Europe’s Energy Challenge

Conventional primary energies, such as coal, oil, gas and nuclear, have finite life expectancies. Without access to alternative sources of power, Europe faces a bleak energy future.

Europe is ill-equipped to compete globally against the US, China and India for scarce resources. Those countries have the advantage of a single energy policy, concentrated purchasing power, especially in the case of China, and a developed strategy for the future.

By contrast, Europe has denied itself these competitive advantages by opting for 25 national policies. EU Member States actively compete against each other externally for energy sources and refuse to cooperate internally in the creation of a functioning single market for electricity.

The key energy requirement is security of supply. This cannot be achieved by reliance on hydrocarbons for either power or transport. Oil production will peak, gas supplies will become more precarious and the price of both will escalate.

Europe needs its own indigenous sources of energy to meet the demands of its economy either from primary natural resources or fuels produced by new technological processes.