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Europe aims for energy policy that's self-reliant (Jeffrey Stinson, 2/20/06, USA TODAY)

Europe, the world's second-biggest energy consumer behind the USA, is scrambling to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

In the last month:

• Nuclear power, which with the exception of France, was disappearing in Western Europe, has re-emerged as a clean and reliable source of energy. Germany is reconsidering its plan to phase out nuclear power generation by 2020. So, too, is Britain. "No option, including the nuclear option, should be ruled out," Barroso told reporters at a Jan. 19 economic conference in Lisbon.

With the exception of France, which gets more than 70% of its power from nuclear sources, Europe has spurned nuclear generation as too costly or unsafe since the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine nearly 20 years ago.

• Sweden announced Feb. 7 that it wants to be the first nation in the world to eliminate oil as an energy source in the next 15 years. It would use ethanol for its cars, and geothermal heat and burning everything from agricultural byproducts to trash would replace heating oil. "Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020," said Mona Sahlin, Sweden's minister of Sustainable Development.

• The European Commission on Feb. 8 adopted an ambitious biofuels program to stimulate the production of ethanol and gas from crops and organic waste. The goal: to more than double production — from a 1.4% share of the European fuel supply in 2005 to 5.75% in 2010.

• Neelie Kroes, the European Union's competition commissioner, warned major gas and electricity firms last week that they face antitrust action unless they open themselves to more competition. Many big energy companies dominate their countries' markets, stifling competition and keeping prices high.

The reality of moden Europe is that they'll switch from dependence on Arab oil to reliance on technology that America will innovate.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2006 7:37 AM