We must have confidence in European creativity. There are all sorts of indications and information that Europe is bubbling with ideas on how to make energy less polluting, more available and cheaper. This is true for science and technology and also politics and administration. What inventors and scientists talk about is sometimes mind-boggling, and a degree of caution no doubt has to be applied and account taken of the dreamers, the highly ambitious who will fall by the wayside, and even the cheats. But many plans and initiatives are worthy of our confidence. The astounding (and unjustified) price of oil opens the way for things that formerly seemed too costly, and some areas which used to be peripheral are today seeing significant and promising developments.
Positive attitude. Politicians should also demonstrate their confidence. For example, the attitude of the Greens (and this includes their political group within the European Parliament) is sometimes puzzling. Their merits are indisputable: they have played and continue to play a key role in raising awareness of what is really at stake (protecting Nature, combating pollution and abuses by some industries, health issues) and their activities continue to be indispensable. That they are not more powerful in political reality is, quite simply, down to the fact that other political groups have picked up, or sometimes stolen, their ideas and demands. Nonetheless, the attitude of the Greens in energy at the moment gives the impression of systematic opposition: with alternative sources, they only see the negative side. Gaps and dangers have to be condemned. When production of biofuels threatens to replace production of essential food, then that must be challenged, but not by rejecting the whole sector or accusing it of causing starvation in the world! No, support must be given for the “second generation”, which does not use basic food materials, but slurry, wood chips, straw. There are projects, based on “sustainable” criteria: no deforestation; CO2 positive production and transport; development of purely energy crops with high water, fertiliser and pesticide efficiency per hectare and which do not replace food crops. In Europe, it is not biofuels that are responsible for the food problems announced, it is the attitudes that reduced agricultural activity in order to open our borders to food products from all over the world, on the (fallacious) pretext of helping poor countries' exports. What has happened is compulsory set aside, reduction of cultivated area, obsession with productivity (leading to mad cow disease and polluted waters). The Greens have to bear their share of the responsibility for this.
The same goes for wind power: instead of a block condemnation, it would be better to highlight the positive aspects, while at the same time calling for it only to be developed where it does not destroy other useful activities or despoil the countryside.
In a single sentence: our attitude towards alternative energy should be vigilant but positive.
Nuclear debate. The situation is more complex for nuclear energy. Arguments both for and against are serious and justified; they cannot be rejected with a shrug of the shoulders. The debate has to go on, but a political compromise on a general EU position is, for the moment, impossible. We have to accept that positions will vary from one member state to another. This is not a definitive solution. I await with interest the conclusions of the international conference “The Renaissance of Nuclear Power: a Challenge for Europe” (in which Russia will take part) which the Confrontations Europe association is holding in Paris on 27-28 March. Without claiming that solutions will be found, through this initiative, Philippe Herzog and Claude Fischer hope to re-ignite debate within the Council of the EU. In the meantime, every country goes its own way. It's not ideal, but that's how it is.
There are four alternative sources. All three previously mentioned energy sources find themselves in a period of progress and innovation. The biofuels sector is working on its “second generation”: the outcome will to a large extent be determined by the restrictions, arrangements and funding decided at political level. Wind power is also talking about its second generation and has announced The Gateway to wind generation (the title of the EWEA conference in Brussels from 31 March-3 April). Nuclear power plant constructors are on third and fourth generation reactors. But we must not forget that, for Europe, the main additional source is the fourth: energy economy, which could be one third of current consumption.
(F.R.)