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Renewables and Energy Efficiency: Their Contribution to Energy Security

Tuesday, 9 September 2014, 18:00 - 21:00, European Parliament, Brussels

Ahead of the European Council meeting in October, the European Commission was asked to further analyse medium and long-term measures in order to enhance the EU´s energy security. The European Commission has prepared two important documents which elaborate on these subjects - EU Energy Security Strategy and 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy Policies. At this event, EUFORES wanted to discuss how renewables and energy efficiency fit the vision of a competitive and energy-secure Europe.

 

The role of renewables and energy efficiency in the current energy security debate was discussed from various perspectives - European Parliament, European Commission, Council, scientific institutes and industry associations. Cédric Philibert (IEA) and Wolfgang Eichhammer (Fraunhofer ISI) first presented the contribution of renewables and energy efficiency to energy security. According to Marie Donnelly from DG Energy, European Commission, energy security should be looked upon from the perspective of energy services. One half of the energy services is heating and cooling whereas one quarter is power. The energy security should therefore be considered from the angle of heating and cooling because there the biggest problem would arise in case of one energy source falling out.

 

Jerzy Buzek, MEP and President of ITRE Committee, European Parliament, sees the solution in the energy union as a common energy policy for the EU based on a single energy market. Claude Turmes, MEP and EUFORES President, elaborated on the idea of an energy and climate union. Security of supply is not a national problem and has to be addressed on a European level.

 

According to Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, MEP, the energy debate is steered by vested interests and emotions instead of political vision and rationale. Jeppe Kofod, MEP, added that many stakeholders link economic growth with energy consumption which is wrong. It has to be proved that there are a lot of jobs created in the renewables sector, e.g. biomass sector. This is an opportunity for green reindustrialization of Europe. 

The event was closed by Jan Geiss, EUFORES Secretary General, who presented the next events of EUFORES.

 

 

Please see the agenda of the event here.

 

You can find the presentations of Cédric Philibert here and the presentation of Wolfgang Eichhammer (Fraunhofer ISI) here