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Indicator Specification
Not all primary energy is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction) of the energy system, due to the high proportion of fossil fuels still used. Significant losses occur in transformation hence they depend on the system’s efficiency. The majority of thermal generation is produced using fossil fuels but can also include biomass, wastes, geothermal and nuclear. Associated environmental impacts at the point of energy generation are mainly related to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, other environmental impacts, additional to the ones previously mentioned, such as land use change, biodiversity loss, ground water pollution, oil spills in the marine environment, etc, occur during upstream activities of producing and transporting the primary resources or final waste disposal. Whilst the level of environmental impact depends on the particular type of fuel used and the extent to which abatement technologies are being employed, the greater the efficiency of the power plant, the lower the environmental impact for each unit of electricity produced (assuming that the increase in efficiency leads to an absolute decrease of fossil fuel input).
The structure of the energy mix in gross inland energy consumption provides an indication of the environmental pressures associated with energy consumption. The type and magnitude of the environmental impacts associated with energy consumption, such as resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions, water pollution, accumulation of radioactive waste, etc., strongly depend on the type and amount of fuel consumed as well as abatement technologies applied. Energy consumption by sector gives an indication of which sectors are driving the trend in consumption of different fuels.
Energy supply does have negative effects on the environment and human health. Addressing energy dependency can result in strengthening or weakening these effects, depending on which fuels are being replaced and how the life cycle (LCA) environmental pressures are being addressed (e.g. upstream environmental pressures associated with the production and transport of fossil fuels, downstream environmental pressures related to disposal of CO2 emissions and other wastes, etc). Decreasing the amount of imported fossil fuels on one hand and increasing energy savings and the share of renewable energy on the other, is likely to result in diminishing the negative effects on environment and human health of energy supply and energy consumption as well as improve energy security in Europe (see also ENER 26, ENER 28, ENER 29, ENER 30, ENER 37, ENER 38).
Gross inland consumption is calculated as follows: primary production + recovered products + total imports + variations of stocks - total exports - bunkers. It corresponds to the addition of final consumption, distribution losses, transformation losses and statistical differences.
Energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production
Fuel input and electrical and heat output are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). Efficiency is measured as the ratio of fuel output to input (%)
EU-27 Share of primary energy by fuel type and, share of final energy consumption by sector
Energy consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). The share of each fuel in total energy consumption is presented in the form of a percentage.
Transformation and distribution losses - Not all primary energy (gross inland energy consumption) is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). In 2012, 74.6% of the gross inland consumption in European Union came from fossil fuels (see ENER 26). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact of the energy system (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction). The overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06). Because Europe imports large amounts of fossil fuels to meet the final energy demand, a significant part of the environmental impact associated with the resource extraction remains outside the realm of European policy.
Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production - The indicator shows the efficiency of electricity and heat production from conventional thermal plants. The efficiency of electricity and heat production is an important factor since losses in transformation account for a substantial part of the primary energy consumption (see ENER 11). Higher efficiency of production therefore results in substantial reductions in primary energy consumption, hence reduction of environmental pressures due to avoided energy production. However, the overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel (see ENER 27) and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06).
Compliance with environmental legislation (for example the Large Combustion Plant Directive 2001/80/EC, the CARE package, etc.) requires the application of a series of abatement technologies (e.g. to reduce SO2 emissions requires retrofitting the plant with flue-gas desulphurisation technology, carbon capture and storage to capture CO2 emissions, etc.) increasing the energy consumption of the plant, thus reducing its efficiency. This is why it is important to promote highly efficient generation units, such as IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle).
Gross Inland Energy Consumption by Fuel and Sector - The level, the evolution as well as the structure of the total gross inland energy consumption provide an indication of the extent to which environmental pressures, caused by energy production and consumption, are likely to diminish or not. The indicator displays data disaggregated by fuel type and sector as the associated environmental impacts are fuel-specific and provides an indication of the associated environmental impacts by the different end-use sectors (transport, industry, services and households).
The consumption of fossil fuels (such as crude oil, oil products, hard coal, lignite and natural and derived gas) provides a proxy indicator for resource depletion, CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution levels (e.g. SO2 and NOX), water pollution and biodiversity loss. The degree of environmental impact depends on the relative share of different fossil fuels and the extent to which pollution abatement measures are used. Natural gas, for instance, has approximately 40% less carbon than coal per unit of energy content, and 25% less carbon content than oil, and contains only marginal quantities of sulphur.
The level of nuclear energy consumption provides an indication of the trends in the amount of nuclear waste generated and of the risks associated with radioactive leaks and accidents. Increasing consumption of nuclear energy at the expense of fossil fuels would on the other hand contribute to reductions in CO2 emissions.
Renewable energy consumption is a measure of the contribution from technologies that are, in general, more environmentally benign, as they produce no (or very little) net CO2 and usually significantly lower levels of other pollutants. Renewable energy can, however, have impacts on landscapes and ecosystems (for example, potential flooding and changed water levels from large hydro power) and the incineration of municipal waste (which is generally made up of both renewable and non-renewable material) may also generate local air pollution.
The efficiency with which electricity is produced also determines the scale of the environmental impacts of electricity production and consumption (see ENER19), as it determines the amount of input fuel required to generate a given quantity of electricity.
The impact also depends upon the total amount of electricity demanded and hence the level of electricity production required (see ENER18 for more details on electricity consumption). Thus another way of reducing energy-related pressures on the environment includes using less electricity on the demand-side, through improved efficiency, conservation or a combination of the two.
Fossil fuel import dependency - The environmental impact and fuel import dependency are linked via the fuel mix used to deliver energy services, the level of demand for those services and the form with which these fuels and energy services have to be delivered (e.g. pipeline infrastructure vs. shipping, centralised vs. decentralised energy system, etc.) The level of net imports is determined by several factors including economic issues, the evolution of final energy demand (see ENER16), the efficiency of the energy system (see ENER11) in particular of electricity transformation (see ENER19 and ENER17). It is also strongly affected by the level of indigenous supply as well as the development of alternatives such as renewables (see ENER29). In addition, the need to import fuels also depends on the end-use efficiency (e.g. measures in transport and buildings sector expected to yield significant benefits in this respect (see ENER 21, ENER 02and TERM27)).The environmental pressures associated with energy production will change depending on the fuel mix used (see Figure 4 and ENER 01, ENER 05, ENER 06, ENER07).
Current pricing mechanisms in Europe for transmission and distribution services do not necessarily target directly improvements in efficiency of these networks. However, there are a number of policy initiatives aiming at increasing the efficiency in transformation (listed below). Some of the policies below are also linked to the other key policy questions in this factsheet.
The main objectives of this communication are to report on the current status of the combined heat and power generation (CHP or cogeneration), and to present possibilities for its development.
Guidelines for the calculation of the electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration.
Strategic review on short, medium and long term targets on EU energy security. It is aimed to build up energy solidarity among Member States. In July 2009 there was a follow-up where new rules were elaborated to improve security of gas supplies in the framework of the internal gas market and to increase transparency of investments in infrastructure.
The Member States must apply minimum requirements as regards the energy performance of new and existing buildings, ensure the certification of their energy performance and require the regular inspection of boilers and air conditioning systems in buildings.
Strengthens the energy performance requirements of the 2002 Directive.
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.
The Directive 2012/27/eu on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Union in order to achieve the headline target of 20% reduction in primary energy consumption. Member States are requested to set indicative targets. It is up to the Member states whether they base their targets on primary energy consumption, final energy consumption, primary or final energy savings or energy intensity. Some of the mandatory measures included in the directive can be implemented through improvements in transformation efficiency.
The Directive 2009/28/EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources establishes a mandatory target of 20% share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption. This indicator does not directly monitor progress towards these targets but it provides a quick snap-shot of the situation in Europe on these issues.
The Sankey diagram shows the key energy flows (in MTOE) for the EU28 based on 2010 Eurostat data (Figure 1). The left side of the diagram shows the gross inland consumption with the net amount of energy imported compared with what is produced indigenously. The diagram then shows energy conversion of primary energy to secondary energies; heat, electricity and manufactured fuels, through transformation plants (power stations, district heating, CHP, oil refineries and other transformation plants) and the associated conversion losses. The right hand side of the diagram shows the final mix of energy consumption by different EU28 energy users (including: industry, transport, domestic, other final consumers and non-energy use). Note that renewables in transport for ENER 36 include all biofuels whether sustainable or not. Only a proportion of the primary energy entering the energy system of a country flows through to the end user for consumption. There are various diversions and losses incurred before energy reaches the final consumer due to distribution losses and use in the energy sector. The Sankey diagram is useful in capturing the situation in a certain year but other indicators are needed to show the change in energy use over time.
The largest sources of loss are the conversion losses, where a proportion of the chemical energy in the fuel is not embodied in the power or heat leaving the generating plant, but is lost as waste heat not utilized. However, even before fuel is combusted for the generation of power and heat, some of it is diverted for non-energy purposes, for example the use of natural gas as a chemical feed stock in the chemical industry (non-energy purposes). Moreover, once generated some of the power and heat is consumed by the plant operator for the purposes of running auxiliary equipment (consumption of the energy sector), and yet further down the energy supply chain some power or heat is lost as it is distributed to the end user (distribution losses) (both own use in energy industry and distribution losses are shown in a single flow in Figure 1).
The Sankey diagram has been prepared using the data available from Eurostat (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/introduction). For 2012 the figures can be extracted from the Eurostat Energy Balances Sheets 2011 - 2012 for all EU28 counties (available from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-EN-14-001/EN/KS-EN-14-001-EN.PDF). The data for Figure 1 (Sankey diagram) and Figure 2 for EU28 have been derived from the following datasets with annual statistics for the supply, transformation, consumption of:
The following are subtracted from overall supply:
The final consumers are split into the following:
There are five transformations included in the diagram. The inputs in the following five transformations are:
The outputs from the above five transformations are calculated as follows:
Conversion losses for transformation plants = transformation input – transformation output
The transformation processes produce secondary fuels/ energies (transformation output) in the Sankey diagram, namely electricity, heat and manufactured fuels (derived gases, petroleum products, coke and brown coal briquettes). Secondary energies are allocated to end-user consumers categories (point 2.) in the same way as primary energy inputs are, and supply of secondary energies are also affected in the same way as primary energy inputs (point 1). It should noted that the transformation output of manufactured fuels from other transformation is not consistent with the manufactured fuels consumed by end-users. This is because a proportion of manufactured fuels are consequently used as input for further transformation (e.g. CHP) which is not captured in the Sankey diagram. Manufactured fuels consumed by another transformation plant after the fuel transformation are included as part of the input of gas, solid fuels, all petroleum products into these transformation plants. As a result the input and the output from the other transformation plants box do not balance.
Eurostat (historic energy data), http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
European Environment Agency (Historic emissions data)
The Agency had 33 member countries at the time of writing of this fact sheet. These are the 28 European Union Member States and Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Where Eurostat data was not available, the data is not included in this factsheet.
Temporal coverage: 1990-2012
Methodology and frequency of data collection:
Data collected annually.
Eurostat definitions for energy statistics http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/coded/info/data/coded/en/Theme9.htm
Eurostat metadata for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/EN/nrg_base.htm
Eurostat definitions for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/nrg_quant_esms.htm
Official data (national total and sectoral emissions) reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and under the EU Monitoring Mechanism and EIONET. For the EU28, these data are
compiled by EEA in the European greenhouse gas inventory report
http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/european-union-greenhouse-gas-inventory-2012
Methodology of data manipulation:
Figure 1 – Energy flow in the EU28 in 2012. Methodology and assumptions used for Sankey diagram found earlier in this factsheet.
Figure 2 - EU28 net imports by fuel
The coding (used in the Eurostat database) and specific components of the indicator are:
Numerator
[Imports - solid fuels – 2000] + [Imports – oil (Total petroleum products) - 3000] + [Imports – Natural gas - 4100]minusExports (excluding EU28 countries) for same fuel
Denominator:
Gross inland energy consumption (GIEC) 100900 (tonnes of oil equivalent) + Marine International Bunkers 100800 (tonnes of oil equivalent).
For the separate product indicators the numerators/denominators are, respectively: solid fuels, total petroleum products and natural gas
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://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
CO2 emissions data is officially reported following agreed procedures. e.g. regarding source/sector split under the EU Monitoring Mechanism DECISION No 280/2004/EC.
Imports/exports represent all entries into/out of the national territory excluding transit quantities (notably via gas and oil pipelines). However, data on imports are generally taken from importers'/exporters’ declarations; accordingly, they may differ from the data collected by the customs authorities and those included in the foreign-trade statistics.
In the case of crude oil and petroleum products, imports represent the quantities delivered to the national territory and, in particular, those quantities:
(i) destined for treatment on behalf of foreign countries;
(ii) only imported on a temporary basis;
(iii) imported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;
(iv) imported and placed in special warehouses on behalf of foreign countries;
(v) imported from regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignty.
Simlarly, for exports those quantities:
(i) destined for treatment in other countries;
(ii) only exported on a temporary basis;
(iii) exported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;
(iv) exported and placed in special warehouses in foreign countries;
(v) exported to regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignity;
(vi) re-exported after treatment or transformation;
(vii) supplied to national or foreign troops stationed abroad (in so far as secrecy permits this).
The efficiency of electricity production is calculated as the ratio of electricity output to the total fuel input. However, the input to conventional thermal power plants cannot be disaggregated into separate input for heat and input for electricity production. Therefore the efficiency rate of electricity and heat production equals the ratio of both electricity and heat production to fuel input, which assumes there is an efficiency rate for heat production.
Also, electricity data (unlike that for overall energy consumption) for 1990 refers to the western part of Germany only, so there is a break in the series from 1990-1992.
The share of energy consumption for a particular fuel could decrease even though the actual amount of energy used from that fuel grows, as the development of the share for a particular fuel depends on the change in its consumption relative to the total consumption of energy.
From an environmental point of view, however, the relative contribution of each fuel has to be put in the wider context. Absolute (as opposed to relative) volumes of energy consumption for each fuel are the key to understanding the environmental pressures. These depend on the total amount of energy consumption as well as on the fuel mix used and the extent to which pollution abatement technologies are used.
Total energy consumption may not accurately represent the energy needs of a country (in terms of final energy demand). Fuel switching may in some cases have a significant effect in changing total energy consumption even though there is no change in (final) energy demand. This is because different fuels and different technologies convert primary energy into useful energy with different efficiency rates.
The estimate of imported/domestic CO2 emissions uses an average EU28 Implied Emission Factors (tCO2/TJ) for solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.
The IPCC believes that the uncertainty in CO2 emission estimates from fuel use in Europe is likely to be less than ± 5%. Total GHG emission trends are likely to be more accurate than the absolute emission estimates for individual years. The IPCC suggests that the uncertainty in total GHG emission trends is ± 4% to 5%. Uncertainty estimates were calculated for the EU-15 for the first time in EEA (2005). The results suggest that uncertainties at EU-15 level are between ± 4% and 8% for total EU-15 greenhouse gas emissions. For energy related greenhouse gas emissions the results suggest uncertainties between ± 1% (stationary combustion) and ± 11% (fugitive emissions). For public electricity and heat production specifically, the uncertainty is estimated to be ± 3%. For the new Member States and some other EEA countries, uncertainties are assumed to be higher than for the EU-15 Member States because of data gaps.
Indicator uncertainty (scenarios)
Scenario analysis always includes many uncertainties and the results should thus be interpreted with care.
• uncertainties related to future socioeconomic and other developments (e.g. GDP);
• uncertainties in the underlying statistical and empirical data (e.g. on future technology costs and performance);
• uncertainties in the representativeness of the indicator;
• uncertainties in the dynamic behaviour of the energy system and its translation into models;
Relevance: 1
Accuracy: 1/2
Comparability over time: 1/2
Comparability over space: 1/2
No gap filling methodology was applied for this indicator.
No methodology references available.
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
CO2 emissions data is officially reported following agreed procedures. e.g. regarding source/sector split under the EU Monitoring Mechanism DECISION No 280/2004/EC.
Imports/exports represent all entries into/out of the national territory excluding transit quantities (notably via gas and oil pipelines). However, data on imports are generally taken from importers'/exporters’ declarations; accordingly, they may differ from the data collected by the customs authorities and those included in the foreign-trade statistics.
In the case of crude oil and petroleum products, imports represent the quantities delivered to the national territory and, in particular, those quantities:
(i) destined for treatment on behalf of foreign countries;
(ii) only imported on a temporary basis;
(iii) imported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;
(iv) imported and placed in special warehouses on behalf of foreign countries;
(v) imported from regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignty.
Simlarly, for exports those quantities:
(i) destined for treatment in other countries;
(ii) only exported on a temporary basis;
(iii) exported and deposited in uncleared bonded warehouses;
(iv) exported and placed in special warehouses in foreign countries;
(v) exported to regions and/or territories overseas under national sovereignity;
(vi) re-exported after treatment or transformation;
(vii) supplied to national or foreign troops stationed abroad (in so far as secrecy permits this).
The efficiency of electricity production is calculated as the ratio of electricity output to the total fuel input. However, the input to conventional thermal power plants cannot be disaggregated into separate input for heat and input for electricity production. Therefore the efficiency rate of electricity and heat production equals the ratio of both electricity and heat production to fuel input, which assumes there is an efficiency rate for heat production.
Also, electricity data (unlike that for overall energy consumption) for 1990 refers to the western part of Germany only, so there is a break in the series from 1990-1992.
The share of energy consumption for a particular fuel could decrease even though the actual amount of energy used from that fuel grows, as the development of the share for a particular fuel depends on the change in its consumption relative to the total consumption of energy.
From an environmental point of view, however, the relative contribution of each fuel has to be put in the wider context. Absolute (as opposed to relative) volumes of energy consumption for each fuel are the key to understanding the environmental pressures. These depend on the total amount of energy consumption as well as on the fuel mix used and the extent to which pollution abatement technologies are used.
Total energy consumption may not accurately represent the energy needs of a country (in terms of final energy demand). Fuel switching may in some cases have a significant effect in changing total energy consumption even though there is no change in (final) energy demand. This is because different fuels and different technologies convert primary energy into useful energy with different efficiency rates.
The estimate of imported/domestic CO2 emissions uses an average EU-27 Implied Emission Factors (tCO2/TJ) for solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.
The IPCC believes that the uncertainty in CO2 emission estimates from fuel use in Europe is likely to be less than ± 5%. Total GHG emission trends are likely to be more accurate than the absolute emission estimates for individual years. The IPCC suggests that the uncertainty in total GHG emission trends is ± 4% to 5%. Uncertainty estimates were calculated for the EU-15 for the first time in EEA (2005). The results suggest that uncertainties at EU-15 level are between ± 4% and 8% for total EU-15 greenhouse gas emissions. For energy related greenhouse gas emissions the results suggest uncertainties between ± 1 % (stationary combustion) and ± 11% (fugitive emissions). For public electricity and heat production specifically, the uncertainty is estimated to be ± 3%. For the new Member States and some other EEA countries, uncertainties are assumed to be higher than for the EU-15 Member States because of data gaps.
Indicator uncertainty (scenarios)
Scenario analysis always includes many uncertainties and the results should thus be interpreted with care.
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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/overview-of-the-european-energy-system-2 or scan the QR code.
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