Promotion of Renewables and Energy Efficiency by Politics: Case Study of the European Union

Since climate change has become an international concern, most of the developed countries have attempted to adopt energy policies to mitigate global warming and its side effects in the last years. The current energy model, based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, has been the basis for the functioning and development of modern industrial society. Nevertheless, the threats of this model (environmental problems, exhaustion of fossil sources, possible inflation process and loss of competitiveness, dependency toward energy export countries, etc.) have forced a change in the EU’s traditional energy strategy (which was focused on the security of supply). The present energy model of the European Union, which supports its economic growth and prosperity, is 80% dependent on fossils fuels [1] and it is increasingly dependent on energy imported from Non-EU member countries, creating economic, social, political, and other risks for the Union. From the 1990s, the key objectives of the EU have been security of supply, competitiveness, and environmental protection, making renewable energy sources and energy efficiency the basis for its new energy strategy in the EU. However the lack of a common energy framework seems to have been an obstacle to reach those objectives. Therefore, the European Union has recently adopted new directives and instruments to create a unique energy framework in order to reach the mentioned targets but also to become the world leader in the impulse of renewable energy sources and in the employment of energy efficiency technologies.

In this work the main problems of the conventional energy model (CEM) are explained. The basis, obstacles, and challenges for implementing a more sustainable energy model are also analyzed. Likewise, due to the strategic importance of the European Union leadership in developing and implementing new instruments and policies to mitigate climate change, this work is focused in its energy strategy. Thus, the recent energy directives and other measures adopted by the EU are discussed.