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Indicator Assessment
The share of renewable energies in total energy consumption increased over the period 1990-2002, but still remains at a low level. Significant further growth will be needed to meet the EU indicative target of a 12 % share by 2010.
Contribution of renewable energy sources to total energy consumption, EU-25
Note: (1990 - 2002)
Eurostat.
Share of renewable energy in total energy consumption (%)
Note: No energy data for Liechtenstein available from Eurostat (1990, 1995 - 2002)
Eurostat.
The contribution of renewable energy sources to total energy consumption increased between 1990 and 2001 in the EU-25, but fell slightly in 2002 due to lower production of hydroelectricity (as a result of low rainfall) to reach 5.7 %. This is still substantially short of the indicative target set in the White Paper on renewable energy (COM(97) 599 final) to derive 12 % of EU total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2010 (at present, the 12% aim applies only to the pre-2004 EU-15 Member States).
Between 1990 and 2002, the fastest-growing renewable energy source was wind with an average increase of 38 % per year, followed by solar. The increase in the use of wind to produce electricity was accounted for mainly by strong growth in Denmark, Germany and Spain, encouraged by support policies for the development of wind power. However, as wind and solar energy started from a very low level, they accounted for only 3.2 % and 0.5 % of total renewable energy consumption in 2002. Geothermal contributed 4.0 % of total renewable energy in 2002. The main sources of renewable energy were biomass and waste, and hydropower, accounting for 65.6% and 26.7% of total renewables, respectively.
A number of environmental concerns and a lack of suitable sites mean that large-scale hydropower is unlikely to contribute to significant future increases in renewable energy in the EU-25. Growth will therefore need to come from other sources such as wind, biomass, solar and small-scale hydropower. Expanding the use of biomass for energy purposes needs to take account of conflicting land-use for agricultural and forestry areas, and in particular nature conservation requirements.
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.
Projections are for 2020-2030 from the POLES (IPTS) Baseline and GHG Reduction Scenario (Mitigation), from PRIMES 2009 Baseline and Reference scenarios and from the WEO 2009 (IEA) Reference and 450 Scenario
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.
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%, in 2009, falling substantially short of the indicative target set in the White Paper on renewable energy (COM(97) 599 final) of 12 % by 2010 (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 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.
The European Commission published a White Paper in 1997 (COM(97) 599 final) setting out a Community strategy for achieving a 12% share of renewables 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 8.6 % in 2008, falling significantly short of the 12% indicative target (see Figure 4 and Table 1).
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 4 already 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 Renewables Directive in April 2009 (2009/28/EC), which set individual targets for each member state.
Methodology and frequency of data collection
Data collected annually.
Eurostat definitions and concepts for energy statistics http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/coded/info/data/coded/en/Theme9.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:
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’.
Projections:
POLES IPTS 2009: Gross inland energy consumption Other (EJ)/Gross inland consumption Total (EJ)
WEO 2009: Primary energy demand Biomass and waste (Mtoe)/Total primary energy demand (Mtoe)
PRIMES 2009: Primary energy demand Biomass and waste (Mtoe)/Total primary energy demand (Mtoe)
Geographical coverage
The Agency had 32 member countries at the time of writing of this fact sheet. These are the 27 European Union Member States and Turkey, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. No energy data available for Iceland in 2007-2009 (Iceland do not appear in the graphs or tables).
Data for World, United States, China, India, Russia, the Middle East and Africa
Temporal coverage
1990-2009, projections 2020-2030
Data source
No gap filling necessary.
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 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://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/EN/nrg_quant_sm1.htm See also information related to the Energy Statistics Regulation http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5431232
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/renewable-primary-energy-consumption/renewable-primary-energy-consumption-assessment or scan the QR code.
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