The momentum for cleaner, more efficient and renewable sources of energy is continuing to build at EU and national level, writes David Taylor.
If melting ice caps don't do it for you, perhaps expensive energy bills do. For most people, it's one or the other. Global warming is a fact of life and so too are ever increasing energy costs yet most people often don't see the almost paradoxical connection between the two.
Our global reliance on fossil fuels means we are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at an alarming rate while the cost of those same fuels, because of their finite nature, is going up all the time. How do we break the cycle? We break it by focusing on three areas:
improving the efficiency of the energy we currently use;
developing and competitively deploying renewable sources of energy;
reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from our energy production and use.
These are the significant aspects of the recently adopted Green Paper on a European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy. They are also the important elements of our own National Climate Change Strategy and the sustainable energy priority as provided for in the National Development Plan.
It might seem like well-intentioned posturing, but that would be to miss the point entirely. There is now in place a serious two-pronged approach - at EU and national level - to tackle in a rational and sensible way the conundrum of providing sustainable and cleaner energy to our homes and industries while at the same time protecting our environment for future generations. For a country like ours, which relies heavily on imported energy, this new emphasis couldn't have come at a better time.
I met EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs recently and discussed these and a range of other issues with him, a video of which was shown at the recent Energy Ireland Conference. My overriding feeling after meeting him is that energy policy in the EU is in safe hands. He believes that providing for our future energy needs while protecting the environment, is the biggest challenge facing the EU and one that requires action from many sources.
He also has a vision of how to bring it about because he is listening to what EU citizens want: security of energy supply, affordable prices and cleaner sources that do not compromise the environment by emitting carbon dioxide. These are three simple things that will take a Herculean effort to bring about, not least in devising a legislative framework that will deliver on this vision.
The issue of security of supply is particularly important to a country like ours and, being part of the EU, it has an internal and external dimension.
Internally, there are a number of proposals in the Green Paper to prevent supply disruptions in the internal energy market and for dealing with them if they occur. Well-functioning markets are the cornerstone on which the EU policy of security of supply is based.
Improving the infrastructure or physical connection between member states, as well as increasing cross border trade, is also very important. And diversification, of both sources of supply and in delivery routes, is another essential. Mr Piebalgs singled out gas and clean coal as being two important sources in the energy mix going forward. But he said the area in which we should be most ambitious, particularly in relation to Ireland, was in the development and efficient use of our renewable resources such as wind, water, biomass and so on.
Ultimately, it would be up to each member state to choose which renewable sources of energy to have in its mix but it is nonetheless a vital element going forward. "What I am saying," he said, "is that renewable energy at the end of the day will be the answer to the energy equation. It will take time. It will take a lot of new technology to develop. But if I look three or four generations ahead, they will get their energy mostly from renewable energy."
One of the problems facing Europe today is that there are too many barriers to competition and too many differences in the rules in different member states. This type of half-finished liberalisation is not going to deliver the benefits which citizens and industry want and which the EU has set out to achieve. Mr Piebalgs believes it is necessary not only to complete the internal market in terms of liberalisation but also to have open and competitive energy markets.
It is not about having a properly functioning energy market for the sake of it; he firmly believes that an efficient market benefits both the producer and the consumer.
He further believes that if Europe is to respond successfully to the many challenges and to invest properly for the future, consolidation of the energy sector should be market driven.
In terms of external problems, Europe needs, among other things, good partnerships with both producer and consumer countries. But, even more importantly, the view is that Europe needs to use its economic and political weight on the world stage in a way that it has not done in the past. As Commissioner Piebalgs put it: "Europe needs to clearly define its goals and aspirations regarding its energy partners, both suppliers and consumers, and then speak with one voice to promote these interests proactively."
At Sustainable Energy Ireland our mission is to promote and assist the development of sustainable and renewable energy sources. Do we do it through more financial incentives to get people to switch or is a change in mindset needed?
Mr Piebalgs believes we need both but his view goes beyond this. It is not just a case of producing bio-fuel or green electricity or whatever, there is a whole infrastructure that needs to be put in place first in order to ensure a seamless link between producer and consumer.
"We should explain it. We should work hard to explain to citizens why we are doing this, why it sometimes costs more and that we are not doing it for me, for today, but for the next generation and for sustainability." In terms of incentives, he said they should be in place but we must not over-incentivise. To use his own words, there are plenty of places in Europe where there are windmills and no wind. And, as well as financial barriers such as the costs associated with switching fuel sources, the commissioner also said we must address access barriers and barriers of perception. In some cases, people are fearful of using bio-diesel for fear it might damage their equipment or engines. The business of developing a sustainable energy mindset has to succeed at many levels.
In terms of the progress achieved to date, Mr Piebalgs is not satisfied. The goal was to have 21 per cent of EU energy consumption provided by green electricity by 2010 but he said we are only moving slightly in that direction, notwithstanding massive development in this regard in Spain and Germany.
The EU is also definitely below its target of 5 per cent for bio-fuels, and much lower than its 12 per cent target for general renewables by 2010. Still, he remains optimistic.
The momentum from governments, industry and citizens for cleaner, more efficient and renewable sources of energy is continuing to build all the time.
That desire for change is going to guarantee success in the long term.
David Taylor is chief executive of Sustainable Energy Ireland