Renewable energy trend set to continue, says expert

There will continue to be a shift towards renewable energy over the coming years, it has been predicted.

Nick Medic, Head of Communications at RenewableUK, revealed that the incentive of reaching EU carbon reduction targets is spurring the country on to use such energy sources.

"The other reason is security - we, as a continent, are intensive users of energy and have an input in a large part of it," he emphasised.

As a result, Europe needs to go in search of a more localised way of sourcing its energy, which is where renewables really come into their own, the expert highlighted.

Figures from the European Commission show renewable energy sources accounted for 62% of the new electricity generation capacity installed in the 27 EU countries in 2009.

For the second year running, wind energy accounted for the largest share of the new capacity, representing 38% of the total.

Posted by Ruth Bradshaw