Europe diary: Energy revolution

11 January 2007

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell discusses the EU's blueprint for a greener future, and how the winds of change are blowing through Europe's old industries.

FUMBLING FORWARD

The European Union's predictions of Northern Europe basking in sunshine while Southern Europe suffers economic calamity as its beaches turn to desert seem distant in Germany's industrial heartland. At least the orange glow of the elevator leading up to the visitors' centre at the old Zollverein coal mine gives the illusion of warmth in the driving cold rain, the metal steps nostalgically reminiscent of those old-fashioned one-bar electric fires.

The Zollverein coal mine is now a Unesco heritage site

But it's a trick of dramatic lighting, a reminder of this place's past. The blocky red brick buildings of the Bauhaus-style mine in Essen used to provide much of the heat and power for Germany's heavy industry. But the last coal was dug from the ground 20 years ago, and now it's a Unesco heritage site.

But when there's torrential rain, the wheels on the tall pump which looms above the site still shift vast quantities of water, which comes out of the ground naturally heated to 50C. Our guide tells us sadly that at the moment this is just waste, and it's only recently that plans have been made to use the water to heat the museum - until now the old coal mine has been using oil to keep the visitors warm. I can't help feeling it's typical of Europe's energy story - forced to abandon the old ways and tentatively groping for the new.

POST-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

A five-hour drive - unfortunately using diesel not biofuels - to Freiburg, the capital of the Black Forest and one of Germany's centres for ecologically sound living. We see the future and it rotates. From a distance Heliotrope looks like a water tower made of corrugated iron mounted on a giant mushroom stalk. Inside this extraordinary house there are a series of very large, very light and airy rooms wrapped around a central spiral staircase. It's like being in a cross between a luxurious yacht and a rather cool tree house.

The Heliotrope rotates to follow the sun

Perhaps the ship-like feel is down to the ever-so-slight rocking as the house gently rotates to follow the sun. Not that there is any sunshine on the day we visit but, along with the huge solar panels, triple-glazed windows, heat conversion and several other experimental gadgets it still produces five times more electricity than it consumes. At one time this would have been seen as a rather eccentric experiment - now the European Union suggests it is part of a "post-industrial revolution".

NEXT BIG THING

The EU is very proud of its brand new energy policy and it is warmly welcomed by the British government as a big, bold step. Some say the EU always needs a gigantic project to keep it going. First it was the euro, then it was enlargement, now it's climate change.

Britain's Tony Blair was instrumental in pushing for this policy and had to perform a U-turn to do so. Once the British government was in the forefront of those who thought energy was a business for national government and the EU should keep its nose out. Now Mr Blair believes climate change is a global problem and should be tackled at a European and world level. At the moment there are few critical voices.

POLITICS TRAILING

At Essen we huddle in the doorway of a building, hiding from the rain while managing to get some shots of electricity pylons in the back of our shot without soaking our interviewee. He's the head of policy at the German electricity giant RWE, Dr Henning Rentz, and says it's the most changing time he's known, the 11 years he has been in the industry.

His company is building a power plant that aims to burn coal but give off almost no carbon emissions. They hope to have it working in seven years' time. The CO2 is cooled off and the plan is to store it underground in the honeycomb of tunnels that runs under this old mining area. But he says while the science is in place the politics hasn't moved fast enough. There aren't rules in place to govern such storage and he's worried the European Union won't act fast enough.

'WORTHLESS' TARGETS

Europe's biggest steel plant is like a city painted in shades of brick dust and rust. At ThyssenKrupp Steel near Dusseldorf a skyline of towers and cranes runs down to its own docks, where slow, shallow barges bring coke on the final stage of a long journey from mines in Brazil.

Emissions targets are the latest pressure on Europe's heavy industry

Strange bulbous vessels perched high on gantries hiss with superheated steam while below, a small tough-looking railway engine prepares to tug along an egg-shaped truck filled to the brim with molten iron.

Even before the new report the European Commission was telling Germany to toughen up and cut back on emissions. Inside blast furnace number one, standing in front of rivers of molten metal, the head of Germany's steel organisation Professor Dieter Ameling tells me that would wreck European competitiveness. And he's not impressed with the new targets, saying its "worthless" Europe doing it on its own. He pinches his fingers together to show what a tiny contribution any European action would make to a world problem.

Your comments:

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Although this is commendable it still seems like talk. 18c per head in Europe towards renewables is not enough. Lets get 2 or 3% more tax on fossil fuels and get real funding of good projects with real payback/impact - make insulation subsidised/zero VAT-rated for households; same for solar panels for water heating; same for energy-saving light bulbs. Let's get real tidal-powered stations in place - like here in Ireland and also Scotland and others have huge potential for underwater turbines with a fraction of the impact of wind turbines - and they work when the wind doesn't blow!
Andrew Doyle, Cork, Ireland

Hemp for Fuel: Biodiesel can be made from domestically produced, renewable oilseed crops such as hemp. Hemp biodiesel could be the answer to our cry for cheaper fuel. We have spent the last century polluting our beautiful North American country with petroleum-based fuels that could have easily been replaced with fuels derived from hemp.
EV Rider, Carlsbad, California, USA

The USA needs to take note from Europe, not only due to the necessities of global warming, but very much because it will lose competitiveness if US companies can't keep up with these developments in renewable energy and eco-efficiency. However the rapidly developing economies of China and India will replace much of the carbon that will be reduced in Europe. We will have to work with them (and others) through technological transfer and financial incentives to give many developing nations support to leap-frog past the hazards of early industrialization.
Jakub Olesiak, York, Pennsylvania, USA

The vast improvements in emissions restraint since the smoggy 19th century have been 100% policy-led. In this respect, the markets have failed horribly and with them we would now most probably be seeing considerably higher levels of pollution and contamination, with the resulting levels of disease and discomfort. So how about giving policy-makers a break and giving up slagging initiatives like this. You know they're right and that you would be living a much grimier life without them.
Jordi Vilanova, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Yes it is true CO2 is a problem, but methane is 8 times worse. Let's try to burn methane rather than just releasing it... Here in the North-West, with so much water, algae might be an interesting consideration. So would growing rapid growth plants for burial (CO2 depletion of the atmosphere) or biogas (CO2 recycling).
John Falch, Bolton, UK

What happens to the CO2 that RWE, the German electricity giant, stores? It seems that this is a scheme to hide pollution rather than stop producing it. This sounds like the American fad of planting trees. Sure, the tree stores CO2, but sooner or later the tree will die and the CO2 will be released back into the atmosphere. It doesn't just go away.
Jim, Missouri, USA

Isn't it time we start looking for alternatives? You can argue about global warming and pollution as much as you want, but we will run out of oil and gas soon, and it will become unaffordable even sooner! We have no choice but to change and the first ones to do so will be the ones who sell the new technology to the rest.
Jimmy Swiggers, Leuven, Belgium

As end users ALL of us have more power as individuals moving as one, with one thought, than the illusion that only a few have power over the rest. We are seeing that the way to re-greening our planet is lined with opportunity and real growth through innovation and new jobs, new economies.
Jay Coleman, St. Louis Park, Minnesota, U.S.

There have been many vital changes made throughout history whose initial impact appeared relatively small in comparison to their end results. Such, I believe, is the case now. Especially when we look at the efforts (or significant lack thereof) of other countries (sadly, like mine) that fail to take any initiative or place value on their impact on the environment and the world's people. If the EU can take the forefront in such an important and long-term initiative, perhaps other countries will then be humbled at its efforts and realize that a change in our way of handling global environmental issues must occur, and must occur now.
BL, DC, USA

All of the EU's energy needs - including the power underlying a hydrogen economy - could be provided for by solar power satellites with a total area less than that of Wales. If our energy policy started to take this route - pump-priming Europe's scientific and engineering skills, developing new markets and technologies suitable for the future, and taking a world-leading role in combating climate change - then I'd be more impressed than the really-too-little-almost-too-late policies announced yesterday.
Andy Goddard, Airdrie, UK

I commend the EU for taking it upon themselves to be an example to the rest of the world. Maybe after we Americans are done squabbling amongst ourselves over this tragedy we've caused in the Middle East, we can focus on minimizing our huge ecological footprint. Ultimately, we all need to realize (and America the most of the countries in the world) that tomorrow's problems will be the legacy we give to our children.
Sara Eiser, Lancaster, PA, USA

The best contribution to reducing emissions that the EU could make would be by improving the efficiency of underground coal gasification (which considerably reduces CO2 emissions compared to classifical fuel burning) and selling that technology to China, India and even the USA.
john s, brussels, belgium

We need big business and governments to really get behind the search for cheap, clean and abundant alternative energy sources. It is an 'Energy Race' and he who wins this race will surely be sitting in the driving seat in the future, financially that is. And please leave the developing countries to still use the cheap and nasty - it is their right, after all isn't that how we built our great economies in Europe? Besides, someone has to buy from OPEC and the Russians or I fear we are going to be in a lot more trouble than global warming.
spiro, greece

The largest source of CO2, by far, comes from the manufacture of cement, not motor cars or transport, we never hear of this, it's all 'OUR fault' for driving, should we stop building?
roger, birmingham

I am deeply critical of the European Union in its current form but at least it provides a forum which, given sufficient political willpower on the part of its constituent elements (namely member states), has the facility to enable Europe to devise a coherent strategy to combat and mitigate the predicted ill-effects of environmental degradation - damage we Europeans are significantly adding to through our "advanced" lifestyles.

Europe has an established reputation for innovation and design flair and in this a vital field Europe could become the cutting edge of new (patentable) technologies and develop new niche markets, which could then be exploited worldwide. We must be positive in our (collective) outlook if we are to convert potential into reality!
Peter Davidson, Alderley Edge, NW England

Isn't it time the EU started putting money where its mouth is? Before hyperbole about a 'new industrial revolution', perhaps we should re-examine what levels of funding are actually going into renewable energy research at the EU level: 440 million euros between 2002 and 2006, according to the Commission. That is typically divided into piecemeal slices of 1-11 million euros per project (for example, just 1.5 million for wavedragon). That's 88 million euros, or 18 cents per EU citizen per year: it's tempting to comment that this is peanuts, but a bag of peanuts costs far more than 18 cents.
Peter Thomas, Lisbon, Portugal

Instead of storing CO2 from power stations why not embrace the new technology that is being developed to convert it into biofuels using algae grown in a nutrient solution? The algae makes very efficient use of available sunlight, typically producing 30 times as much biofuel as rape for a given area of land. Also the algae does not need farm land or rainforest to grow, wasteland or even desert is just as good.
Peter, Oxfordshire, England

The next time someone says there's no point trying to reduce emissions because our contribution to the global total is so small you might try asking them if they think there's no point voting in elections because their vote makes such a tiny difference in comparison to the millions of others. Maybe a world-leading self-righteous eco-crusade is just what we need to forge a REAL sense of 21st Century European identity! What greater cause than to save the rest of the world (you know who we mean) from the dire consequences of their own excess?
Mike, St Albans

As a local councillor, can I make a plea that everyone who is concerned about climate change ask their local representatives to step up their action on climate change now in councils across the UK? There are some really great examples but most pay a lot of lip service and just don't recognize the urgency or the magnitude of what we need to do. As for the new revolution, the answer, of course, is in the wind and tidal power for clean energy generation. But it will all be squandered unless we drastically cut demand for power and use far less in our homes. So it's not just the politicians who need to change!!
Cllr Steve Harangozo, Cambridge

To Dave Norman, the new huge energy source that is cheap is SOLAR energy, it is 1.3kWt/sq.m, but it is not easy to harness, the current efficiency is 15%. This can be changed, there is scientific evidence that the efficiency can rise to 40%, which is enough. But new scientific discoveries are needed for that, without them the energy revolution will fail. How much money is spent on creating weapons nowadays and how much money for science? The answer is known. Ognyan Gerassimov, Sofia, Bulgaria

Dave Norman talks of there needing to be a cheap energy revolution for the new 'industrial revolution' to have any meaning. He is right, but it is not as unattainable as he thinks. Concentrated solar power in the Sahara desert could easily produce all our needs many times over, while providing fresh water and even agricultural space for those few who live there. All this at a cost directly comparable with oil and even, eventually, gas. HVDC cables could transfer this to Europe with only minimal losses (<15% Algeria to London). The area taken up by such activity would be the same as is currently used for fossil fuel mining and burning (if you include work areas etc.) A German report suggested this recently, but fossil fuel companies are attempting to obfuscate any change from the norm (even though business as usual will be catastrophic for everybody). Politicians and business HAVE to pull their heads from the sand on this one (no pun intended).
Daniel Johnston, Aberdeen, Scotland

Mr Mardell's quote 'unfortunately using diesel not biofuels': I fail to see what is wrong with driving around in modern diesel cars. Certainly when, like in Germany already, a percentage of the diesel is bio-diesel and when the car is fitted with a diesel particle filter. As far as I can see modern diesel cars always have the edge in fuel economy over their similarly equipped and same model petrol counterparts. Bio-diesel comes from growing plants like rapeseed that absorb CO2. Instead of devising schemes to pump used CO2 into old coal mines, growing bio-diesel crops seems smarter. Why doesn't the EU fund farmers more to grow these crops instead of paying them to leave farmland waste? Probably funding to grow tobacco could also be cut down in favour of bio-diesel crops.
Jan D'Hondt, Kortrijk, Belgium

I think people need to be more educated in different energy sources. (Such as solar/wind power, biofuels etc.) You can't blame the individual for being wary about a subject that very few people actually know anything about. The youngsters of today should be learning about something so vital at school. At least that way they will grow up with a basic knowledge of something that is going to eventually change our planet.
Claire Knights, Portsmouth, Hants

The main sources of CO2 emissions are housing and transport. The focus on industrial emissions will rapidly begin to run into the law of diminishing returns. So the sooner the EU's carbon trading scheme is extended to these areas the better. We have to move rapidly to a post-industrial society AS A WHOLE. Either that or climate change will do the job for (and to!!!) us.
Paul Settles, London, UK

Willem van ekeren - the hydrogen economy(!) won't work while it takes more energy to produce the hydrogen than can be generated from it. And none of these policies will make a difference unless the EU levies a tax on goods coming from countries which are still using old codes of practice (ie China and the US).
Bill Nelson, Belfast

It's marvellous that the EU is taking this bold initiative. It could be the issue that finally nails the lie that the EU is a waste of time and resources; in fact it can be the forum for collective common sense and moral guidance for the world. But significant funds should be made available for this fledgling low-carbon sector forthwith as a matter of urgency. The market has to be tailored to favour low-carbon solutions.
Steve Crawford, Lincoln

To me, the various steps Europe is taking together to counter global warming is like a true ray of hope amidst all the smog of Big-Oil monopoly. It is also amazing to see how across the Atlantic, people are much more knowledgeable about the subject and refuse to drink down the global warming misinformation that engulfs the US. It may be hard in the beginning, but the various measures taken will finally add up and give an upper hand for the EU in times ahead. Any country that moves towards alternate eco-friendly fuel will have the future.
Sujith Nair, Fairbanks, US

My stamp collection began with one stamp and grew to thousands, so don't tell me we need massive government efforts to make a difference. What we really need to do is ensure that the efforts made by some members of the community are not countered by the less conscientious. We can all consume less energy without giving up a comfortable lifestyle. Smaller vehicles, walking, turn off the unused lights - every day - are simple contributions to energy reduction that if followed by everyone will significantly reduce energy consumption. Why don't we all just do it?
George Greenwood, Sydney, Australia

As an energy analyst and being heavily involved in new energy technology development the one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that this "revolution" will pass the UK by, because as usual we will not invest sufficient public or private money to make it happen. We will just wait until everyone else develops the technology and buy what we need from them.
Dick Winchester, Scotland

We have got to start somewhere - to me this is a very positive move. The first political steps will always be clumsy but they need to be taken. Getting industry and the public at large to co-operate will be like getting a baby to use his potty - it requires firmness and tolerance at the same time. Even if there are no catastrophies resulting from global warming it's not right continue treating the Earth like a disposable nappy, especially when alternatives are available.
Frank , Nice, France

A tiny contribution but a major step forward in trying to heal our mother Earth whose children we all are. The hydrogen economy plus population equilibrium being the just medication. Let's not waste money on short-term solutions.
willem van ekeren, den haag, netherlands

Professor Ameling thinks it's "worthless Europe doing it (cutting emissions) on its own." Can Europe not be a model for the rest of the world? Cutting emissions has to start somewhere, so why not here? I believe it is the responsibility of the governments and the EU to put more pressure on industry to save energy.
Greg, London, UK

A lot of this talk of new "industrial revolution" to usher in a new dawn for industry is a bit like wishing upon a star - it shows a basic lack of understanding of the principles of thermodynamics. If you want an industrial revolution, you need to discover a huge source of cheap energy that can be easily harnessed - the first industrial revolution was possible because it was found that coal could be reduced to coke, and that this burned at a much higher temperature than coal. This won't happen again unless a new huge energy source that is cheap becomes available on a massive scale.
dave norman, coventry

To Professor Dieter Ameling: of course the direct contribution of a reduction in European emissions would be tiny, especially with energy consumption in countries such as India and China growing quickly. However, by taking the lead in trying to reduce the ecological footprint of its economy, Europe will not only provide global public goods by developing ecologically friendly technologies that can be used by other countries (and that are potentially an important source of European jobs), it will also be in the position to increase the polical pressure on the US and the developing world to clean up their own act.
Michel Soudan, Ghent, Belgium

I'm afraid I won't be able to take the EU's new energy policy seriously until they stop moving the European Parliament every few weeks. Can anyone think of anything more energy-inefficient, and more unjustifiable?
Peter, Newbury, UK

We ALL need to "do our bit". It is the collective result that matters, not the very small individual contributions in themselves, but their effect when aggregated with our neighbours, and in turn, nations and continents. Congratulations to the BBC for keeping climate change before the public.
Dave Davies, Leominster, U.K.