Abstract
The European energy policy has a significant influence on the way in which environmental and energy policies are framed and implemented, not only in member states but globally. One of the important challenges of the European energy policy is climate change. Presently, the European Commission (EC) seeks to create an Energy Union, aimed at ensuring that Europe has secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy. In order to achieve this, some propose a compromise involving efficiency in use of fossil fuel and inclusion of different types of energy in the energy mix, while others are in favour of more transformative measures engendered by the Circular Economy (CE) and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) approaches to energy. Conventional and C2C/CE approaches to sustainability in general and energy in particular are not always compatible, as C2C/CE requires radical transformation rather than promoting compromise. This chapter will focus on various types of renewable energy in the context of the European sustainability challenges and explore the EU’s energy policy, providing recommendations for the long-term sustainability.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Energy’. https://ec.europa.eu/energy. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 2.
Knill and Liefferink 2012.
- 3.
Kopnina and Blewitt 2014.
- 4.
IEA 2015.
- 5.
Circular economy strategy. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 6.
‘Eco-innovation’. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/about-eco-innovation/good-practices/eu/575_en.htm. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 7.
Kopnina and Shoreman-Ouimet 2015.
- 8.
The Economist 2013.
- 9.
The Economist 2013.
- 10.
Circular economy strategy, above n 5.
- 11.
Ross 2013.
- 12.
IPCC 2014.
- 13.
IPCC 2014.
- 14.
IPCC 2011.
- 15.
- 16.
IPCC 2014.
- 17.
IPCC 2011.
- 18.
‘A Global Deal for Climate’. http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/package/index_en.htm. Accessed 13 June 2015.
- 19.
Schelly 2015, pp. 55–69.
- 20.
Neslen 2011.
- 21.
Lewis 2015.
- 22.
‘Paris Agreement’. http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiations/future/index_en.htm. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
Van Renssen 2016.
- 25.
‘Biomass’. http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/biomass. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 26.
Steer and Hanson 2015.
- 27.
Walsh 2014.
- 28.
Steer and Hanson 2015.
- 29.
The Economist 2013.
- 30.
McDonough and Braungart 2002.
- 31.
Braungart 2013.
- 32.
Johnson 2009.
- 33.
Breidthardt 2011.
- 34.
‘Environmental Impact of Dams’. http://www.internationalrivers.org/environmental-impacts-of-dams. Accessed 13 June 2015.
- 35.
McDonough and Braungart 2002.
- 36.
- 37.
‘Geothermal energy basics’. http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_geothermal.html. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 38.
‘Tidal energy stream systems’. http://www.tidalenergy.eu/tidal_stream_systems.html. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 39.
‘Tidal energy’. http://www.tidalenergy.eu/. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 40.
‘Renewable Energy News & Information’. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 41.
Kopnina and Blewitt 2014.
- 42.
McDonough and Braungart 2002.
- 43.
- 44.
Washington 2015.
- 45.
- 46.
Ibid.
- 47.
- 48.
Manwell et al. 2010.
- 49.
Kaldellis and Zafirakis 2011, pp. 1887–1901.
- 50.
Costa et al. 2008, pp. 1725–1744.
- 51.
Armand and Tarascon 2008, pp. 52–657.
- 52.
Divya and Østergaard 2009, pp. 511–520.
- 53.
Teleke et al. 2010, pp. 787–794.
- 54.
Sathyajith 2006.
- 55.
Technology Roadmap: Wind Energy—2013 edition. https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Wind_2013_Roadmap.pdf. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 56.
Breton and Moe 2009, pp. 646–654.
- 57.
Mendonça 2009.
- 58.
Seyfang et al. 2013, pp. 977–989.
- 59.
Walker 2012, pp. 383–388.
- 60.
Energy Saving Trust 2015, UK. scheme http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/domestic/content/feed-tariff-scheme. Accessed 1 May 2016.
- 61.
Rhodes 2016, pp. 97–104.
- 62.
Visser 2016.
- 63.
Levy and Egan 2003, pp. 803–829.
- 64.
Michaelowa 2000, pp. 277–292.
- 65.
- 66.
Bell et al. 2005, pp. 460–477.
- 67.
- 68.
Visser 2016.
- 69.
Delucchi and Jacobson 2011, pp. 1154–1169.
- 70.
Guarnieri 2015, pp. 1–14.
- 71.
Sandstede et al. 2010.
- 72.
Pais 1982.
- 73.
Blair et al. 2008.
- 74.
‘Cordis’. http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/132388_en.html. Accessed 1 May 2016.
- 75.
Pfenninger et al. 2014, pp. 689–692.
- 76.
Boyde 2012.
- 77.
Nemet 2006, pp. 3218–3232.
- 78.
Diesendorf 2014.
- 79.
London 2012.
- 80.
‘Solar Flight’. http://www.solar-flight.com. Accessed 17 May 2016
- 81.
- 82.
Wang 2012.
- 83.
Adger et al. 2009, 93:335–354.
- 84.
Cleary and Kopicki 2009.
- 85.
Washington 2015.
- 86.
Braun 2011, p. 14.
- 87.
Ibid.
- 88.
Lewis 2015.
- 89.
González and Lacal-Arántegui 2016, pp. 588–560.
- 90.
‘Global market outlook photovoltaics’. http://www.epia.org/news/publications/global-market-outlook-for-photovoltaics-until-2016. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 91.
‘Biomass’. http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/biomass. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 92.
The Economist 2013.
- 93.
Lewis 2015.
- 94.
‘Biofuels’. http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/biofuels. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 95.
- 96.
- 97.
European Commission 2015a.
- 98.
‘Eco-innovation at the heart of European policies’. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/about-eco-innovation/good-practices/eu/575_en.htm. Accessed 17 May 2016.
- 99.
Circular Economy, see above n 5.
- 100.
Meadows et al. 1972.
- 101.
Ross 2013.
- 102.
Randall 2015).
- 103.
Neslen 2011.
- 104.
Norwood Norwood et al. 2014.
- 105.
European Commission 2015b.
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Kopnina, H. (2016). Energy Policy in the European Union: Renewable Energy and the Risks of Subversion. In: de Zwaan, J., Lak, M., Makinwa, A., Willems, P. (eds) Governance and Security Issues of the European Union. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-144-9_10
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