With smart energy storage and demand response tools that help to overcome the longstanding renewable energy challenge of variable supply, technology now available makes a 100% renewable energy system viable, argue the NGO Friends of the Earth and environmental political foundations the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung of Germany and the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF) which published a new “Energy Atlas” on Tuesday 24 April.
The unique and comprehensive summary of facts and graphics on renewable energy in Europe, with country-by-country data, reveals the dramatic advance of renewable energy and the future shape of energy in Europe (http://www.foeeurope.org/energy-atlas ).
Cities and “energy citizens” are in the vanguard of Europe’s energy transition which is seeing Europe’s energy shift to greater democratisation and decentralisation, the report states. Close to 1,000 local leaders, it highlights, are committed to carbon neutral cities by mid-century and 42% of renewables in Germany are owned by citizens and cooperatives
An economic transformation is taking place, the report insists, with more Europeans now employed in well-paid and secure jobs in the renewables sector than are employed in the coal industry.
While European level cooperation and interconnectivity helps the energy transition across the continent, more action is needed for Europe to reclaim its position as a world leader in renewables, having fallen behind China, the US, Japan and Brazil, the report says.
“Politicians must un-rig the rules favouring polluting energy monopolies and get behind citizens building Europe’s 100% renewable future”, stresses Friends of the Earth. “The energy transition can only succeed as a European project. A continent-wide interconnectivity of sectors, markets and local infrastructure could accelerate the European journey to a 100% renewable energy system”, added the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. The proposed 2030 renewable energy and energy efficiency targets within the EU clean energy package are far too modest, particularly given the falling technology costs and the availability of new renewables technology, stated EREF. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)