Green energy use creeps up marginally, EU targets a long way off
The Netherlands used 2% more energy last year but the proportion of sustainable energy rose just 0.3 percentage point to 5.8%, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.
This means the Netherlands is still a long way off its European target of 14% green energy by 2020.
The increase is largely due to solar wind and geothermal energy, the CBS said, and the use of biomass – household waste and organic matter – has hardly gone up. Nevertheless, biomass still accounts for 80% of the sustainable energy used in the Netherlands.
A third of the European countries which signed up for the sustainable energy agreement have already reached their targets. Top renewable energy user is Sweden (53%), where hydro electric power accounts for over 16% of energy usage.
The CBS said last year the poor Dutch performance is due in part to its geographical position, which means hydro-electric power is not an option.
There is also less government support for alternative energy sources compared to countries like Germany and Denmark, the CBS said.
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.
We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.
Make a donation