Gas rebranded as green energy by EU | JunkScience.com
Gas rebranded as green energy by EU
Victory for gas lobby as aims of €80bn EU innovation programme altered to channel money to ‘low-carbon’ fossil fuel
Energy from gas power stations has been rebranded as a
green, low-carbon source of power by a €80bn European Union programme,
in a triumph of the deep-pocketed fossil fuel industry lobby over
renewable forms of power.
In a secret document seen by the Guardian, a large slice of billions
of euros of funds that are supposed to be devoted to research and
development into renewables such as solar and wave power are likely to
be diverted instead to subsidising the development of the
well-established fossil fuel.
The news comes as a report from the respected International Energy
Agency predicted a “golden age for gas” with global production of
“unconventional” sources of gas (notably shale gas extracted by
hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’) tripling by 2035.
The resulting drop in gas prices though risks stopping the
development of renewable energy in its tracks, unless governments take
action to support renewable technologies such as solar and wave power.
“Renewable energy may be the victim of cheap gas prices if governments
do not stick to their renewable support schemes,” said the IEA’s chief
economist, Fatih Birol.
The insertion of gas energy as a low-carbon energy into an EU
programme follows more 18 months of intensive lobbying by the European
gas industry, which is attempting to rebrand itself as a green
alternative to nuclear and coal, and as lower cost than renewable forms
of power such as wind and sun.
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