Thursday 5 January 2012

EU renewable energy use continues to grow

EU renewable energy use continues to grow

Europe is continuing to increase the share of energy it draws from renewables, according to new figures.

Renewable energy accounted for 12.4% of the 27 EU member states' average energy use in 2010 compared with 11.5% the year before, according to a new table of estimates from EurObserv'ER, a research group backed by the European Commission.

Sweden appears to be the keenest country on green energy, as the figures show it gets almost half (46.9%) of its gross final consumption from renewables. In contrast the UK was third from bottom of the EU states in 2010, getting 3.3% of energy from renewables in 2010.

However there is still a significant gap between current levels and the EU's 2020 target of 20% to be drawn from green energy. EurObserv'ER estimates the EU-27 group of countries should produce an extra hundred Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) of energy from renewables to do so.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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