European renewable consumption up by almost 1%

Renewable energy watchdog for Europe EurObserv’er has calculated the final gross energy consumption for the 27 European member states.

There has been an estimated rise of nearly 1% over 2011, which finished on 13.4%, compared to 2010 on 12.5%.

The report believes the increase in renewable energy share across the 27 states can be explained by the combination of a slightly higher gross consumption of final energy from renewable energy sources - 151.1 million tonnes of oil equivlant (mte) (against 148.6 mte in 2010), and by a significant decrease of the total gross final energy consumption of 1126.6 mte in 2011 (against 1184.6 mte in 2010).

‘Gross final energy consumption from renewable energy sources increased by 1.7% (+2.5 mte) whereas total gross final energy consumption decreased by -4.9% (-58.0 mte). This important decrease is the consequence of an exceptionally mild winter in Europe, which has contained the need for heating, and of a slowdown in economic activity,’ said an EurObserv’er statement.

‘The relatively small increase of renewable energy consumption in those 27 member states is due to a lower consumption of wood fuel and to a relatively small increase of biofuels consumption. It is not linked to the important decrease of the European hydroelectricity production in 2011, since the calculations presented here are based on a normalised hydroelectricity production and not on effective production.’

A table of individual country results can be viewed here.