EFIEES submitted to the EU Commission its feedback on the Renewable Energy Directive Review Roadmap.
In our answer to this consultation we reminded that:
- Renewable Energy must be Efficient Energy too
If we are to deliver on an increased ambition for 2030, we must ensure that the development of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energies (RES) goes hand in hand and that it is consistently promoted and supported, at the EU and Member States’ level.
In fact, EE improvements should be prioritised, even in the field of RES, in line with the Energy Efficiency First principle, as set out in the Governance Regulation.
In particular, the optimisation of energy demand and of the energy performance of buildings and facilities through effective energy management should be actively promoted also with respect to RES installations.
- Decarbonising Heating & Cooling must be a priority
While renewable electricity has been steadily developing over the past years, thanks also to considerable public support, renewable heating and cooling (H&C) is lagging behind. Considering that H&C accounts for about 50% of the EU energy consumption, more efforts in this area are urgently required.
Should the ambition on renewable energy be increased, it should notably be achieved through a higher annual target for renewable heat. This would allow for a greater deployment of renewable and recovered energies, such as waste heat and cold, and of virtuous supply solutions at local level, such as efficient district heating & cooling (DHC). A higher role of renewable gases (biomethane, green hydrogen) in heating and cooling should also be emphasized.