Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-14-Speech-2-063"
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"en.20060214.6.2-063"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by echoing this own-initiative report and calling on the Commission not to delay in presenting draft legislation concerning the proportion of renewable energy within the heating and cooling sector. There is broad support here in Parliament for what such a directive should contain. In accordance with the ambition stated in the Commission’s 1997 White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan, ‘Energy for the future: renewable sources of energy’, we are eager to supplement the two directives on the promotion of renewable energy sources in relation to, respectively, electricity and transport with a third directive, this time in relation to heating.
Of Europe’s total energy consumption, almost half goes on heating. Given today’s warning signals concerning climate change and in view of the fact that we are so dependent on imports of traditional energy sources with consequent high carbon dioxide emissions, it is extremely important for us to exploit the huge potential for renewable energy sources in Europe, together with our existing resources in terms of such renewables. There are great benefits to be gained from increasing the proportion of these within the heating and cooling sector. Allow me to mention a few of them. We should reduce carbon dioxide emissions; we should reduce our dependency on imports and increase the degree to which we are self-sufficient in Europe; we should not be as easily affected by energy crises in other parts of the world; and, by promoting renewable energy sources, we should provide incentives for innovation and technical development within this area which, in turn, would lead to further cleaner and more efficient energy consumption. The fact that the choice of renewable energy source would be made in the light of each Member State’s requirements would mean that we should be contributing to regional development. Moreover, we should be creating a lot of jobs, as this is one of the few spheres in which we are, in fact, clearly creating new jobs in Europe and are rightly heading in the direction of increased growth.
These are the needs and the benefits, but how do we meet these needs and obtain these benefits? I believe that nationally binding targets for the proportion of renewable energy is a first step, but it is not enough. I hope that the Commission will also create the basic conditions required if companies are to dare to make long-term investments in technology that will permit the increased use of renewable energy sources, and I call on it to do so. I also hope that the Commission will provide crucial research with the resources required for discovering and developing new technology and, again, I call on it to do so.
Finally, I would draw attention to the technical solutions that already exist whereby we might obtain more efficient use of the energy we exploit to heat houses, namely district heating. Technical solutions and choices of energy source go hand in hand. Modern, technically advanced district heating is part of the solution, and it may also be combined with what is known as trigeneration electricity production.
This own-initiative report shows clearly and unambiguously what Parliament wants to see in terms of future draft legislation. I hope that the Commission will quickly follow up this initiative so that we lose no time in obtaining the incentives needed for changing over to using an ever higher proportion of renewable energy sources for heating Europe or cooling it down.
As Einstein once said, a whole new way of thinking is required for solving the problems we have created through our old way of thinking. Parliament has made important efforts in this direction. We now hope that the Commission will complete the work."@en1
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