“Europeans must save energy. Europe in fact wastes at least 20% of the energy it uses”, said EU Commissioner for Energy Anders Piebalgs, in presenting the eagerly awaited EU Action Plan for energy efficiency for the period 2007-2013. Formulated in response to the concerns expressed by the European Council in March that has laid the basis for the Commission’s implementation of the measure, the Plan is of fundamental importance for the EU and for member states: again according to the Commissioner, “thanks to energy saving Europe will contribute to the fight against climate change and reduce its energy consumption, which for the time being is increasing, and its dependence on fossil fuel imports from third countries. If we act now, the direct cost of our energy consumption could be reduced by over 100 billion euros per year by 2020 and each year we will avoid producing approximately 780 million tons of CO2”.
