Greenpeace believes that Romania blocks unjusifiably the renewable energy development, given that more and more global companies and states are to pass to 100% clean energy.
Thus, Google announced Wednesday that in 2016 purchased electricity from solar and wind plants with aggregate capacity of 2,600 MW, with the ambition that by 2017 it will pass to renewable energy use only. Google, the largest purchaser of green energy, stressed that renewable energy has not only reduced the carbon footprint of the company, but it was increasingly the best option, as it means low costs.
The “about 2,600 MW represents about half of the current production capacity based on renewable energy in Romania. Google sets the tone and I’m sure other companies will follow and will assume the fight against climate change,” says Ionut Ruscea, clean energy campaign coordinator of Greenpeace Romania.
“In this context, the Ministry of Energy in Romania brakes the investments in renewable energy, announcing the cutting of the support scheme. The recent energy strategy of Romania is far too pessimistic and by the renewable energy targets proposed it jeopardizes the commitment that Romania signed for…
“In other news, Google ambition to achieve the target of 100% renewable energy consumption, shows that the EU will no longer be a spearhead in renewable energy and its efforts must increase to keep pace with a defrosting market, an emerging world market that waited years and years for the signal of the most powerful leaders. Europe will have to recover other industrial mammoths boom. In our view, the only advantage that Europe may have against the competitors will be opening its markets to citizens, decentralization and democratization of energy production, “said Ruscea.
“As Google itself acknowledges, its effort to become 100% renewably powered remains a work in progress due to the limited renewable energy options offered by monopoly utilities.The company rightly highlights the need to change government policies to drive investment and create new pathways that will allow all of their operations to be directly powered by renewables. Google and other IT leaders like Apple and Facebook have increasingly used their influence to open previously closed markets to allow for more access to renewables,” said Gary Cook, Greenpeace IT analyst.
Greenpece will launch early next year Clicking Clean report, which measures the performance of companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. the use of renewable energy.
