Use of Renewable Energy Sources in European Union Countries

The main aim of the work was to show the degree of renewable energy use in the European Union countries. All European Union member states were selected for research purposefully. The research period concerned the years 2004-2016. The sources of materials were EUROSTAT data, domestic and foreign literature. For the analysis and presentation of materials, descriptive, tabular, graphical methods, dynamics indicators with a fixed base, Gini concentration coefficient, concentration analysis using the Lorenzo curve, grapf of kernel density estimation, Pearson's linear correlation coefficients were used. Energy obtained from renewable sources enables solving problems related to the depletion of conventional energy sources and is very important to protect the natural environment. The share of renewable energy in total energy consumption in EU countries has been systematically growing and was not dependent on economic factors. There was a high concentration of renewable energy consumption in couple of EU countries. The market was very stable. Biofuels were the dominant source of renewable energy in almost all countries. The use from other sources was not dependent on the level of economic development, but on natural topographical and climatic conditions. There was a strong positive relationship between the share of forests in the country's area and the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption. This was due to the fact that biomass from forests was the main source of renewable energy in most countries. In this way, countries tried to meet the limits imposed by the EU.