Renewable energy in gross inland energy consumption

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• No published assessments

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Renewable energies are generally considered more environmentally benign than fossil fuels, particularly with regard to emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the share of energy consumption from renewable energy can provide a broad indication of progress towards reducing the environmental impact of energy consumption and production. Nevertheless, its overall impact has to be seen within the context of growth in energy use and other potential impacts on environment (e.g. biodiversity)

This indicator is closely related to indicator ENER28, “renewable energy in final energy consumption”

Scientific references

• EurObserv’er (2012) Photovoltaic barometer.

Indicator definition

The share of renewable energy consumption is the ratio between gross inland energy consumption from renewable sources (TOE) and total gross inland energy consumption (TOE) calculated for a calendar year, expressed as a percentage. Both renewable energy and total energy consumption are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe).

Renewable energy sources are defined as renewable non-fossil sources: wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases.

Units

Both, renewable energy and total primary energy consumption are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). Therefore, the amount of renewable energy is measured in absolute value, but will be presented in the form of a percentage.

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

The share of electricity consumption from renewable energy sources provides a broad indication of progress towards reducing the environmental impact of electricity consumption on the environment as renewable electricity is generally considered to have lower life-cycle environmental impact per unit of electricity produced than fossil-fuelled power plants. Increasing the share of renewables in electricity consumption will help the EU to reduce the GHG emissions from power generation but the overall impact will depend on which generation sources are being replaced in the energy system.

Emissions of air pollutants are also generally lower for renewable electricity production than for electricity produced from fossil fuels. The exception to this is the incineration of Municipal and Solid Waste (MSW), which due to high costs of separation, usually involves the combustion of some mixed wastes including materials contaminated with heavy metals. Emissions to the atmosphere from MSW incineration are subject to stringent regulations including tight controls on emissions of cadmium, mercury, and other such substances.

The exploitation of renewable energy sources may have negative impacts on landscapes, habitats and ecosystems, although many impacts can be minimised through careful site selection. Hydropower schemes in particular can have adverse impacts including flooding, disruption of ecosystems and hydrology, and socio-economic impacts if resettlement is required (for large hydro). Some solar photovoltaic schemes require relatively large quantities of heavy metals in their construction and geothermal energy can release pollutant gases carried by hot fluids if not properly controlled. Wind turbines can have visual impacts on the areas in which they are sited. Some types of biomass and biofuel crops have considerable land, water and agricultural input requirements such as fertilisers and pesticides.

Policy context

For the EU-15, the share of renewables in total gross inland energy consumption accounted for 9.9%, in 2010; thus the indicative target set in the White Paper on renewable energy (COM(97) 599 final) of 12 % by 2010 has not been reached (see Figures 1,2,3).

Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20 % reduction in greenhouse gases and a 20 % share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020.The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents

• Directive 2009/29/EC of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community
• Directive 2009/31/ EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide
• Directive 2009/28/ EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
• Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01)
• Directive 2008/101/ EC of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas Emission allowance trading within the community
• Regulation (EC) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles

'Directive on GHG emissions of fuels and biofuels; COM(2007) 18 final/2'. Sets targets for the GHG emissions from different fuel types (e.g. by improving refinery technologies) and allows the blending of up to 10 % of biofuels into diesel and petrol.

'Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-plan); COM(2007) 723'. Focuses on increasing the competitiveness of new renewable energy technologies. It aims at identifying technologies that require better coordination of Member State policies or the development of public-private partnerships with the industry.

'White Paper: Energy for the future - renewable sources of energy; COM(97) 599 final'. Sets a target for the EU-15 countries for a share of 12 % RE in GEIC

'Directive on  Waste; Directive 2006/12/EC'. It requires all EU Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is treated and disposed of correctly, sets targets for re-use and recycling, and requires Member States to draw up binding national programmes for waste prevention.

Targets

Policy target:

The European Commission published a White Paper in 1997 (COM(97) 599 final) setting out a Community strategy for achieving a 12% share of renewable in total gross inland energy consumption (GIEC) in the EU-15 by 2010. The decision was motivated by concerns about security of supply and environmental protection. The contribution of renewable energy sources to GEIC in EU-15 was 9.9 % in 2010, not reaching the 12% indicative target (see Figure 5 and Figure 4).

The 12% target was adopted in a 2001 directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources, which also included a 22.1% target for electricity for the EU-15. As can be seen in Figure 5 only five countries reached their target (Sweden, Austria, Finland, Portugal and Denmark). The other ten are still significantly below the target, especially the UK, Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands and Greece.

In January 2007, the Commission published a Renewable Energy Roadmap outlining a long-term strategy. It called for a mandatory target of a 20% share of renewable energies in the EU's energy mix by 2020. The target was endorsed by EU leaders in March 2007. To achieve this objective, the EU adopted a new Renewable Directive in April 2009 (2009/28/EC), which set individual targets for each member state.

Related policy documents

• 2008/c 82/01
  Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01)
• 2009/31/EC
  Directive 2009/31/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide.
• Climate action and renewable energy package (CARE Package)
  Combating climate change is a top priority for the EU. Europe is working hard to cut its greenhouse gas emissions substantially while encouraging other nations and regions to do likewise.
• COM(97) 599 final. Energy for the future.
  Energy for the future: Renewable sources of energy. White Paper for a Community strategy and action plan. COM(97) 599 final.
• COM(2007) 18 final
  Directive on GHG emissions of fuels and biofuels; COM(2007) 18 final/2
• COM(2007) 723
  Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-plan); COM(2007) 723
• COM(2008) 16 final - COD 2008/0013
  Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading system of the Community.
• COM(2008) 17 final - COD 2008/0014
  Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020.
• DIRECTIVE 2001/77/EC Renewable electricity
  Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market
• Directive 2003/30/EC, use of biofuels and renewable fuels
  Promotion of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport. Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2003 on the promotion of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport.
• Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste
  Directive on  Waste
• DIRECTIVE 2008/101/EC
  DIRECTIVE 2008/101/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 November 2008 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community
• DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC
  DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC
• Directive 2009/29/EC
  Directive 2009/29/EC of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community.
• REGULATION (EC) No 443/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 443/2009
  Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles.

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Methodology and frequency of data collection

Data collected annually.
Eurostat definitions and concepts for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/nrg_quant_esms.htm

Methodology of data manipulation

Renewable energy consumption is the ratio between the gross inland energy consumption from renewable sources and the total gross inland energy consumption calculated for a calendar year.
The coding (used in the Eurostat New Cronos database) and specific components of the indicator are:

• Numerator: solar energy 5530 gross inland energy consumption 100900 + biomass and waste 5540 gross inland consumption 100900 + geothermal energy 5550 energy  inland consumption 100900 + hydropower 5510 gross inland energy consumption 100900 + wind energy 5520 gross inland energy consumption 100900.
• Denominator: (total) gross energy inland consumption 100900

Average annual rate of growth calculated using: [(last year/base year) ^ (1/number of years) –1]*100

Solar-thermal: 100900 Gross inland energy consumption (5530 solar energy) – 100100 Primary production (5534 Photovoltaic power)

IEA data:
Report ‘Energy balances Non-OECD countries’ and ‘Energy balances OECD countries’, table ‘Energy balances (ktoe)’, products ‘Hydro’, ‘Geothermal’, ‘Solar/Wind/Other’, ‘Combustible renewables and waste’ and ‘Total’, flow ‘Total Primary Energy Supply’.

Geographical coverage
The Agency had 32 member countries at the time of writing of this Indicator. These are the 27 European Union Member States and Turkey, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. No energy data available for Iceland in 2007-2010 (Iceland do not appear in the graphs or tables).
Data for World, United States, China, India, Russia, the Middle East and Africa.

Temporal coverage
1990-2010

Methodology for gap filling

No gap filling necessary.

Methodology references

• Concepts used in Eurostat's Sirene database
• Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statistics

Data specifications

EEA data references

• No datasets have been specified here.

External data references

• Energy data, IEA (dataset URL is not available)
• Energy statistics (Eurostat)

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

Biomass and wastes, as defined by Eurostat, cover organic, non-fossil material of biological origin, which may be used for heat production or electricity generation. They comprise wood and wood waste, biogas, municipal solid waste (MSW) and biofuels. MSW comprises biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes produced by different sectors. Non-biodegradable municipal and solid wastes are not considered to be renewable, but current data availability does not allow the non-biodegradable content of wastes to be identified separately, except for industry.

The indicator measures the relative consumption of energy from renewable sources in total energy consumption for a particular country. The share of renewable energy could increase even if the actual energy consumption from renewable sources falls. Similarly, the share could fall despite an increase in energy consumption from renewable sources. CO₂ emissions depend not on the share of renewables but on the total amount of energy consumed from fossil sources. Therefore, from an environmental point of view, attaining the 2010 target for the share of renewable energy does not necessarily imply that CO₂ emissions from energy consumption will fall.

Data sets uncertainty

Strengths and weaknesses (at data level)

Data have been traditionally compiled by Eurostat through the annual Joint Questionnaires, shared by Eurostat and the International Energy Agency, following a well established and harmonised methodology. Methodological information on the annual Joint Questionnaires and data compilation can be found in Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statistics. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/nomenclatures/index.cfm?TargetUrl=LST_NOM&StrGroupCode=LEX_MANUAL&StrLanguageCode=EN

Rationale uncertainty