies. The demand for wastewater technologies focuses on physical, chemical and biological treatment processes, sampling/laboratory analysis and pollution prevention/waste minimization. Growth is expected for monitoring technologies, spill control and containment as well as sludge treatment and disposal for municipal wastewater.

The demand for waste management technologies is moderate to high for municipal, hazardous and industrial waste-related technologies and low for radioactive waste related technologies. The greatest demand is for waste collection, transportation and storage equipment, followed by pollution prevention/waste minimization and landfill disposal technologies. Demand is expected to grow for composting/biomass conversion equipment and recycling/resource recovery technologies. Demand for radioactive waste technologies, although very low, points to pollution prevention/waste minimization and spill control/decontamination equipment.

Overall, the demand for energy-related environmental technologies is ranked between high in the power generation subsector and moderate in the industry subsector. The energy sector requires environmental technologies predominantly for heat recovery and energy savings, new/efficient energy and heat generation systems and retrofitting and rehabilitation of existing systems as well as process management and control. Growth is expected in the same above areas for other industries as with the power generation sector.

Technologies in Demand by Sector

In some cases it was difficult to elicit information because the technology grid in the questionnaire was too detailed and because some parties were hesitant to express an opinion on the demand for environmental technologies outside their own field of activities or expertise.

The following scale was used for ranking demand: 5 - very high demand, 4 - high demand, 3 - moderate demand, 2 - low demand, 1 - no demand, blank ­ no opinion.

Figures in cells show an average result, while those in brackets represent the number of responses.

Air

In the researchers' opinion, additional comments for Table 3.15 are necessary. The moderate demand for flue gas treatment equipment is in slight disagreement with the relatively low share of investments in the air pollution control sector (since the air sector represents only 4 percent of all capital investments in environmental protection during 1995-1996 /100/). The moderate demand may therefore be related to the poor efficiency of treatment equipment (a number of which are already outdated and depreciated). However, the low levels of investments may be related to an unwillingness to upgrade equipment, or when making a decision the necessary investments are directed to other sectors considered to be more important (for example, waste, wastewater treatment, energy).

Water

Wastewater

Waste Management

• no general legislation for solid waste management;
• a lack of local regulations;
• not all waste producers pay for waste collection/management;
• the distribution of responsibilities, duties and rights among municipalities and waste management organizations is still unclear;
• the largest portion of waste management is undertaken by private companies whose financial resources are insufficient and whose technical equipment does not always meet the required level;
• most cities and municipalities do not have the means to improve their waste management system yet they still are responsible for waste collection in their regions. As a result, violations occur.

Presently, most municipalities in Latvia exploit their own separate dump sites. There are approximately 558 known dump sites operating in Latvia. The land occupied by the majority of dump sites (77 percent) is less than 2 hectares, while a similar number of dump sites (75 percent) receive less than 1000 m³ waste per year. In most cases there are one or two major dump sites in each district. It can be concluded that almost 90 percent of all waste brought to dump sites in Latvia is disposed of at only 48 sites. The nature of the waste brought to dump sites in Latvia is in most cases unknown. Since the dumping of waste is uncontrolled, hazardous waste is often dumped at those sites where municipal solid waste is dumped.

Municipalities are interested in implementing pollution prevention/waste minimization measures through new and updated technologies. The disposal of radioactive waste is not considered a vital problem.

Regarding industrial and hazardous waste, the highest demand from industrial companies is for waste collection/transportation and storage. Latvia produces approximately 60,000-70,000 tons of hazardous waste annually. The most dangerous types of hazardous waste are contaminated soil, oil filters, waste from metal works, filter cleaning materials, paint sludge, wastewater sludge polluted by toxic substances, different types of engine oils, organic solvents containing halogens and sulphur, waste containing heavy metals, waste from meat and fish processing, and lamps containing mercury. Hazardous wastes can no longer be disposed of at municipal landfills. It must be collected and stored at those landfills designed especially for hazardous industrial waste. Companies have to report annually to the Regional Environmental Inspectorate the amount and composition of wastes generated, disposed or collected.

According to legislation, the Latvian Government is responsible for hazardous waste incineration. Presently, Latvia produces approximately 9,000-10,000 tons of hazardous waste for incineration each year. Latvia is seeking alternative ways to incinerate hazardous waste by using mobile incinerators or constructing a small hazardous waste incineration plant meeting those emission requirements for flue gas cleaning systems according to the relevant EC directive.

Considering the lack of experience and knowledge, and due to the economic recession, the solution to the problem cannot be funded by Latvian resources alone. The following needs exist:

• appropriate legislation;
• an inventory of the waste flow;
• a hazardous waste management strategy;
• different demonstration projects in the waste management field.

Energy

The relatively low ranking given by industry can be explained by the current restructuring processes in the industrial sector, the decreases in production, and the limited resources of enterprises to purchase environmental technologies. At the same time, a number of successfully functioning, privatized enterprises are investing fairly large amounts of money in the reconstruction of their energy systems. In the industrial sector, the highest demand is given to heat recovery and energy savings. It is expected that as energy prices rise in the future, there will be an increase in demand for energy efficient/saving technologies among industrial users.

High demand among municipalities is identified for heat recovery and energy saving technologies, new/efficient energy and heat operation systems, and retrofitting/rehabilitation of the existing systems. The high demand in these areas is fueled by poor efficiency and large energy losses in the existing heat supply systems, creating pricing problems for consumers. Municipalities have made some investments in energy related technologies and will continue to do so even though their financial resources are restricted. Moderate demand was indicated among municipalities for alternative/renewable energy systems. This is caused by the fuel conversion in heating plants to local wood resources and the potential development of small hydropower stations on a number of small Latvian rivers. Alternative/renewable energy system technologies are not ranked as important by the industry sector at the moment. Alternative refrigerants are currently ranked low in both sectors; however, demand for them may increase due to the new Regulations on Ozone Layer Protection, effective since the end of 1997.

Of particular interest is the demand for technologies in the Latvian power sector. A number of feasibility studies and estimates have been carried out, and the rehabilitation of two existing thermal power plants and the construction of new plants are recognized as priorities in the development of the state energy sector. However, the purchase and use of the new technologies will depend on the restructuring and privatization of the sector.

In the researchers' opinion, the overall impression given in Table 3.19 well reflects the current situation.

Major Environmental Technology End-Users

The next largest end-users are industrial companies. As a rule, they are represented mainly by the food industry, an industrial branch that is one of the most successful today in Latvia. Most enterprises are privately owned or are involved in joint-ventures.

Table 3.20 presents the primary end-users of environmental technologies according to the survey.

Air

The largest source of air pollution is traffic. At the moment, the traffic sector is not considered a significant end-user since the implementation of legislative norms on air pollution in the traffic sector are not well-developed. Analysis of air pollution from mobile sources identifies a current need for the development and implementation of air monitoring systems in cities.

Water

Latvia has sufficient water resources, though in the Liepaja and Riga regions, certain problems relating to groundwater resources include abstraction that significantly exceeds natural regeneration of reserves, and a groundwater depression that has formed in the prequartarian deposits. The major problems are the low quality of potable water due to the technical deficiencies of centralized water supply systems and the sanitary state of wells in rural areas. Between 60 and 70 percent of the population of Latvia lives in large towns or cities. Of the population living in small towns, some 40-50 percent are connected to the centralized water supply system.

Wastewater

The municipal sector is the largest entity discharging wastewater, including 10 percent relatively clean discharge, 78 percent treated but still polluted water, and 12 percent untreated wastewater. Large town sewerage systems maintain household (communal) and small industrial wastewater.

The second largest wastewater producer is industry, discharging up to 49 percent relatively clean water, 50 percent polluted wastewater after treatment, and 1 percent untreated wastewater. The wastewater treatment facilities of most industrial enterprises are in poor condition and require significant modification. Among the different industrial polluters, the largest group of wastewater dischargers are chemical, food, pharmaceutical and building material companies. A decrease in total nitrogen and phosphorus discharges was observed before 1995, but the level began to increase in 1996. It is reasonable to expect higher discharge levels and a corresponding increase in demand for wastewater treatment technologies in the future.

Waste

In the future, there is potential for the chemical industry, machinery and equipment manufacturers and furniture producers to become substantial incinerators and landfill users of hazardous waste, but there are currently no facilities for this.

Site remediation technologies are of interest to the state and municipalities, especially for the clean up of former Soviet military bases.

Energy

The ownership of district heating systems varies between municipalities and privately-owned stations. Within these systems, losses of up to 30 percent have been discovered.

Renovation of district heating systems and conversion to local fuels are the major priorities today. The end-user potential of the Latvian power production sector may be identified more accurately after the restructuring and privatization process has been completed.