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BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 1, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
Europe could reduce energy costs by Euro 100
billion a year by 2020 if it takes immediate action on energy
efficiency.
The European Commission has released its Energy Efficiency Action
Plan that contains a package of priority measures to improve
cost-effective energy efficiency in appliances, buildings, transport
and generation. It proposes stringent new efficiency standards,
promotion of energy services and specific financing mechanisms to
support more energy efficient products, with a goal of displacing
the emission of 780 Mt of CO2 by 2020.
"Europeans need to save energy; Europe wastes at least 20% of the
energy it uses,” says EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs. “By
saving energy, Europe will help address climate change, as well as
its rising consumption, and its dependence on fossil fuels imported
from outside the Union's borders."
The Energy Efficient Action Plan will be implemented over the next
six years and responds to an urgent call from EU countries earlier
this year for a realistic strategy on energy efficiency. The plan
underlines the importance of minimum energy performance standards
which represent “a powerful tool for removing inefficient products
from the market, informing consumers of the most efficient products
and transforming the market to make it more energy efficient.”
Very low energy consumption buildings (‘passive houses’) will also
be promoted for new and renovated buildings which do not have
traditional heating systems and rely on active cooling that features
superior insulation levels, mechanical insulation systems and highly
efficient heat recovery. By 2008, the EC will develop minimum
binding efficiency requirements for new electricity, heating and
cooling capacity, and will require the energy supply industry to
develop guidelines on best operating practices to raise average
generation efficiency for all plants.
A proposal for a new regulatory framework to promote the connection
of decentralized generation will be released next year, and the plan
proposes a comprehensive set of measures for improving energy
efficiency in transportation through higher fuel efficiency of cars,
markets for cleaner vehicles, and improving the efficiency of urban,
rail, maritime and aviation transport systems.
“The market alone will not enable us to make the necessary energy
savings,” it explains. “The prices of electricity and petrol, which
are certainly expensive for part of the population, do not reflect
the genuine cost of energy to our society and do not encourage
consumers to take advantage of all or part of the savings that are
available.”
“The room for manoeuvre on the energy supply side is still limited;
renewable energy has not evolved enough to replace oil and gas in a
sufficient quantity,” it adds. “At the same time, saving energy is
the easiest, most rapid and most effective way to answer the
challenge of our energy dependence and reduce damage to the
environment.”
“Provided the EU acts in an integrated and coordinated manner now,
saving a substantial amount of energy is still possible,” it
concludes. The plan has set “a wholly achievable goal” of reducing
energy consumption by 20% by 2020, which would save Euro 100 billion
a year and provide “positive effects for industry, consumers and the
environment.”
The growth in demand for transportation and electricity represent
the most worrying trend in Europe, with consumption to increase by
10% over the next 15 years if nothing is done to curb demand, the
report notes. Transport accounts for 20% of total EU primary
consumption but 98% of the transport market depends on oil and is
responsible for 26% of CO2 emissions on the continent.
Buildings use 40% of energy in the European Union but “too much
energy continues to be wasted in buildings because of inefficient
heating and cooling systems and lighting,” it adds. “Certain new
phenomena also contribute to the rise in our energy consumption,
such as increasing use of air conditioning, the craze for gas
guzzling off-road vehicles and the introduction of the stand-by mode
for electrical equipment, which today represents almost 7% of total
electricity consumption on its own.”
The European Commission is promoting various aspects of energy
efficiency through directives on cogeneration and programs to
support renewables at local and regional levels. The Intelligent
Energy - Europe (IEE) program converts EU policy for more renewables
into action, while the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign 2008 is
another initiative to contribute to Europe’s targets in renewables.
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