Progress Slow Going For European Union’s In Reaching Its Energy Efficiency Targets
May 25, 2011 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Stock photo.
While there’s a lot of talk within the European Union about the need to develop large scale renewable energy infrastructures to lessen reliance on foreign fossil fuels, progress continues to move at a snail’s pace.
Among the disappointments was the EU’s failure as a whole to reach its 2010 targets for renewable energy in the electricity and transport industries.
The EU reached just over 18 percent for the electricity share of renewable energy in 2010 rather than the predicted target of 21 percent. For the transport industry, the EU reached 5.1 percent instead of 5.75 percent.
Fueling the transport industry with renewable energy is a vital priority. Energy consumption in this industry currently depends almost exclusively on imported fossil fuels, and contributes to “the insecurity of Europe’s energy supply,” says the European Energy Commission.
The concern is over recent estimates which suggest that the EU will only achieve half of its targeted energy efficiency improvements by 2020.