European union perspective on the Kyoto protocol: Emissions trading scheme and renewable resources

Athough a climate on our planet has been changing for a millions of years, recent shifts in world-wide weather patterns are more dramatic than expected. These changes have motivated research communities and grassroots movements to re-evaluate how we behave towards the environment, and to re-examine whether our life-style may cause severe imbalances in the atmosphere, which eventually may endanger or even extinguish many species on our planet. From the perspective of electric power utilization, there are a number of ways in which both generation and demand side can contribute towards an alleviation of the environmental problems. For example, one way would be to reduce emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from power stations into the atmosphere, while the other option is to increase the amount of electricity coming from renewable resources. In addition, improving energy efficiency will reduce the amount of energy that is wasted, and therefore lower energy demand. The focus of this presentation is on the European Union (EU) practices regarding emissions and trading of greenhouse gases, and on efforts to promote and ensure employment of renewable resources.