Industry group EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) and Greenpeace presented their joint report "Energy (R)evolution: a sustainable world energy outlook" on 25 January 2007. The report's publication co-incides with the EU's first Sustainable Energy Week held from 29 January to 2 February.
The report's Energy [R]evolution scenario contrasts with the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2004 and its "business as usual scenario (extrapolated to 2050):
The main messages of the EREC-Greenpeace report are:
- Huge energy efficiency measures in the transport and housing sector can reduce global primary energy demand from the current 435.000 PJ/a (Peta Joules per year) to 422.000 PJ/a by 2050. The IEA World Outlook 2004 foresees 810.000 PJ/a [1 petajoule= 10³ TJ (Tera) = 106 GJ (Giga) = 277.8 GWh (Giga Watt hour)]
- half of this reduced primary energy demand can be covered by renewables;
- nuclear can be phased out completely and fossil fuels will only be used in the transport sector (the study is less optimistic than some governments on biofuels);
- by 2050, 70% of electricity will be produced from renewable resources; in the heat sector, the contribution of renewables will be 65%;
- this energy [r]evolution will lead to huge reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions: from 23,000 million tonnes in 2003 to 11,500 million tonnes in 2050; annual per-capita emissions will go down from 4.0 t to 1.3 t, and;
- contrary to the IEA reference scenario, energy costs can be stabilised under the EREC/Greenpeace scenario; in the IEA report these costs will quadruple.
In order to achieve this scenario, the report recommends the following political measures:
- Phase out all subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear and internalise external costs;
- establish worldwide legally binding targets for renewables;
- provide stable returns for investors;
- guarantee priority access to the grid for renewable power generators, and;
- apply strict efficiency standards for all energy-consuming appliances, buildings and vehicles.
