Towards a higher energy efficiency and lower carbon society the European approach and experience

The use of natural energy sources and their conversion to secondary forms of energy are a crucial base for the development of our society with its continuous change of requirements due to an increase in population and the broadening of the needs in our modern life. As a consequence the consumption of primary energy resources rose drastically worldwide during the last 5 decades in particular in the industrialized regions such as Europe. Parallel in time the increasing awareness of negative effects of fuel dependent pollution on the environment and the introduction of stringent emission control regulations about 3 decades ago initiated extensive development and retrofit activities resulting in the today applied high level state of the art. As an additional challenge the worldwide debate about the potential effects of the emission of the s.c green house gases on the global climate in particular carbon dioxide from the use of predominantly fossil fuels have initiated in the European Union extensive efforts in efficiency improvements of large scale fuel conversion and more recently in the development of processes for CO2 capture and its subsequent storage. Furthermore the use of the s.c CO2 neutral fuels such as biomass and organic wastes as well as the non carbonaceous options water wind and solar power are promoted towards a growing role in a future primary energy mix. In addition the majority of the member states of the European Union support the minimization of energetic losses by the provision of incentives for energy savings and for switching to lower energy consuming alternatives. In fact all the above mentioned instruments have to be applied in order to fulfil the long term requirements e. g. a reduction of the greenhouse gas emission by at least 20% by 2020 and further alleviations for the time beyond. The presentation will start with summarizing the development of the demand and supply of energy in Europe during the recent decades. After an outline of the strategic considerations and the political intentions of the European Union an overview of the present situation with regard to fuel conversion and environmental protection technologies including the greenhouse issue will be provided. Special attention will be given to recent advances in fuel conversion processes on industrial scale using solid fuels, biomass, biogenic wastes and natural gas in direct combustion and in integrated combined cycles followed by highlights of corresponding ongoing research and development activities. The presentation will finish with an outlook to the future energy scene in Europe and a comparison with other regions of the world. (author)