Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-22-Speech-3-098"
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"en.20060322.12.3-098"2
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".
Mr President, we live in a world that is increasingly starved of energy. The main consumers – the Americans and Europeans – cannot deny the Chinese, Indians and others the right to strive after our living standards and to consume more energy.
With an increasing global demand, the consumer countries must unite in the face of markets that are organised into cartels with the aim of influencing the level at which prices are set. In a context such as this, energy savings and increased energy efficiency are the main priority. The International Energy Agency has calculated that if computer manufacturers were simply forced to reduce the amount of energy consumed by computers in standby mode to one watt, instead of the current ten watts, this would save the equivalent of twenty 1 000 megawatt power plants.
We need to make more use of renewable energy sources: Brazil produces 700 million litres of ethanol, a by-product of its sugar industry; Mauritius saves 20 000 tonnes of oil by burning fibrous waste in its power stations; Sweden is going to force all of its service stations to offer biofuels; and, in Fiji, diesel engines are being run on copra oil.
That being said, renewable energy sources cannot totally replace traditional energy sources. Technological breakthroughs are needed in relation to solar energy, hydrogen cells and so on. Even wind power, for which Europe has significant offshore potential, requires substantial investment to make the networks secure. The world will not be able to give up coal and nuclear power in a hurry. These choices are the responsibility of the Member States, which must freely decide what their energy mix will be.
Europe will have to invest more in research on energy efficiency, on renewables, on carbon sequestration, on clean coal, on nuclear safety and on fusion. The Union will have to implement a more united energy policy. It must complete its internal market by preventing a situation whereby the markets are divided up to the advantage of oligopolies. I will conclude by saying that the Spring Council must make a decision: a Europe without a common energy policy will be nothing other than a weak power."@en1
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