On 30 January at the EUSEW2008 seminar “How to achieve the energy saving potentials of cogeneration in Europe?”, the Commissioner for Energy, Andris Piebalgs, highlighted cogeneration as a major tool in CO2 reduction and called on industry to be more ambitious.
It was the first time in over 12 months that the European Commission addressed the significant potential of cogeneration energy efficiency at the event that focused on how Europe could double its current cogeneration capacity bringing 20% of Europe’s electricity generation into cogeneration mode.
This year’s COGEN Europe Annual Conference takes these accomplishments a step further by reinforcing the importance of cogeneration in achieving Europe’s energy efficiency goals. The key role of mature technologies like cogeneration will be stressed and Member States, industry and other stakeholders will be encouraged to engage with the European Commission in implementing the policies that will promote this energy efficiency tool. On the agenda will be the discussion if the European Commission should commit to a binding target of 20% for cogeneration.
The EU has the potential of saving over 100 M tonnes of CO2 annually through deployment of cogeneration energy efficiency technology. Of all of Europe’s tools for improving energy efficiency and addressing climate change, cogeneration has the potential to be one of the lowest risk and most far-reaching in terms of near term impact. Cogeneration is already delivering significant energy security, cost savings and climate benefits by currently providing over 10% of Europe’s electricity. However, most experts believe it has much more to offer. 
