Renewable energy in the European Union
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The countries of the European Union are currently the leading world power in the development and application of renewable energy. Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both to the reduction of the EU's dependence on foreign energy imports, and in meeting targets to combat climate change. Germany is currently the only member of the EU that is on track to achieve the objectives set by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
The Maastricht Treaty set an objective of promoting stable growth while protecting the environment. The Amsterdam Treaty added the principle of sustainable development to the objectives of the EU. Since 1997, the EU has been working towards a renewable energy supply equivalent to 12% of the total EU's energy consumption by 2010.
The Johannesburg Summit failed to introduce the radical changes targeted for ten years after the Rio Summit. No specific goals were set for the energy sector, which disappointed many countries. While the EU had proposed an annual increase in the use of renewable energy at a rate of 1.5% worldwide until 2010, Johannesburg's action plan did not recommend such a "substantial" increase, with no concrete goals nor dates being set.
The EU was unwilling to accept this result, and with other nations formed a group of "pioneer countries" that promised to establish ambitious national or even regional goals to achieve global targets. The Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition (JREC) has a total of more than 80 member countries; the EU members, Brazil, South Africa and New Zealand amongst them.
In the European Conference for Renewable Energy in Berlin in 2004, the EU defined ambitious goals of its own. The conclusion was that by 2020, the EU would seek to obtain 20% of its total energy consumption requirements with renewable energy sources. Up until that point, the EU had only set targets up to 2010, and this proposal was the first to represent the EU's commitment up to 2020.
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[edit] Wind power
The implementation of wind power is especially widespread in Germany, Spain and Denmark. The results of the investigation carried out by EUWINet (a project financed partly by the European Commission) indicated that the annual median growth of the European wind power market is 35%, and that EU Members contribute around 75% of the world's wind power. Thanks to the growth that has resulted from the use and development of this energy source, the wind power market has helped to generate more than 25,000 jobs within the EU.
The energy policy of the United Kingdom calls for appreciable expansion of wind energy by the year 2010.
[edit] Photovoltaic solar energy
The need for the strategic development of photovoltaic systems in the EU has led to the creation of PV-NET, a network that gathers representatives from all the sectors of the research and development community concerned with the photovoltaic solar energy industry (see solar cell). The network promotes communication between speakers through the organisation of specialised conferences, workshops and congresses.
This interaction has led to the editing of a waybill, finished in 2003 with the aim of providing a solid basis for EU leaders and European citizens to base their decisions and policy making and in order to help reach the objective set by the European Commission to multiply the use of photovoltaic systems by thirty times by 2010.
In 2002, the world production of photovoltaic modules surpassed 550 MW, of which more than the 50% was produced in the EU. At the end of 2004, 79% of all European capacity was in Germany, where 794 MWp had been installed. The European Commission anticipates that Germany may have installed around 4,500 MWp by 2010. [1].
Germany is also home to the largest solar power station in the world, which was inaugurated in July 2005 in Bavaria. The complex, called Bavaria Solarpark, covers an area of 250,000 square meters, and is headed by Siemens.
[edit] Hydrogen fuel
The European Commission is currently sponsoring a practical programme of vehicle trials for battery powered vehicles. The most ambitious projects are the €1 million CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe) scheme and the ECTOS (Ecological City Transport System' ').
The tests are taking place in the cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Porto, Reykjavík, Stockholm and Stuttgart. It consists of putting into service public buses, called Citaro manufactured by DaimlerChrysler.
[edit] European regions
Navarra, an autonomous region in Spain, leads Europe in its use of renewable energy technology, and plans to reach 100% renewable energy generation by 2010. By 2004 61% of the region's energy was generated from renewable sources.
[edit] See also
- Renewable energy development
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- Economy of the European Union
[edit] External links
- National National Wind Watch — Grassroots coalition for presenting all of the facts about industrial-scale wind energy
- New European Renewables Target: "20% by 2020"
- Berlin Summit conclusions
- European Commission: New and Renewable Energies
