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Maine, U.S. must pay heed to Europe's energy policy - by Elizabeth A. Wilson
f you spend any time in Europe or listen to the BBC or read a European newspaper, you might think that energy and climate change are all that Europeans talk about. And with good reason. Europe is facing issues of energy security, diversity of supply and source, climate change and environmental degradation head-on. The European Commission has ambitious goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and of producing 20 percent of heat and electricity and 10 percent of vehicle fuels from renewable energy by 2020. That is just 13 years away.
All of this is particularly challenging when you consider that the European Union is made up of 27 countries, each with its own needs and concerns.
Yet there is consensus that even with advances in technology and efficiency and serious efforts in conservation, much more needs to be done. Indeed, the Stern review on climate change, recently published in the United Kingdom, concludes that the economic cost of implementing stringent controls and supporting more research now is far less than doing nothing. Doing nothing could result in a major worldwide depression in the not so distant future.
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