EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Joint EREC-Greenpeace report: renewables deliver half of the global energy demand in 2050

Joint EREC-Greenpeace report: renewables deliver half of the global energy demand in 2050

12-02-2007

By 2050, fifty per cent of the world's primary energy need can be answered by renewable sources, according to a report of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and Greenpeace. This high level of renewable energy use can, however, only be reached if the global energy demand is reduced. Considerable energy efficiency measures in the transport and housing sector are needed to realise this reduction.

Currently, renewable energy from solar, wind, biomass and hydro power sources only accounts for 13.1 per cent of the global energy demand. In the European Union, the share of renewables is even smaller, around 8 per cent. Nevertheless, politicians’ interest in renewable sources of energy is growing, reflecting their concerns about rising oil prices, long-term demand-supply issues for fossil fuels and global warming.

The report recommends the following political measures to boost the use of renewable sources:

phase out all subsidies for fossil and nuclear fuels and internalise external costs
establish worldwide legally binding targets for renewables
provide stable returns for investors in renewable energy
guarantee priority access to the electrical distribution system for renewable power generators
apply strict efficiency standards for all energy-consuming appliances, buildings and vehicles

Source: Euractiv

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Energy [R]evolution. A sustainable world energy outlook (PDF, Eng, 4.3 MB)

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