Infrastructures are the backbone of any economy, and energy is vital to a society's way of life. Electricity transmission, gas and oil pipelines, smart grids, storage of energy, and, later on, CO2 transport are essential elements of present and future energy systems. The energy and climate policies conducted by the European Union since 2007 have led to: the third energy package governing the internal electricity and gas markets; the directive setting the target of 20% of renewable sources of energy by 2020; the energy efficiency directive; and, most recently, the regulation establishing the...

The EU has developed an increasingly ambitious energy efficiency policy. In particular, with the publication of an EU Energy Efficiency Action Plan in April 2000, the issue of efficiency has become a central concern for policy makers. The recent passage of the Energy Efficiency Directive underlines this trend: this is a piece of legislation which has the potential to profoundly influence the activity and behavior of energy suppliers, consumers, energy service companies, and others involved in the energy sector. This volume covers all areas of EU energy efficiency policy, from the objectives...

This book examines the latest developments of the European Union's energy policy and particularly the way security of energy supply is taken into account and handled. As one of the three objectives of the EU energy policy, security of supply emerged as a central element of the policy, after the January 2009 gas crisis and now with the consequences of the Fukushima events. The contributions to this book are from the most informed people on the various. It analyses the extensive developments of the concept toward energy security, the impact of the third internal market package on its...

This second edition's core objective is to provide a complete overview on the relevance of Renewable Energy in all EU member states and the developments in these countries over time. To give an even broader perspective, contributions on some non-EU countries like USA, Switzerland and China are also included. Not only development plans and requirements by the state and other authorities, but also support mechanisms, grid access rules and codes, authentication methods, cross-border trading and guarantees of origin, supervision of the renewable energy sector, overview of planning, construction...