Status Quo

shutterstock_125512865Internal energy consumption in the European Union (EU) amounted to 1,626 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2015. This corresponds to 2.5% below the level of 1990 and falls by 11.6% to its peak of almost 1,840 Mtoe in 2006. Fossil fuels are still largely the main source of energy for almost three quarters of EU energy consumption in 2015. Their share has steadily decreased in the past from 83% in 1990 to 73% in 2015. On the other hand, the EU’s dependence on imports of fossil fuels has increased, with 73% being introduced in 2015 compared to 53% in 1990.

shutterstock_148264052Apart from the dependency of fossil fuels, Europe has a number of established traditional bio-industries, ranging from agriculture, food, feed, fiber and forestry, including pulp and paper and wood products to biotechnology, chemicals, biofuels and biofuels bioenergy. The bio-economy is an important component of the EU economy with 20 million jobs and over 2 trillion Euros in turnover. Typical industries are agriculture, food and beverage, agroindustrial products, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, woodworking, biochemistry, enzymes, biopharmaceuticals, biofuels and bioenergy.

According to estimates, nearly 15 billion tonnes of biomass were used worldwide in 2011, including 4.2 billion tonnes of foodstuffs, 3.7 billion tonnes of feedstuffs, 3.4 billion tonnes for processing (sugar, starch, vegetable oils, etc.) in the food industry and materials handling ) and 2.1 billion tonnes of energy.

 

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