EU Energy Council Greeted With Inflatable Dinosaur, Nuclear Plant

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 14, 2006 (ENS) - Friends of the Earth Europe activists demonstrated against the energy policy of the European Union today by setting up a 10 meter (33 foot) high inflatable dinosaur symbolizing fossil fuels and an inflatable nuclear power station in front of the EU Council building.

A banner read, "Dirty Fossil, Dangerous Nukes? The Future Is Renewable!" Activists distributed to officials entering the Council building edible mini-power stations made from pastry.

Friends of the Earth Europe greeted ministers gathering for the Energy Council meeting today with inflatable symbols to dramatize their call for renewable energy solutions. (Photo courtesy FOEE)

Priority was given to securing the long-term supply of oil and gas imports and the further integration of the European energy markets.

Under the chairmanship of Austrian Federal Minister of Economics and Labour Martin Bartenstein, the ministers debated the document adopted by the European Commission on March 8, "A New Energy Policy for Europe; the Green Paper on a Secure, Competitive and Sustainable Energy."

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the Green Paper marks a real change in direction and signals a realization that energy is now truly a global issue, and the challenges that we face can only be solved at the global and the European level.

The EU has the tools to help, said Piebalgs, because it leads the world in tackling energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy and low carbon technologies.

The EU needs a new common policy with a common voice on energy questions, to lead the global search for energy solutions. The Green Paper puts forward a basis for a common policy based on six areas where concrete action is necessary.

1. Completion of the internal gas and electricity markets
2. An internal EU energy market that guarantees security of supply and solidarity between member states
3. A real European Community-wide debate on its energy mix
4. Dealing with the challenges of climate change in a manner compatible with EU objectives for competitiveness and economic growth under the Lisbon Agenda
5. A strategic energy technology plan that ensures European industries are world leaders in the new generation of technologies and processes
6. An external energy policy

"At a time of high oil or gas prices, political instability in producer countries, the threat of climate change and rising mountains of nuclear waste, common sense dictates the EU top priority should be cutting energy waste and massively investing in renewable energies like solar and wind," said Kowalzig. "This will ensure a long-term sustainable energy supply."

Ministers failed to agree on concrete targets to ensure the long-term sustainability of Europe's energy supply.

While the ministers noted the need for removing "legislative and administrative obstacles to renewables take-off," they failed to address existing market distortions and the massive perverse subsidies given to fossil and nuclear energy every year.

Friends of the Earth Europe criticized the EU policy that devotes more than half of the EU's energy research budget to nuclear energy.

Silva Hermann, nuclear energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Austria, said, "The nuclear energy industry operates in an artificial economic zone that was created 50 years ago. This is in contradiction to a liberalized energy market, where nuclear power simply could not survive without massive state aid."

European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs accepts an edible power plant from a Friends of the Earth Europe campaigner in front of the EU Council building this morning. (Photo courtesy FOEE)

"It is up to member states to decide whether or not to rely on nuclear electricity, but the consequences of such decision for the EU as a whole need to be transparent," Piebalgs said.

"Nuclear is the most dangerous form of energy," Hermann said. "The problem of nuclear waste treatment remains unsolved, and a disaster like the one in Chernobyl 20 years ago can happen any time, any place. In addition, a recent Eurobarometer survey reveals that most Europeans are against nuclear power," she said.

In his March 9 speech, Commissioner Piebalgs outlined the energy dilemmas facing the European Union.

"Firstly," he said, "global demand for oil and gas is increasing very rapidly. Oil demand has risen by as much as 2˝ million barrels per day in recent years, driven not only by enormous growth in China and India, but equally in the U.S. This is inevitably putting pressure on supply, which, along with the current instability in some oil producing countries, is leading to volatility and high prices."

"The world is now consuming two barrels of oil for every new barrel discovered," the commissioner said. "Global oil markets are not characterized by transparency and, put quite simply, we do not know how long oil will last, but we do know that the clock is ticking."

At the same time, the commissioner said, the EU is becoming ever more dependent on imported hydrocarbons.

Traffic chaos on England's M4 Motorway at Newport, Gwent (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

"Massive investment is needed throughout the global energy system to meet future energy demand," said Commissioner Piebalgs. "In Europe alone, this could be as much as one trillion Euros over the next 20 years. Globally, we are talking about US$16 trillion. This concerns electricity systems and energy efficiency as well as fuels."

The commissioner is concerned that this investment might not happen without a secure and transparent investment climate, and functioning markets and infrastructures.

"Global warming is not just happening, it is accelerating," the commissioner declared.

"According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, greenhouse gas emissions have already made the world 0.6 degrees hotter and if no action is taken we will cause an increase up to 5.8 degrees by the end of the century."

"The 21st century is likely to show significant impacts on weather patterns, such as higher maximum temperatures, more heat waves, increased dry summers, more droughts, and more floods and severe storms. All regions in the world – and also the EU - will have to face serious impacts on their economies and ecosystems," the commissioner said.

To make its contribution to stabilizing global climate change, the EU will need to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 50 percent over the next decades, and other countries will have to play their part, said the commissioner. "This is at a time when global emissions of CO2 are accelerating, and the EU is struggling to meet its existing emissions targets. In short, we are finally beginning to realize the magnitude and the urgency of this challenge."

Bioenergy was also discussed at the Energy Council meeting today. The Commission adopted the Biomass Action Plan in December 2005 and a biofuels strategy in February 2006. The biomass action plan is a list of actions that the Commission is going to undertake, including the use of renewable energy in heating and cooling, transport biofuels, biomass supply and research.

The Arable Biomass Renewable Energy Power Station, Eggborough, North Yorkshire, is Europe's first commercial wood fueled power station. Willow grown on farmland across the north of England is used to generate gas to drive the 10 MW station's turbines, serving 33,000 people. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

Savings will be achieved in both the private and public sectors, using a framework of measures. The European Parliament voted to approve this directive on December 13, 2005 and now it is up to the Council to adopt it.

Following the release of last week's Green Paper on Energy by the EU Commission, Friends of the Earth Europe identified five major areas for action to make Europe's energy more sustainable.

Europe needs a binding target to cut energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020, through increasing efficiency, thereby also reducing energy costs for households and industry and curbing greenhouse gas pollution, the organization said.

By 2020, Europe should meet 25 percent of its primary energy demand from renewable sources, making Europe less dependent from imported fossil fuels and also reducing the hidden costs of conventional power generation.

Europe must reverse the unsustainable growth trends in the transport sector that uses up 70 to 80 percent of all oil imports into the EU and accounts for a third of Europe’s total energy use, said Friends of the Earth.

The campaign group urges the EU to phase out "expensive and dangerous nuclear energy that can not survive in a liberalized energy market, especially if the high costs of decommissioning and the long-term nuclear waste storage for thousands of years are taken into account."

Finally, Friends of the Earth is urging that the EU remove market distortions that keep fossil fuel and nuclear energy "artificially cheap" in comparison to its renewable competitors.

The Energy Council conclusions will feed into the debate on energy at the EU Spring Summit of Heads of States later this month.