site.btaEnvironment Minister Highlights European Trend towards Lower Consumption of Natural Gas, Coal

The trend in Europe is towards lower consumption of natural gas and coal, Environment and Water Minister Julian Popov said on Tuesday at an energy forum organized by Capital.bg.  He pointed out that every year there is a 26% drop in coal-fired power generation.

"The data have long shown that gas is not a transitional fuel and does not act as a transitional fuel," Popov noted. He added that gas-fired power generation fell by 15% last year. "It cannot be a transitional fuel. If it was a transitional fuel, it would have gone up by 15%, not fallen," he underlined.

The Minister pointed out that for the first time, electricity generation from wind power has risen above that from natural gas, despite a drop in blue fuel prices and despite the fact that there are not enough wind generators built yet and there are excess gas assets. He added that if gas emissions are tracked from extraction to combustion, they will prove to be as much as those from coal.

The Minister of Environment and Water also pointed out that, in Europe in particular, emissions from power generation fell by 19 percent last year. According to him, this is a combination of energy efficiency, structural change in the energy sector, but it is not because the industry is not working. He said the main driver of this is renewables and energy efficiency. "This is the data," Minister Popov stressed.

In Europe, emissions from power generation fell by 19% last year, Popov stressed. He explained that this is a combination of energy efficiency and structural change in the energy sector, and it is not due to the industry not working.