Brussels, 10/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - In their adoption, in Luxembourg on Friday 10 June, of conclusions on energy efficiency, the European energy ministers call on the Commission to quickly put forward “coherent and ambitious initiatives, including ones of a legislative nature if required”, in the following priority areas: - public sector (reduction of energy consumption by carrying out a full renovation of the buildings owned by the public authorities, purchase of new buildings whose energy consumption is virtually zero, etc); - buildings (renovation of residential buildings, heating and cooling of buildings, etc); - industry (increased use of cogeneration and urban heating and cooling when authorising new thermic electricity production, national obligation mechanisms for energy-saving, etc). On the issue of transport, the ministers stressed the need to improve the sustainability of transport and to reduce dependency on oil.
The Council also stressed the measures to take for consumers (stricter consumption standards, reinforced market surveillance as regards products meeting minimum requirements for energy performance and labelling). The ministers take the view that the creation of networks, meters and intelligent devices should accompany the definition of appropriate standards and obligations for detailed information on consumption to be given to consumers, to allow them to make an active contribution to energy efficiency themselves and to bring their energy bills down.
Other initiatives should take account of the national action plans for energy efficiency (NAPEE), according to the conclusions of the Council. When drafting these initiatives, the Commission is called upon to analyse how they will help to achieve the “20-20-20” objectives (20% improvement in energy efficiency, 20% increase in use of renewable energies and 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions) which the EU has set itself for 2020. These initiatives should prevent an unnecessary administrative burden on the member states and on businesses, particularly SMEs. Legislative initiatives should focus on the revision of 2004/8/EC on CHP (combined heat and power production). (L.C./transl.fl)