Germany hails EU deal on renewable energy raising target for 2030 to 45%
apnews.com
Germany welcomed a deal Friday among European Union countries to increase by more than a third the bloc’s renewable energy target for 2030. Representatives of the 27 member states approved a compromise raising the current goal of 32% to 45% by 2030. About 22% of the EU’s total energy consumption came from renewables in 2021, meaning the new target will double the amount in less than a decade. Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck predicted a boom in investments for renewables. Under the new rules countries that fail to add enough solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy each year could be fined by the EU. Countries separately agreed to introduce binding quotas for the use of e-fuels in the aviation sector.

Representatives of the 27 member states approved a package raising the current goal of 32% to 45% by 2030. About 22% of the EU’s total energy consumption came from renewables in 2021, meaning the new target will double the amount in less than a decade.

  • Bloops@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    1 year ago

    What’s the deal with e-fuels? Did companies bastardize their legislation and make it so they can still pollute or something?

    • modulus@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      They’re synthetically produced hydrocarbons, so they can more or less be replaced easily. The energy sources for producing them are, in theory, carbon neutral (renewables or nuclear) but for it to work they need captured CO or CO2 as well as the H2 from non-carbon sources.

      There are at least 3 major problems with them in my opinion:

      1. Keeping them around makes it possible, easier and cheaper to keep those engines running, instead of changing the technological base.
      2. There’s likely to be difficulties in assuring that the H2 is completely carbon-neutral. Once H2 is mixed in pipes and so on, distinguishing which or how much of it was generated without carbon is a problem. Not to mention the many possibilities for fraud.
      3. It also requires carbon capture to work, and it sets up the perfect conditions for carbon-capture projects which would otherwise not be feasible to become so. Capturing carbon is good, but not when it’s going to be released all over again. And it may easily lead to making it easier to run coal or natural gas on the grounds it will produce captured carbon for efuels.