UK set for 15% renewables target
Roger Harrabin, BBC News 18 Jan 08;
The European Union is expected to tell the UK that 15% of energy needs must be met from renewable sources by 2020.
The figure, currently about 2%, will include all energy used for heating and cooling buildings.
Experts have called the target challenging because they say heating and cooling are hard to achieve on a mass scale using renewable fuels.
The EU, which is trying to create a low-carbon economy in Europe, will announce its decision next week.
Tough but achievable
As current heating and cooling technologies are unproven on a mass scale, electricity generation is expected to meet much of the target - primarily through offshore wind, however the government is also looking favourably on the prospect of a tidal barrage across the Severn.
It is expected that the UK will have to obtain between 30% and 40% of its electricity from wind, wave and solar sources by 2020 - up from the current level of 5%.
"The target is do-able but only if we really pull out all the stops," observed Gordon Edge, head of offshore energy at the British Wind Energy Association.
He said there was still a problem with "interconnectors", cables that transport the electricity from the offshore wind farms to the National Grid.
Mr Edge added that following years of scepticism from the government's industry department, civil servants were now asking: "What can we do to help? There has been a huge change in attitude."
The UK's expected 15% target is a share of the total EU target of gaining 20% of energy from renewables by 2020.
The share is calculated on nations' existing levels of renewable power and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
A government spokesman would not confirm the 15% figure but pointed out that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a speech shortly before Christmas, said that the UK would hit whatever target it was given.
In the autumn, he overruled an attempt by the business and enterprise department to get the targets redefined to make them less onerous.
EU to set Finland 38 pct renewables goal: report
Reuters 19 Jan 08;
HELSINKI (Reuters) - The European Commission will ask Finland to increase its renewable energy output by around a third to 38 percent in draft proposals to be unveiled next week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE said on Saturday.
The Commission is due to spell out on Wednesday how it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, share out the burden of cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase the use of renewable energy sources.
"According to information obtained by YLE from sources at the negotiations, Finland should produce 38 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020," YLE said.
The commission is also set to propose Finland cut its CO2 emissions from transport and agriculture by 16 percent compared to levels in 2005. YLE said the figures were draft numbers that were still under discussion.
YLE quoted Finland's energy minister Mauri Pekkarinen as saying Finland could live with the numbers, but last week the minister said in a speech the EU targets were too ambitious.
The Finnish news agency STT, citing unofficial information, said the Commission would ask Sweden -- the EU's best renewable energy performer -- to increase to 50 percent from 39.8 percent the proportion of its energy produced from renewable sources.
EU leaders agreed last March to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in 2020 from 1990 levels, as well as use renewable sources for 20 percent of power production and biofuels for 10 percent of transport fuel by the same date.
(Reporting by Sami Torma; Editing by Jon Boyle)
EU demands action from Germany on climate goals
Reuters 19 Jan 08;
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany must take concrete steps to tackle global warming instead of protesting when it comes to implementing planned measures, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying on Saturday.
In an interview with German magazine WirtschaftsWoche, Barroso hit back against German protests about the Commission's proposals to cut emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).
"We agreed on climate policy goals in the EU -- under the German presidency by the way," he said. "These plans must become concrete. We can't just talk about tackling climate change in general and then protest when it comes to implementation."
Although Chancellor Angela Merkel has made battling global warming a centerpiece of her administration, Germany has protested the EU plans would be too harsh on German carmakers, who form one of the country's most powerful lobbies.
The Commission wants a four-year phase-in period from 2012 for fines on manufacturers whose fleets exceed an average of 120 grams of the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.
The Commission will on Wednesday present draft laws on energy sector reform and ways to fight climate change, based on ambitious binding targets agreed by EU leaders last March.
(Reporting by Dave Graham)
