Belgium will host Europe’s biggest sportainment park
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Renewables have now overtaken natural gas as the biggest share of the country’s energy mix
Last week, for the first time ever, Greece was able to cover all its energy needs with renewable energy. The country’s power transmission operator IPTO announced that on 7 October, renewable energy production reached a new all-time high of 3.106 megawatts, powering the entire country for full five hours.
This is a huge symbolic victory for green energy production and a turning point for the Greek energy grid. It shows that green energy is a possible and viable, carbon-free alternative, that can have a significant impact on a large enough scale.
Greece has slowly been increasing the proportion of renewable and green energy and as of 2022, according to a recent publication of The Green Tank, it has become the largest share in the local energy mix. This comes amidst a massive natural gas in the European Union and renewables, excluding hydropower, have overtaken gas as Greece’s main energy source.
According to The Green Tank’s data, in August 2022 renewables produces 13,238 gigawatts of energy, while fossil gas sat in second place with 13,150 gigawatts. This comes after a stable decline of lignite coal power sustained from a peak in 2012 and a continuous rise in natural gas usage.
In fact, renewable energy production has been rising at a steady pace since 2013, though it only overtook gas this year.
At the same time, Greece has now almost stopped importing energy, as imports sat at just 1912 gigawatts in the first 8 months of 2022. In fact, the Mediterranean country has become a net exporter, which has led to an unfortunate rise in coal production in the last two years.
Yet, according to the data, the total production of green energy in the country, renewables plus hydro has yet to outpace the total output of fossil fuels. This year, green energy accounted for 16,262 gigawatts, while all fossil fuels accounted for 17,144.
Nevertheless, the time when Greece is able to reach the Fit for 55 goals of the EU (producing more than 55% of energy through green sources) seems to be in sight way sooner than 2030. Furthermore, Greece was able to raise renewable energy production from 42% to 46% from 2021 to 2022.
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
Naturally, many aren’t happy - not because of the reduced possibility for prayers, but because they felt it was an attack on welfare
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
Europe is striving to cut the costs of operating wind turbines on water
38,000 of these fellas help to purify the city air, so why not become friends with them?
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
As Europe strives to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, Turku and Dijon are among a group of cities seeking to reach this goal two decades earlier
Some autonomous shuttles in France are now doing their rounds without a human supervisor inside
2020 and 2021 were zero years for these types of events, but the break has not diminished its reputation
Citing concerns about humaneness, the legislation aims to discourage the proliferation of the so-called designer pet breeds
The facility will be located in Hasselt and is set to welcome its first visitors this spring
The European Commission has published its first progress report charting the achievements of the socio-cultural movement that combines beauty, inclusion and sustainability
The 2023 edition of the creative initiative promises to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive
This initiative seeks to integrate the values of the New European Bauhaus into the European Commission’s 100 Cities Mission
Veni Markovski’s take on dealing with disinformation in the European Union's poorest country – Bulgaria
A conversation with the mayor of Utrecht on the occasion of her mission to COP27
A conversation with the President of the European Committee of the Regions, about energy, climate change and the underrated importance of cohesion policy