Your voice in Europe: public consultation on "heating and cooling from renewable energies"
A while ago, we had a look at the EU's public consultation round on its Biomass Action Plan, which has now closed. It attracted a wealth of interesting criticisms, suggestions, questions and advice from citizens, non-profits, businesses and governments (earlier post).
Now the public consultation on another important energy-related topic is open for your comments. The EU Commission wants to know what you think of its plan to promote the use of renewable energies (solar thermal, biomass, geothermal and heat pumps...) for heating and cooling buildings, and also what types of measures/policies in order to evaluate their potential should be used. The Directorate-General for Energy and Transport explains the broader context of this consultation:
Suggestions and examples, giving as many details as possible regarding the cost of implementation, benefits, ease of implementation and possible obstacles would be most welcome as well. Your suggestions as to the political level where actions should be undertaken (regional, local, Member State, EU) would also be valuable information.
After you've read the questions up for debate, and you can't wait to contribute, you can fill out the well structured online questionnaire. The public consultation is open to all individual citizens (non-EU too), organisations, stakeholders, governments and private companies. You can contribute until 6 october 2006
We are contributing with ideas about importing densified (waste) biomass from the South (pellets, briquettes, bio-coal) to be used in biomass boilers in the North, drawing on research which suggests that such an exchange is not only quite feasible (despite long logistical chains), but that it can contribute to developing countries' economies. We suggest the EU starts thinking about what kind of tariff or tax (if any) it should impose on such woody and waste biomass, and more in general that it should craft a clear vision on "environmental goods" (making carbon credits count on a global scale, and applying them to dedicated biomass feedstocks for heating and cooling that can be produced in the South). We will report back on this later [entry ends here].
biomass :: energy :: sustainability :: heating :: cooling :: renewable :: policy :: public consultation :: EU ::
Now the public consultation on another important energy-related topic is open for your comments. The EU Commission wants to know what you think of its plan to promote the use of renewable energies (solar thermal, biomass, geothermal and heat pumps...) for heating and cooling buildings, and also what types of measures/policies in order to evaluate their potential should be used. The Directorate-General for Energy and Transport explains the broader context of this consultation:
As referred to in the recent "Green Paper: A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy"[*.pdf], the international energy situation and Europe’s dependence on imported energy remind us of the urgency to increase the production and use of alternative energies, including renewables. Since 1997, the Commission is working towards the objective of 12% of renewable energies in the EU energy balance by 2010.The public consultation is structured around a range of broad questions on policy, technology and economy. Do have a look at the questions that are up for debate, here [*.pdf]. If you are an expert and have interesting suggestions, or if you know of some interesting policy or technology, feel free to participate. Try to formulate your answers in a professional way, using references as well as some background to support the substance of your answer. Mentioning existing practices (e.g. a policy initiative you know about, or a specific cooling or heating technology based on renewables) would be very beneficial.
While the EU has set legislation on the promotion of electricity generation from renewable energy sources (with an objective of the share of electricity produced by renewable energy of 21% by 2010) and for the promotion of biofuels (with an objective of 5,75% by 2010), the production of heating and cooling from renewable energy has so far not been the subject of specific EU legislation.
On 14 February 2006, the EU Parliament adopted a report by Mrs Rothe (MEP) with recommendations for the Commission to work on heating and cooling from renewable sources of energy.
The Commission is presently working on a possible initiative to promote Heating and Cooling from renewable energy sources. An Impact Assessment study is currently underway. The purpose of this public consultation is to contribute to the Commission’s Impact Assessment by providing a range of opinions and new and innovative ideas regarding the implementation and the impacts of different types of policies and measures that could be considered to promote heating and cooling from renewable energy sources.
Suggestions and examples, giving as many details as possible regarding the cost of implementation, benefits, ease of implementation and possible obstacles would be most welcome as well. Your suggestions as to the political level where actions should be undertaken (regional, local, Member State, EU) would also be valuable information.
After you've read the questions up for debate, and you can't wait to contribute, you can fill out the well structured online questionnaire. The public consultation is open to all individual citizens (non-EU too), organisations, stakeholders, governments and private companies. You can contribute until 6 october 2006
We are contributing with ideas about importing densified (waste) biomass from the South (pellets, briquettes, bio-coal) to be used in biomass boilers in the North, drawing on research which suggests that such an exchange is not only quite feasible (despite long logistical chains), but that it can contribute to developing countries' economies. We suggest the EU starts thinking about what kind of tariff or tax (if any) it should impose on such woody and waste biomass, and more in general that it should craft a clear vision on "environmental goods" (making carbon credits count on a global scale, and applying them to dedicated biomass feedstocks for heating and cooling that can be produced in the South). We will report back on this later [entry ends here].
biomass :: energy :: sustainability :: heating :: cooling :: renewable :: policy :: public consultation :: EU ::
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