Piebalgs promises new proposal on renewable heating and cooling
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs promised to table new legislation for promoting renewable heating and cooling before the end of 2006 when he addressed the European Parliament in a plenary session on 14 February. On the same day, the International Energy Agency (IEA) called for investment in renewable sources of power as a means to boost economic development and diversify energy sources. The move to table new legislation comes following wide parliamentary support for a proposal for increasing renewable heating and cooling by German socialist MEP Mechtild Rothe. Ms Rothe chairs the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES), which wants heating and cooling shares from renewable sources to double to about 20 per cent by 2020. The proposal suggests that 'Such action must not provide an excuse for the EU not to become the most energy efficient economy in the world by 2020; in particular, barriers to technologies which are already competitive should be eliminated.' 40 per cent of European energy consumption is used for heating and hot water. Both these needs could be easily supplied through renewable sources, as schemes in Sweden and Iceland demonstrate, using biomass, geothermal, solar thermal or 'ambient' systems. Because there is a large discrepancy between Member States, each country would be given a specific target. Sweden recently announced its intention to eliminate oil from its economy, and amongst other things, build on community heating schemes which use biomass or geothermal energy. Such schemes provide a working model. The proposal stipulates ways in which prices for renewable schemes could drop dramatically by mass producing cost effective systems and providing a framework to protect investments in the medium term. 'Renewable energy has to be supported and strengthened for a more secure energy supply, a better and sound environment as well as for the competitiveness and the potential of innovation within Europe,' said Ms Rothe. Meanwhile in Paris, the executive director of the IEA, Claude Mandil, said: 'Renewable energy technologies are a crucial element in achieving a balanced global energy future; renewables can make major contributions to the diversity and security of energy supply and to economic development. 'We need to use public funds as effectively as possible in achieving this. Countries must improve their market deployment strategies for renewable energy technologies and above all, increase targeted renewables R&D [research and development] - simultaneously ensuring continued cost-competitiveness. There is much at stake,' he said. IEA figures suggest that spending on renewables has stagnated since 2003. As there is no current EU-wide energy policy, the IEA gives figures for individual countries, and has found that the US, Japan and Germany are the biggest spenders on renewable research and development, while Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands spend the most per capita on renewables.