Coping with Europe’s rapidly increasing energy demands

We need to invest in research to retain a diverse energy mix and reduce dependency on imports

The previous European Commission, through the then energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio, centred its energy initiatives on the Green Paper on security of supply, from which much of the EU legislation that is in place today originated. Cases in point are the energy efficiency in buildings directive, that on co-generation as well as the promotion of biofuels and renewables. These are examples of an ample set of legal texts that reflect the importance given by the EU to this issue.

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has placed a new aspect of the same problem in the spotlight: energy efficiency. Currently the European Parliament is reaching the concluding stages of the legal procedure on the proposal for a directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services that focuses on the demand-side problem of security of supply and the creation of a liberalised framework for a market on energy efficiency services. The relevance of this directive is obvious when we realise that raising the awareness of energy users on the advantage of consuming energy responsibly is essential to achieve not only security of supply but to comply with our Kyoto Protocol objectives.

But security of supply must go hand in hand with a net improvement in the European energy efficiency. To this effect, the Parliament will shortly start the debate on the Green Paper Energy efficiency, or doing more with less, which was presented by the Commission in July. I will have the opportunity, as draftsman of the Parliament, to take an active part in the elaboration of this text that will serve as a framework for further legislation. It is therefore important that we set the basic principles which we will want to see reflected in future directives.

The dependence on energy imports in the EU is projected to increase up to 90% by 2030; this is a disturbing figure considering that most of those imports come from unstable regions. The EU has to make a clear investment in research to make existing energy technologies economically viable alternatives. We should focus our resources on a limited number of priorities such as the promotion of hydrogen for transport, a sector that accounts for most of the oil consumption and for about 32% of greenhouse gas emissions.

We should also rethink, without prejudice, the role of nuclear power. Nuclear energy not only contributes significantly to security of supply and energy independence but plays a key role for the achievement of our Kyoto objectives, if we consider that the use of nuclear power in the EU prevents about 700 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year from being liberated into the atmosphere.

Contrary to what many nuclear sceptics believe, advocating the use of nuclear does not exclude support for the promotion of renewables. The EU is very active in this field and the European Parliament has approved in its last plenary sitting an own-initiative report that reflects the clear commitment MEPs feel towards this issue.

Finally, another concern lies in the expected rise in energy consumption in developing countries such as China and India whose economies are expanding at an impressive rate. In the Green Paper the Commission expresses the importance of exporting European technology in efficiency to these countries through close co-operation. Indeed, all our efforts will be outweighed if we cannot manage to obtain a global commitment to a common energy strategy.

The EU must continue its efforts to maintain a diverse energy mix with a view to reduce its energy dependency of imports. In order to achieve this, member states should not be shy when investing in research and in efficiency improvements. Energy policy is still highly dependent on national legislation and it is mostly up to them to take decisive steps to ensure security of supply and a responsible use of energy. We will face many and overwhelming problems in the near future and it is therefore imperative for decision-makers, industry and citizens to take action now.

• Spanish centre-right MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras is a member of the Parliament's industry, energy and research committee.

Energy supply needs to be secure, but also environmentally sustainable and economically viable

Energy demand is forecast by the European Commission to increase in the coming decades at a rate of 0.6% per year (2000-30). During this period output from the EU's domestic reserves of oil and gas will start declining significantly. As a consequence, the import dependency on oil would increase from 75% in 2005 to 90% in 2030, with natural gas showing an increase from 50% to 70% over the same period.

The increasing reliance of imported energy makes the EU more vulnerable to changes in the global price of energy as well as the security of supply.

The price of oil has increased substantially from around &036;25 a barrel in 2002 to over &036;60 in early October 2005. As the prices of gas and oil are linked a similar increase in the price of natural gas has been experienced. Given that these two energy sources provide over 60% of the EU's primary energy these price increases have a significant impact on the EU's economy.

We also have to take into account climate change and the question of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EU has defined and confirmed on a number of occasions an indicative long-term global temperature target of not more than 2¡C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this, the world will have to reduce emissions far more substantially than the 8% by 2008-12 mandated for the EU by the Kyoto Protocol. This is extremely ambitious but absolutely necessary.

The question in my view is therefore not 'Is the EU doing enough to ensure security of supply for the coming years?' but rather, 'Is the EU doing the right thing to counter all the problems related to energy we are facing today and in the future?'

The objective for the EU should be to create an energy sector that is competitive, environmentally sustainable and secure. The problem with this 'holistic' approach is that the EU says the right things but does not act accordingly. The EU is committed to the Kyoto Protocol and pushes for the Lisbon Agenda. Very good! The Commission's Green Paper on security of energy supply states that "The European Union will only reduce its external energy dependency through determined policy of demand management." Energy efficiency improvements have been recognised by the Commission as the 'priority of priorities'. I agree.

Despite this, the EU has proposed an unambitious target of only a 1% increase in energy efficiency per year between 2006-12 in the directive on end-use efficiency and energy services. This will clearly fail to counter the increase in demand predicted by the International Energy Authority and fail to address seriously climate and security of supply concerns.

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs stated in a speech given in April 2005: "It is not by chance that I place clean coal technologies and CO2 capture storage at the top of the list." I strongly oppose his view. I believe that carbon capture and storage (CCS) are technologies which support the continuation of large-scale and centralised energy systems. Similar to nuclear fusion, it is untried, has significant negative potential environmental consequences and is unlikely to be economic compared to other already available carbon free technologies. Significant public funding, in particular through the Framework Programme for Research, should not be made available.

In the light of these concerns, the Green/EFA group in the Parliament suggests that energy efficiency and saving as well as renewable energy must be on the top of the list for research and development funding within the energy sector. Research on carbon capture and storage, clean coal technologies and nuclear fission and fusion must appear last, if at all, on this list if the future scenario of energy supply is not only supposed to be a secure one, but also an environmentally sustainable and economically viable.

If the EU really wants to prepare for energy safety, the European institutions must walk the talk. A starting point could be the 7th Research Framework Programme.

• German Green MEP Rebecca Harms is a member of the Parliament's industry, research and energy committee.

Two MEPs discuss EU energy policy.