RES the School for Renewable Energy Science is involved in a number of European projects and cooperation agreements. RES participates in the Erasmus exchange program between European universities and has a number of bilateral agreements with some of the most renowned and established universities in Europe. RES has an extended list of partner universities through our cooperation agreement with the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri which reaches many other universities worldwide.
RES has been focused on developing a strong partnership with technical universities, mainly from Eastern and Southern Europe. An increase of a stronger renewable energy sector in these areas of Europe will make a substantial contribution towards a number of major EU policies, Including:
- The Lisbon and Barcelona objectives, which is the goal of the European Union: “To become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”
- To weaken the reliance on fossil fuel imports, and subsequently increase national energy security
- Contribute to the development and utilization of renewable energy resources as proposed in the EU´s renewable energy directives and the EC 1997 White Paper.
- Fulfilling all international obligations to fighting global warming such as the Kyoto Protocol.
The targets set out in the EC White Paper of 1997 foresees a doubling of the share of renewable energy sources in total energy consumption within the EU by the year 2010, or from 6% to 12%. Individual targets for each sector are set out in this document, as well as national targets for the share of renewable energy electricity by 2010 in each Member State (EU-15). These targets were set with the aim to raise the share of renewable energy electricity from 14% in 1997 to 22.1% in 2010.
More recent EU regulations were passed in 2006 and set the overall goal even higher to 20% of EU´s energy consumption to be from renewable energy sources in the year 2020. Furthermore, assumptions made by the EREC-The European Renewable Energy Council-together with its member associations, suggest that by 2040 the share of renewable energy worldwide could even reach 50%. To reach such a remarkable goal, advanced, intelligent and reliable policy measures have to be implemented at least in the majority of countries worldwide.
Technology focused small and medium-sized companies with the ability to assimilate and commercialize new scientific knowledge are the driving force behind the renewable energy industry’s expansion. The turnover of the European renewable energy industry expanded tenfold from 1.5 billion EUR in 1990 to 15 Billion in 2004. In recent years growth in the renewable energy markets were occurring in almost all sectors, countries and investment stages. With the rising cost of oil increasing to $80/bbl or higher, all the renewable energy technologies, even the mature ones, have been undergoing rapid technical transformations and/or developments.
The drivers for the increased use of renewable energy sources are proven technology, attractive costs, vast potential, investor interests and strong demand. Based on the availability in each country, it is important to promote the application of a mix of renewable energy sources with conventional energy, with the aim to maximize renewable energy and face out as soon as possible the use of conventional energies that have the largest GHG and pollution emissions plus external costs.
Graduates of RES´s M.Sc. Program in Renewable Energy Science will become an important workforce or catalyst in promoting increased use of renewable energies within the EU´s new member states of Eastern and Southern Europe. Many Eastern and Southern European countries have recently developed or are in the process of developing ambitious plans to radically increase their usage of renewable energy sources in the near future, to fulfill the EU´s renewable energy requirements.
An example of such plan is “Poland´s Energy Policy until 2025”. To implement such an ambitious plan, Eastern and Southern European countries are increasingly seeking international expertise in renewable energy utilization which can be incorporated and brought into the countries by a new generation of young engineers and scientists, educated abroad and enthusiastic about promoting renewable energy technologies in their home countries.
Research Projects and Cooperation
Intelligent Energy Europe
