Shale Gas Revolution In Europe?

Some in Europe want to mimic the developments in the US and start to exploit shale gas in Europe as well. The result would be that like the US, Europe would adopt a kicking the industrial can further down the road attitude and avoid dealing with very tough questions now. The world is running out of fossil fuel anyway and exploiting shale gas merely means delay of execution. The only way that shale gas can be justified is by using every calorie contained in that gas for setting up a new renewable energy infrastructure. The goal of any sensible energy policy would be to have solar panels on every roof as quickly as possible. The German example of the Engergiewende is the way to go forward for the rest of Europe.

EU Says Shale Gas Needs Regulation, Not Ban

The European parliament wants to regulate, not ban shale gas. The prospect of large scale shale gas development in Europe is complicated by land ownership rules, higher population density and environmental concerns about the fracking process used to extract natural gas from shale. The EU clearly did not want to embrace shale gas as a critical instrument of solving future energy problems, but wasn’t prepared either to dismiss this form of energy. Praise for the EU attitude came both from fracking proponents as well as environmental organizations.

[econews.com.au]

Smart Grids In Europe

Study from 2011 about the state of affairs of smart grids, focussed on Europe. The Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) is one of the most widely used protocols to tie these smart meters, solar panels, gateways and other devices together.

Smart meters installed now (millions):
EU – 45
USA – 36

Particularly Italy is the most advanced in this field.

[Smart meter penetration 2011/2015 in Europe]
[Detail smart metering landscape report EU]

Projected for 2020:
EU – 240 [Pike Research]
India – 130
Brazil – 64
USA – 60

[data above from page 15]
EU Commission target: 80% by 2020.

EU Installed Wind Energy Capacity Surpasses 100 GW

Europe has now surpassed a total installed wind energy capacity of more than 100 GW, enough for 57 million households. The first 10 GW needed 20 years, the next 90 GW merely 13 years. 50% was installed during the last six years. 72 million tons of coal are saved per year, that’s a train of 750,000 wagons, with a combined length from Brussels/Belgium to Buenos Aires/Argentina. Most is installed on land, but once financing and grid problems are solved doubling of the current capacity could happen fast. Currently onshore installed capacity costs 1.2-1.4 million euro per megawatt, offshore however 3-4 million euro per megawatt.

[ewea.org]

EU major natural gas pipelines

Map in the link contains detailed information about individual pipelines.

[tudelft.nl]

EU27 2010 – 12.4% from renewables

EU27 country list and the respective achievements in the field of renewable energy in % of the total energy consumption. The black lines represent 2020 targets. EU target for all member states: 20% from renewable sources by 2020.

[eurostat]

Shale Gas: European Perspective – ASPO 2012

[Official Youtube channel ASPO 2012]

[peakoil.nl] Summary of the ASPO conference in Dutch.

Europe to consume 20% less energy in 2020

[source]
EU cabinet ministers responsible for energy matters have agreed today in Luxemburg on a number of measures to ensure that the EU member states will use 20% less energy in 2020. Corporations will be obliged to use 1.5% energy less every year.

[rijksoverheid.nl]

Electricity in Europe

[source]
Despite all the talk about renewable energy generation and breathtaking progress solar energy is making in Germany and Italy (Germany alone produces 44% of the world’s PV-electricity!), in reality electricity is Europe is produced almost exclusively by ‘conventional means’.