Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-11-Speech-2-420"
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".
Mr President, Commissioner Fischer Boel, ladies and gentlemen, in a world of climate change, increasing energy demand and rising prices, it is an absolute priority and a matter of vital interest to the European Union to reduce energy dependence and energy consumption and to diversify energy sources. The increasing use of renewable energies is an integral part of this. We must diversify, and this includes diversification within the area of renewable energies.
In the field of renewable energy sources, different countries have different natural endowments, and we must exploit these to the maximum. Biogas holds enormous potential as a renewable energy source and is destined for a great future for a whole number of reasons that are set out in the report tabled for debate today.
The first and most important of these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, is that the primary raw material for producing biogas is animal manure, and the fact that we can combine energy production with the treatment of manure for environmental protection purposes. This is one of the most significant advantages of biogas production, although biogas may of course be produced from other materials such as municipal sludge, slaughterhouse waste and energy crops.
Biogas is a multifunctional energy source: it can be used for electricity generation, for heating, cooling, or drying. Pressurised biogas is suitable for running cars and public transport vehicles and, once it has been purified, biogas can be fed into the natural gas network. Biogas production thus represents a serious opportunity for European energy production. Among other things, if we consider that biogas can be produced from animal manure, we could produce 14 times more than we do at present. The potential this represents is considerable, since we know from an environmental point of view that animal manure has to be treated before it can be used on the soil; otherwise it can seriously harm the environment.
There was some discussion in our committee on the question of whether biogas production using plant-based material would compete with food production. The European Commission has shown that such a situation has not yet arisen in Europe, and we hope that it will not arise in future either, since we now have the second generation of energy crops. It may be that this is a problem in the global context, in Brazil and the United States, but in Europe it is not an issue at present, and we hope that it will not become one.
The other issue discussed in this context was how the biogas sector should be regulated. Current regulation both at national and European Union level is exceptionally complicated and bureaucratic, and this is why in my report I have suggested adopting an EU biogas directive. At the same time, however, European Commission representatives have convinced me in the course of consultations with the European People’s Party that there is no need for a separate biogas directive, as a directive on renewable energy sources is in preparation and the issue of biogas could be addressed in this context. In this regard I ask the Commission to devote special attention to biogas in the directive on renewable energy sources and to adopt the suggestions set out in my report.
Ladies and gentlemen, in my response later I would like to thank the Danish institute that helped with this report and everyone who contributed to it. Thank you for your attention."@en1
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