No. 25/05
March 9, 2005

EU COMMISSION DELEGATION OPTS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY

To illustrate the European Union’s commitment to fighting climate change and promoting renewable energies, the EU Commission Delegation in Washington, DC, has signed a contract with Pennsylvania-based Community Energy to have substantial amounts of its electricity requirements supplied from a West Virginia wind farm.

Under the contract, which takes effect immediately for a period of five years, 50% of the electricity used at the EU Commission’s Washington offices, and 100% of electricity supplied to the Ambassador’s residence, will come from wind-power-generated energy.

Ambassador Bruton, Head of the EU Commission Delegation to the United States, paid tribute to US electricity regulators for making it possible for consumers to buy electricity from renewable sources. He added:

“We do not have to wait for new technologies. We can already use existing ones. Energy savings and efficiency and the use of renewable energy must be stimulated now. This also makes sense from an economic point of view because it helps reduce societal costs and achieve energy security, while lowering dependency on import of fossil fuels from politically unstable regions.”

The amount of power purchased by the EU Commission Delegation will have the environmental benefit per year of not driving about half a million miles on fossil fuels and will contribute to reducing the impact carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in the wider mid-Atlantic region.

The agreement was signed on behalf of Ambassador John Bruton by the Deputy Head of Delegation Gérard Depayre on March 8. The EU Delegation hopes that others in the DC area will be encouraged to using renewable energy to demonstrate their commitment to a cleaner environment. The EU is already implementing an ambitious climate change program including a CO₂ emissions trading scheme since January 1 and on track to meeting its Kyoto commitments by EU-based action, while planning further steps to fight climate change after 2012 when the first commitment phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires.