Self-assessment

Energy Consumption

This chapter focuses on the complexities, challenges, and opportunities in the world of energy consumption and production within the European Union. Renewable energy will play a pivotal role in the decarbonization of energy systems in the coming decades: the EU recognizes the existential threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation. To combat this, it aims to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The European Green Deal sets ambitious targets for economic growth decoupled from resource use and no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

Self-assessment

Exercise: Multiple choice

Which of the following statements concerning trends in EU energy consumption, are correct?

✓ Without energy savings, the energy consumption in the transport sector would have increased by approx. 55 Mtoe between 2000 and 2019.

✓ The biggest decrease in energy consumption within the industrial sector is due to energy saving.

✓ The slight decrease in energy consumption within households is mainly due to the trend towards smaller dwellings.

Food and Water

Clothing

Transportation

Travel

Plastic Waste

Energy Consumption

Energy Consumption

Exercise: Multiple choice

Which of the following statements concerning trends in EU energy consumption, are correct?

Exercise: True / False

In the year 2020, global energy consumption dropped due to energy efficiency policies around the globe.

Exercise: True / False

Energy intensity can be considered as an approximation of the energy efficiency of a country’s economy and shows the amount of energy needed to produce a unit of GDP.

Exercise: True / False

Economically more developed countries managed to decouple economic growth from energy use, only by moving their manufacturing operations overseas.

Exercise: True / False

Even though renewable energy sources in the EU increased their share in the total, moving from 4.3 % in 1990 to 11.8 % in 2020, the share of solid fossil fuels in final energy consumption stayed the same.