Alpen Steel | Renewable Energy

Innovating Europe's Energy Future

To meet its goal of becoming a low-carbon economy by 2050, Europe will need an innovative strategy to shake-up its energy market. Europe’s energy strategy was the main topic this week at “Innovating Europe’s Energy Future,” a GE-sponsored conference held in Brussels.

The 2050 Energy Roadmap of the European Commission is a policy document describing possible pathways towards further reducing carbon emissions. It has profound implication on the future structure of the European energy industry and is considered the most ambitious global energy strategy. To meet this goal, Europe will need renewable energy sources to provide over half of its total energy needs. Europe is betting the cost of these renewable energy sources will come down in the next ten years in order to be fully competitive with non-renewable resources without government subsidies.

Speakers, including Reinhold Elsen, vice president of utility company RWE, and Phillip Lowe, the director general for energy at the European Commission, argued that existing technologies can meet Europe’s needs, but they must be scaled and optimized. Horst-Tore Land, director of ecomagination EMEA, said the goal must be to accelerate commercial innovation.

“It’s not only about who has the best technology – it’s about how to commercialise efficiently, fast and in a capital-efficient manner,” Land said.

With these goals in mind, GE’s ecomagination Challenge initiative has invested $200 million in innovative energy-startups all over the world

“We are not only investing in companies, we are creating commercial partnerships that allow those companies to scale their offering globally,” Land said.

Read more about Europe’s low-carbon energy future at ScienceBusiness.

(http://www.ecomagination.com/short-reads)