EU renewable energy use continues to grow

Europe is continuing to increase the share of energy it draws from renewables, according to new figures. Renewable energy accounted for 12.4% of the 27 EU member states’ average energy […]

Europe is continuing to increase the share of energy it draws from renewables, according to new figures.

Renewable energy accounted for 12.4% of the 27 EU member states’ average energy use in 2010 compared with 11.5% the year before, according to a new table of estimates from EurObserv’ER, a research group backed by the European Commission.

Sweden appears to be the keenest country on green energy, as the figures show it gets almost half (46.9%) of its gross final consumption from renewables. In contrast the UK was third from bottom of the EU states in 2010, getting 3.3% of energy from renewables in 2010.

However there is still a significant gap between current levels and the EU’s 2020 target of 20% to be drawn from green energy. EurObserv’ER estimates the EU-27 group of countries should produce an extra hundred Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) of energy from renewables to do so.

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