Sustainable energy, renewable power sources, green energy. Environmentally friendly is something everybody associates with good, and with good reason, they are believed to be the key to putting global warming to a halt. So why are we still using these fossil fuels then? The transition is tough, many obstacles have to be overcome and challenges to be faced. In this report you will read about the problems making this transition so tough, and why the European Union must work together to solve this problem.
The problem of changing the energy sources from nuclear energy and fossil fuels to renewable energy concerns the government, the energy companies, as well as any regular European citizen.
In the European Union, the governments carry the responsibility of meeting agreements drawn up by the EU. These agreements often incorporate measures to ensure enterprises are becoming gradually more environmentally friendly, and as a result of this, companies are forced to look for cleaner methods to continue their activities. Energy companies are frantically trying to become cleaner, developing more renewable technologies for a sufficient efficient power supply to meet the EU’s demands. In the current period the citizen has to decide on alternative sources for electricity, heating and also to run his car, as the market for electric cars has been booming. At the present situation, these dilemmas are mostly connected with supplementary costs.
The topic renewable energy sources is a European issue because it requires international cooperation to stimulate the use of sustainable energy sources to a level that is actually useful. Pan-European collaboration in the field of power production could save money and increase efficiency. As of 2008, the EU member states have adopted an integrated energy and climate change policy called the 20-20-20 agreement, aiming to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 20%, reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency and up scaling the use of sustainable energy sources so 20% of our power consumption is generated by environmentally friendly production methods. The joint responsibility to achieve this goal, makes it useful for the member states to cooperate in terms of research and dialogue. Furthermore, the polluting activities of neighboring member states can lead to air pollution coming from one state, being moved by the wind to the next one, causing health problems, agricultural problems, and all sorts of problems alike.
Switching to renewable energy sources is a very costly process nowadays and a not-so attractive concept, because the alternatives to fossil fuel powered energy plants aren’t cost-efficient enough yet. It’s exactly this that causes states and companies to prefer conventional, polluting sources. Especially in the current economic climate in Europe that is notably deteriorating due to the Euro-zone crisis and the aftermath of the global credit crunch, companies and states are cleaning up their messy balance sheets and do not have the liquidities to turn to clean energy. The EU therefore has the be careful in making decisions concerning the climate change policy, if they are too lenient on the companies and states the 20-20-20 agreement’s goals will not be met in time, worsening the chances of irreparably (atleast in the coming time periods) polluting and damaging the earth’s environment. When the EU decides to act quickly by harshly enforcing climate regulations, the already existing pattern of the Global Shift (= outsourcing of factories to low-wage countries e.g. China) might be stimulated, leaving the European labour force unemployed as companies search for cheaper locations where they can use ‘cheap’ fossil fuel sources. The issue as it is is very delicate, as has been visible during the last 3 climate summits in Copenhagen (2009), Cancún (2010) and Durban (2011) states aren’t willing enough to sacrifice that bit of their sovereignty to stop the on marching process of global warming. This political impasse meant for 3 years no clear climate compromises were formed as a follow up of the since 2005 active Kyoto protocol. Further aspects that have to be taken into consideration are the large difference in actively stimulating clean energy, for example, Denmark’s electricity demand is met for 20% by wind energy alone, while in the Netherlands, only 3,9% is met by this source. These discrepancies are hard to incorporate in forming policies and have to be considered.
As aforementioned, the current technologies are not at the point that would enable them to be cost-efficient. Wind Energy, solar panels, hydroelectricity plants, you name it, they all exist throughout Europe at various locations, but in vast majority of the EU member states they provide hardly a quarter of the total energy production. Countries that are doing their best are for example, Sweden, Norway and Austria, even Iceland, are enabled to do this because of the geographical features each of these states possess. Norway and Sweden’s renewable power production can largely be traced down to hydroelectricity plants due to their mountain ranges and lakes, whereas Iceland, 81% of the energy demand is met by renewable sources, geothermal energy topping the chart with 66%. As you can clearly see, these solutions to clean power have been developed by the states separately. The role of the European Union in renewable energy development throughout Europe is to develop the technologies, introduce legislation and provide financing for sustainable energy projects. Pan-European projects have also been considered. One of these is the European super-grid, a power grid throughout Europe improving the efficiency with which power plants produce energy and how much of that produced power is actually used. Furthermore, this super grid is the foundation for a sustainable power network which will be elaborated on further on in the project.
Can challenges be met my individual states? They can indeed, though why would you build a house on your own while you have (future) neighbors that are willing to help you build your house, asking your help to build theirs in return? The last case is why European cooperation is so important. As we are United in Diversity, so must we be in this aspect. Whereas the Danish are world-leaders in the field of wind energy, Spain’s scorching sun is a potential goldmine of electricity production. While the Norwegians use their hydroelectricity power plants to provide their country with power, Iceland uses it’s volcanic location to get what they need. Altogether, in theory each state could meet the challenges, but a European cooperation would be tremendously better, saving time, costs and improving long-term solutions.