14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report released by Eurobserv'ER, i.e. a consortium that monitors the development of the clean energy industry in the European Union, says that 23.4% of the electricity output of member states back in 2012 came from renewables alone.
Specifically, the Eurobserv'ER report details that, according to information at hand, the European Union's green energy output in said year amounted to 762.5 TW.
In terms of gross final energy consumption, it is argued that, in said year, renewables accounted for 14% of the electricity used by European Union member states.
Specialists explain that, when compared to the year 2011, the European Union's clean energy output in 2012 was considerably higher. Thus, they say that, in 2011, the green energy industry accounted for 20.4% of the member states' overall generation.
As far as the gross final energy consumption is concerned, researchers with Eurobserv'ER say that, in 2011, the European Union's clean energy industry provided just 12.9% of the total use of power.
Of the total amount of clean energy produced in the European Union in 2012, 43.9% came from hydropower. Wind, biomass, and solar accounted for 26.6%, 19.5%, and 9.2%, respectively, and geothermal and ocean energies provided 0.8%. In terms of consumption, hydro accounted for 10.3%, wind for 6.2%, biomass for 4.5%, and solar for 2.1%.
Clean Techies tells us that, apart from helping members states shake off fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union's green energy sector also benefits the economy by creating thousands of jobs.
More precisely, it is estimated that, in 2012, the clean energy industry employed approximately 1.22 million people in both direct and indirect jobs. Wind power, solid biomass, photovoltaic, and biofuels are said to have been the power sectors to employ the most people in said year.
As detailed in the Eurobserv'ER report, wind power provided some 300,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2012. Biomass, photovoltaic, and biofuel, on the other hand, provided 280,000, 250,000, and 110,000 jobs, respectively.
What is interesting is that, according to the specialists working with Eurobserv'ER, clean energy output and use varies greatly from one European Union member state to the other. It is estimated that, whereas Austria and Sweden got 68.3% and 67.1% of their power from clean sources in 2012, Lithuania, Hungary, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta settled for under 10%.
As far as the other member states are concerned, Eurobserv'ER says that the ones that had 20-50% of their energy needs met by solar are, as follows: Latvia (43.4%), Denmark (41.7%), Portugal (35.6%), Finland (32.5%), Spain (31.7%), Slovenia (29.5%), Italy (26.6%), Romania (25.2%) and Germany (24%).
The countries that got somewhere between 10-20% of their electricity from green sources in 2012 are: Slovakia (18.9%), Ireland (18.7%), France (16.1%), Bulgaria (15.7%), Greece (15.2%), Estonia (15.2%), Belgium (11.7%), the Czech Republic (11.5%), the United Kingdom (11%), Poland (10.6%) and the Netherlands (10.5%).
In light of these findings, researchers with Eurobserv'ER say that the European Union is well on track to meet its goal to have as much as 20% of its overall energy needs met by renewables alone by the year 2020.