Energy efficiency: The conservation pillar of energy security

 
The EU must finally activate the main resource to achieve energy sovereignty – energy efficiency, writes Carsten Müller.

Carsten Müller is a Member of the Conservative Group in the German Bundestag and chairman of DENEFF – the German Business Organisation on Energy Efficiency.

I stand behind my colleagues in the European Parliament’s energy committee, who supported making national energy-saving targets under the Energy Efficiency Directive finally binding. It makes our economies resilient and spurs domestic growth. It also delivers an overdue commitment reflecting that today’s energy crisis could have been avoided and must be impeded from ever happening again.

The EU did well by increasing the share of renewable energies and saving greenhouse gas emissions. But it neglected energy conservation by increasing energy efficiency, which is the pillar of making Europe’s future energy supply sustainable, reliable and affordable.  (...)