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Europe aims to have a strong, growing and low-carbon industry with closed material cycles. Currently, industry remains a significant source of pollutant releases to Europe’s environment. Releases of pollutants to air and water by European industry have generally decreased during the last decade. Environmental regulation and improved pollutant abatement technology, among other factors, have led to decreasing pollutant releases to air and water in Europe. Soil contamination in Europe is, among other things, linked to industrial activity. Waste transfers from industrial facilities in the EU have remained relatively stable in the last decade.
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Compared with 2016, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the EU-28 increased by 51 % in 2017, the highest increase since 2008. Nevertheless, BEVs continue to constitute only a very small fraction of new vehicle registrations . Around 224 000 p lug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) were registered in 2017, a 35 % increase compared with 2016. The largest number of registrations was recorded in France (more than 26 110 vehicles), Germany (more than 24 350 vehicles) and the UK (more than 13 580 vehicles). Combined, the relative share of PHEV and BEV sales was highest in Sweden, Belgium and Finland, with shares of 5.5 %, 2.7 % and 2.6 % respectively of national car sales in 2017.
Between 1990 and 2015, energy intensity decreased by 1.7 % per year in the EU-28 and by 1.6 % across the EEA member countries [1] . In 2015, energy intensity was 35 % below 1990 levels in the EU-28 and 34 % below 1990 levels in the EEA member countries. During this period, the rate of decrease in energy intensity in the EU-28 was rather constant. The 1990-2005 period is characterised by relatively high economic growth but more moderate growth in gross inland energy consumption. The 2005-2015 period, however, is characterised by lower economic growth and decreasing gross inland energy consumption. As a result, the rate of decrease in energy intensity is rather similar in both periods. In all EEA member countries, energy intensity decreased between 2005 and 2015. The largest decreases were observed in central and eastern European countries (e.g. Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia) because of changes in their economic structure. [1] The 33 EEA member countries include the 28 European Union Member States together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
The EU-wide share of renewable energy in gross final EU energy use has increased from 16.1 % in 2014 to 16.7 % in 2015 and to an expected 16.9 % in 2016, according to the EEA’s early estimates . This gradual increase occurred in spite of an uptick in energy consumption from all sources observed in 2015 and 2016 across the EU. Steady renewable energy source (RES) growth indicates that the EU remains on track to reach its 20 % RES share target for 2020, but the pace of RES growth is slowing. Renewable energy accounted for 18.6 % of gross final energy consumption for heating and cooling, 28.8 % of final electricity consumption and 6.7 % of transport fuel consumption in 2015. In 2015, all but three EU Member States (France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) met or exceeded their indicative targets set under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and 20 Member States (all except France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Portugal) reached or exceeded the indicative trajectories set in their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs). Eleven countries ( Bulgaria , Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Sweden ) managed already in 2015 to achieve their binding renewable energy share targets for 2020, as set under the RED.
The annual energy consumption of transport in the EEA-33 grew by 38 % between 1990 and 2007. However, the economic recession caused a subsequent decline in transport demand leading to a 6 % decrease in the related energy demand between 2007 and 2015. Nevertheless, between 1990 and 2015, there was a 30 % net growth in the energy consumption of transport in the EEA-33. The shipping sector saw the greatest decline in energy consumption during the economic recession; it dropped by 10 % between 2008 and 2009 alone, with a total decrease of 22 % between 2007 and 2015. Total energy use in road, aviation and rail transport fell by 3 % between 2007 and 2015. Road transport accounts for the largest share of energy consumption, with 74 % of the total EEA-33 demand in 2015. Despite a decrease in energy consumption since the recession, road transport energy consumption in 2015 was still 28 % higher than in 1990. The fraction of diesel used in road transport has continued to increase, amounting to 73 % of total fuel sales in 2015.
Large combustion plants are responsible for a significant proportion of anthropogenic pollutant emissions. In 2015, large combustion plant emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) accounted for 44 % and 14 %, respectively, of EU-28 totals. Since 2004, emissions from large combustion plants in the EU-28 have decreased by 77 % for SO 2 , 49 % for NO x and 81 % for dust. The largest plants (greater than 500 megawatt thermal (MWth)) account for only 24 % of large combustion plants but are responsible for around 80 % of all large combustion plant SO 2 , NO x and dust emissions. In 2015, of a total of 3 418 large combustion plants, 50 % of all emissions came from just 40, 89 and 47 plants for SO 2 , NO x and dust, respectively. One indicator of the environmental performance of large combustion plants is the ratio between emissions and fuel consumption (i.e. the implied emission factor). The implied emission factors for all three pollutants decreased significantly between 2004 and 2015 for all sizes of large combustion plant.
There are 3 418 large combustion plants in the EU-28. The number of such plants increased by 19 % between 2004 and 2015. Most of this increase occurred between 2004 and 2010, while there was a slight downward trend from 2012 onwards. There was a 10 % increase in installed capacity in the EU-28 between 2004 and 2015. This increase occurred between 2004 and 2012, followed by a downward trend from 2012 onwards. The actual use of this capacity, in terms of fuel input, remained broadly stable between 2004 and 2010, although there was a decrease in 2009 that can largely be attributed to the financial crisis. Since 2010, fuel input has decreased, and in 2015 was 17 % lower than in 2010. From 2004 to 2015, other solid fuels (mainly coal) and natural gas were consistently the main sources of fuel input. The types of fuel consumed most in 2015 were solid fuels (mainly coal; 55 % of total fuel consumption) and natural gas (26 %). Despite this, since 2006 the amount of input from fossil fuels has been decreasing. This reflects the shift in Europe’s energy system away from oil, coal and gas to more renewable sources ( EEA, 2017 ). The installed capacity of large combustion plants in Europe is not equally distributed: Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom accounted for more than half of total fuel input and operating capacity in 2015.
Between 2005 and 2014, final energy consumption decreased by 11 % (1.3 % annually) in the EU-28. Final energy consumption decreased in all sectors, particularly in the industry and households sectors (16.5 % and 14.8 %, respectively), but also in the transport (4.5 %) and services sectors (1.7 %). This decrease in final energy consumption since 2005 was influenced by economic performance, structural changes in various end-use sectors, particularly industry, improvements in end-use efficiency and lower than average heat consumption as a result of favorable climatic conditions, particularly in 2011 and 2014. In 2014, the EU-28 met its 2020 target for final energy consumption. Between 2005 and 2014, final energy consumption in some non-EU EEA countries, namely Turkey, Iceland and Norway, increased by 28 % (2.8 % per year). This difference was caused by an increase in energy consumption in Turkey (35 %) and Iceland (78 %), and a small decrease in energy consumption in Norway (1 %). Since 1990, the final energy consumption in these non-EU EEA countries has increased by 92 % (2.8 % annually). Final energy consumption in the EEA-33 countries decreased by 8.4 % (1 % annually) between 2005 and 2014. The largest contributors to this decrease were the industry and household sectors, both contributing 13.6 % to this decrease. On average, each person in the EEA-33 countries used 2.0 tonnes of oil equivalent to meet their energy needs in 2014.
The number of population-weighted heating degree days (HDD) decreased by 8.2 % between the 1951–1980 and 1981–2014 periods; the decrease during the 1981–2014 period was on average 9.9 HDDs per year (0.45 % per year). The largest absolute decrease occurred in northern and north-western Europe. The number of population-weighted cooling degree days (CDD) increased by 49.1 % between the 1951–1980 and 1981–2014 periods; the increase during the period 1981–2014 was on average 1.2 HDDs per year (1.9 % per year). The largest absolute increase occurred in southern Europe. The projected decrease in HDDs as a result of future climate change during the 21st century is somewhat larger than the projected increase in CDDs in absolute terms. However, in economic terms, these two effects are almost equal in Europe, because cooling is generally more expensive than heating. The projected increases in the cooling demand in southern and central Europe may further exacerbate peaks in electricity demand in the summer unless appropriate adaptation measures are taken.
In 2014, low-carbon energy sources (renewables and nuclear energy) continued to dominate the electricity mix for the second year in a row, together generating more power than fossil fuel sources. In 2014, fossil fuels were responsible for 42 % of all gross electricity generation, a decrease of 25 % compared with 1990 across the EU-28 . By way of contrast, the share of electricity generated from renewable sources is growing rapidly and reached more than one quarter of all gross electricity generation in the EU-28 (29 % in 2014 ), more than twice as much as in 1990. As such, renewable sources generated more electricity in 2014 than nuclear sources or coal and lignite. Nuclear energy sources contributed roughly one quarter of all gross electricity generation in 2014 (27.5 %). Final electricity consumption (the total consumption of electricity by all end-use sectors plus electricity imports and minus exports) has increased by 25 % in the EU-28 since 1990, at an average rate of around 0.9 % per year (see ENER 016). In the EU-28, the strongest growth was observed in the services sector (2.5 % per year), followed by households (1.1 % per year). With regard to the non-EU EEA countries, between 1990 and 2014 electricity generation increased by an average of 6.5 % per year in Turkey, 6.3 % per year in Iceland and 0.5 % per year in Norway.
In 2014, primary energy consumption in the EU-28 countries amounted to 1 507 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), 1.6 % above the 2020 target. Between 2005 and 2014, primary energy consumption in the EU-28 countries decreased by 12 % due to energy efficiency improvements, the increase of the share of energy from hydro, wind and solar photovoltaics, the economic recession and climate warming. Based on EEA preliminary estimates, in 2015 EU-28 primary energy consumption was 1525 Mtoe. This represents a 1.2 % increase compared with 2014. Fossil fuels (including non-renewable waste) continued to dominate primary energy consumption in the EU-28, but as a proportion of total primary energy consumption, they fell from 77.8 % in 2005 to 71.6 % in 2014. The proportion of renewable energy sources almost doubled over the same period, from 7.1 % in 2005 to 13.4 % in 2014, increasing at an average annual rate of 5.8 % per year between 2005 and 2014. The proportion of nuclear energy in primary energy consumption was 15.0 % in 2014.
Between 2005 and 2014, the efficiency of public conventional thermal power plants more or less stabilised in the EU-28 at around 48 %. In the non-EU EEA countries, this efficiency dropped to 44 %. The efficiency of electricity and heat production from autoproducer conventional thermal power plants in the EU and non-EU EEA countries decreased by about 2.5 percentage points, from 59.4% in 2005 to 56.9% in 2014.
Between 1990 and 2014, final energy efficiency increased by 28 % in the EU-28 countries at an annual average rate of 1.4 % per year. This was driven by improvements in the industrial sector (+1.8 % per year) and households (+1.7 % per year). Improvement rates were lower in the service sector (+1 % per year) and the transport sector (+0.9 % per year). Half of the efficiency gains achieved through technological innovation in the household sector have been offset by an increasing number of electrical appliances being used and larger homes.
The EU-28 is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, but it is decarbonising. Fossil fuels (gas, solid fuels and oil) accounted for 73.8% of the total gross inland energy consumption in 2013 (83% in 1990), while renewables accounted for just 11.8%. Between 1990 and 2013, the share of fossil fuels in the total gross inland energy consumption of the EU-28 decreased at an annual rate of 0.4% per year (0.6% per year between 2005 and 2013). The efficiency of conventional thermal power plants has also improved from 42.2% in 1990 to 48% in 2013. In 2013, only 72.3% of the total gross inland energy consumption in the EU-28 reached the end users. Between 1990 and 2013, energy losses in transformation and distribution were about 27.7% of total gross inland energy consumption and did not show a significant trend. The EU-28 is increasingly relying on imported fossil fuels from non-EU countries. The share of net imported fossil fuels in total gross inland energy consumption increased from 44% in 1990 to 53.2% in 2013. The EU’s dependence on imports of fossil fuels from non-EU countries remained relatively stable between 2005 and 2013. In 2013, 58% of total net imports was oil, 28% gas and 14% solid fuels.
Over the 1990-2013 period, EU28 final energy intensity decreased by 30.5% at an annual average rate of 1.6% per year. Since 2005, final energy intensity has decreased by 12% at an annual rate of 1.6% per year, resulting in an absolute decoupling between economic growth and final energy consumption. In the transport sector, final energy intensity decreased by 1.4% per year since 2005. Final energy intensity in industry, agriculture, and services and other sectors decreased by 2.3% per year, 1.6% per year and 1.0% per year, respectively, since 2005. In the household sector, final energy intensity decreased by 0.7% per year over the same period. Between 1990 and 2013, final energy intensity in non-EU EEA countries also decreased; by 33.2% in Norway and 1.1% in Turkey. The decrease in Turkey is much smaller than in the EU28 due to an increase of industry energy intensity.
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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/energy/indicators or scan the QR code.
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