Renewable electricity in Europe

Renewable energy use is growing at a much faster pace than the rest of the economy in Europe and world-wide. This and the dramatic oil price increases in 2005 have lead to a remarkable re-evaluation of the renewable energy sector by politics and financing institutions. Despite the fact that there are still discrepancies between the European Union and the USA how to deal with climate change, renewable energies will play an important role for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and the world wide introduction of tradable green certificates. Apart from the electricity sector, renewable energy sources for the generation of heat and the use of environmental friendly bio-fuels for the transport sector will become more and more important in the future. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.