EE Urgency in Europe

Europe is in the throws of a generational energy crisis. The reasons behind soaring power prices in Europe are no secret: Post COVID supply and demand problems and reduced gas supply from Russia. For their part, EU governments have made valiant and impressive efforts to detach their economies from Russian gas. New generation and new energy deals, however, cannot replace Russian energy in its entirety. This fact has led many governments and industry commentators to bang the EE drum. 

Here's how a recent article in the Financial Times puts it: 

Europe needs large-scale investment to retrofit the economy and green its energy supply. These investments are the only way the EU economy can remain competitive. Investment at the EU level financed by joint borrowing would be cheapest. The Recovery and Resilience Facility that the EU set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic goes some way in this direction, but the urgency of shifting away from Russian fossil fuels calls for more. As commission president Ursula von der Leyen said recently, REPowerEU, the EU’s plan to get off Russian gas, “needs greater firepower to accelerate the clean transition”.

While I'm often skeptical of energy efficiency advocacy in this age, it definitely makes sense in many European countries right now. Energy efficiency is the stop gap measure they need while their de-russification energy policies mature. This is especially true in places like France where there are plenty of easy EE wins thanks to the segment's relative obscurity until now.