Non-Nuclear Energy Research in Europe - A comprehensive study
ISBN 92-894-9369-0, 101 pp, OOP, Luxembourg.
Printed copies may be obtained free of charge from the OOP or this publication can be downloaded from the EU Bookshop site as follows:
Contents
The following article describing the background to this report is reproduced from Euroabstracts December 2005, vol 43 4/005
With Europe's reliance on imported energy set to reach 70% by the end of the decode, it is vital that energy research is prioritised. However, a lack of coordination and funding is leaving the European Union trailing behind the United States and Japan. If the European economy is to continue to thrive, this shortfall must be addressed.
It is only when customers have to think about taking out a bank loan to pay their power and petrol bills that the issue of energy supplies is truly thrust onto the political agenda. For most of the past 20 years, the price of fossil fuels has been low and, consequently, the financing of energy research has frequently lost out to competing demands for limited funds. Despite mounting evidence about the risk of global warming, research into sustainable energy has been driven as much by rising energy prices and uncertainty over supply as by concern over the environment.
But with oil prices again surging into the stratosphere, this comparative R&D study of 33 European countries comes at an opportune moment. It reveals that a shortage of funds combined with a chronic lack of coordination has led to the EU falling behind its major rivals.
EU governments invest a total of around €1 billion per annum on non-nuclear energy R&D, with the European Commission adding about €200 million through its Framework Programme. Japanese spending is roughly equal to that of Europe, while the USA spends twice as much. Although the Union budget has increased over the past ten years, this has been matched by the overall fall in the budgets of Member States, the report found.
Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are the heaviest investors in Europe, spending the equivalent of around €117 million per annum over the past decade, although the picture changes considerably if a nation's gross domestic product (GDP) is taken into account. In that case, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands rank first among Member States. Investment priorities vary considerably, although some shared ones are emerging, such as fuel cells, biomass and conservation.
Out of focus
Despite some technological successes, the study discovered significant obstacles to development. It found that national agenda setting failed to take into account the priorities of other countries, and there was insufficient synchronisation between Member States and between them and the Commission.
This lack of coordination is in sharp contrast to the approach adopted by the USA, where the Department of Energy is responsible for very large energy research programmes and runs 11 national laboratories. Although some of the research is not directly related to energy, the report found that US energy research dwarfs what exists in Europe. Japan has also concentrated its programmes in a single ministry, again providing a degree of coordination and focus that is lacking in Europe.
As a result, there are only a few niche areas where the EU remains a leading player, such as wind and biomass. However, in terms of many conventional technologies (gas turbines, clean coal, etc.), Europe appears to be slipping behind. It is also struggling to keep up with its competitors in some emerging technologies, such as fuel cells. This problem is particularly acute given Europe's dependence on energy imports which is expected to hit 70% by the end of the decade.
Search for harmony
Lack of coordination remains the most glaring problem. With the exception of the Nordic Energy Research programme, there is no systematic or consistent multilateral co-operation outside the EU framework Programmes or the International Energy Agency's Implementing Agreements.
Development has also been hindered by the fact that national programmes are run by different agencies throughout Europe - only in a minority of cases is the lead taken by the science or research ministry. As a result of this heterogeneity, European policy initiatives struggle to percolate back to those responsible for implementing them at national Level.
On the plus side, several EU-backed Technology Platforms have recently been set up to galvanise research in the field of hydrogen and fuel cells, and a number of ERA-Nets have begun to organise the coordination of national research activities. Against this background, the report makes the following recommendations:
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