THE EUROPEAN UNION ENERGY PLAN

Here it is: What we here in the US will be referring to for the next decade as "The Europeans already do that, why don't we?"

EU unveils vast energy plan to diversify supplies, protect environment
Leigh Thomas, January 10, 2006 (AFP via Yahoo News)

- The European Commission unveiled a vast plan to diversify EU energy sources, slash carbon emissions and boost competition in the face of tension over Russian oil and gas supplies and global warming fears.
- Calling for a "post industrial revolution," the European Union’s executive arm said the 27-nation bloc "needs new policies to face new realities." Some provisions of the proposal drew immediate objections from France and Germany…
- The main planks of the package, which the commission hopes EU leaders will endorse at a summit in March, include plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent of 1990 levels by 2020 and to spur competition by demanding that big energy companies separate production and distribution operations.

- Environmentalists charged that the emissions target was not ambitious enough however, while some EU governments, notably France, balked at the prospect of energy companies having to break up their operations to boost competition…
- If policies were not changed, the EU's energy import dependence would rise from 50 percent currently to 65 percent in 2030…
- Boosting the use of renewable energy could be one option for easing reliance on foreign supplies with the commission proposing that member states commit to meeting 20 percent of their needs with sources like wind and solar energy by 2020…
- The French objection focused on a commission call for the "unbundling" of production and distribution…
- The commission found that competition was in particular stifled by big energy groups with supply, generation and network activities that reduced potential competitors' access to critical market information…

More about the new policy from the Reuters report:

EU puts climate change at heart of energy policy
Jeff Mason, January 10, 2007 (Reuters via Yahoo News)
- The European Union put climate change at the heart of a broad new energy policy on Wednesday as it moved to boost renewable fuels, cut consumption and curb its dependence on foreign suppliers of oil and gas…
- The fight against global warming featured strongly in the plan announced by the Commission and which will also require approval by EU governments…
- Brussels also challenged developed nations around the world, including the EU, to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2020.
- The EU has repeatedly said the United States -- the world's biggest polluter -- and other major economies will have to join in to make the fight against climate change successful…
- The Commission's report said shutting nuclear reactors will make cutting greenhouse gas emissions harder.
- Germany's government is phasing out nuclear power production in the country, although Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested that plan might have to be reconsidered.
- The Commission also proposed that 20 percent of EU power should come from renewable sources, such as wind, by 2020. That compares with an existing target of 12 percent by 2010 which the bloc is likely to miss.
- The new plan also says biofuels should account for a minimum of 10 percent of fuel used by vehicles by 2020…

The BBC News summary:

At-a-glance: EU energy plans
January 10, 2007 (BBC News)
- The commission is aiming for a new "industrial revolution" leading to a low-carbon economy. It is based on three pillars:
1. Competitive markets
- Separating energy production from energy distribution by boosting competition and curbing the power of Europe's energy giants
- Strengthening independent regulatory control of the energy sector
2. Getting off carbon
- At least 20% of all EU energy should come from renewable sources by 2020 and 10% of vehicle fuel from biofuels, and these targets should be made binding for the first time
- The EU should also increase by at least 50% its annual spending on energy research for the next seven years
3. Efficiency

- …boosting the efficiency of energy use by 20% by 2020
- …the use of fuel-efficient vehicles is accelerated; tougher standards and better labelling on appliances; improved energy performance of the EU's existing buildings and improved efficiency of heat and electricity generation, transmission and distribution
- …a new international agreement on energy efficiency, based on a 30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by all developed nations by 2020.