Europe's Unchallenging Renewables Challenge
Investment in all forms of renewable energy is clearly important if we are to achieve energy security without damaging either our economy or our ability to compete internationally. However, today's laughable headlines proclaim "EU challenges world with climate change plan" and "EU agrees renewable energy target" as though a 20% boost in renewable fuel use by 2020 would be a great achievement. In fact, a report out today concludes that, although the government is unlikely to meet its target of generating 10% of Britain's electricity from renewable sources by 2010, this level is already expected to rise to 20% by 2020.
1 comments:
I stand corrected. Now that the detail is out, it seems the EU is demanding that 20% of all energy should come from renewables – whereas the UK target applies only to electricity generation. Since this accounts for a mere quarter of total energy, the EU's strategy is in fact four times more prescriptive than the government's, and will affect fuel for cars, domestic aviation, and industry. So, Europe's ambitions are not unchallenging after all ... just wholly unrealistic.
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