14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to cutting down on the use of fossil fuels and turning towards harvesting renewables instead, going into overdrive and meeting established goals way before their deadline is definitely the right thing to do, some member states of the European Union seem to think.
Not to beat about the bush, recent news on the topic of clean energy says that three countries that are currently members of the European Union have managed to already meet their 2020 green energy goals.
According to Clean Technica, these three countries are as follows: Bulgaria, Estonia, and Sweden. Interestingly enough, these are all nations that don't make headlines over their push for sustainability and a clean energy industry all that often.
Eurostat, an administrative entity whose job is to keep tabs on what member states of the European Union are up to, says that, in 2012, green energy sources accounted for 51% of Sweden's power consumption.
In the case of Bulgaria and Estonia, on the other hand, clean sources were documented to make up 16.3% and 25.2% of the overall energy use, respectively, Eurostat further details.
To put things into perspective, it must be said that Sweden, Bulgaria, and Estonia have 2020 green energy goals of 49%, 16%, and 25%, respectively. This means that these countries have not only achieved their set green-oriented targets, but have also surpassed them.
By the looks of it, Bulgaria and Estonia have the impressive development of their wind power industry to thank for their achieving their 2020 clean energy goals. Still, word has it that Estonia might also want to consider sending a fruit basket to its biofuels industry.
As far as the European Union taken as a whole is concerned, specialists working with Eurostat say that, since 2004 until present day, the share of renewable sources in the gross final consumption of energy grew in all member states.
“The largest increases during this period were recorded in Sweden (from 38.7% in 2004 to 51.0% in 2012), Denmark (from 14.5% to 26.0%), Austria (from 22.7 to 32.1), Greece (from 7.2% to 15.1%), and Italy (from 5.7% to 13.5%),” Eurostat details in a recent report.
Overall, it is estimated that 14.1% of the Union's energy came from renewable sources in 2012. When compared to the year 2004, this represents an increase of 6%. Specialists say that, under this current trend, the Union has high chances to meet its goal to use 20% green energy by 2020.
For the time being, it would appear that as many as 20 of the 28 member states of the European Union are more than halfway to meeting their 2020 goals in terms of boosting their dependence on green energy sources.