While the European Union is committed, as it has recently done, to saving 20% of the current electricity consumption before 2020, such consumption keeps growing in all areas: households, services and industries. This is certified by the report on "Electricity Consumption and Efficiency Trends in the Enlarged European Union", by the Common Centre for Research (Ccr) of the EU Commission. "Even if the EU and the member states have successfully taken several measures to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions it states , electricity consumption in the households of the 25 member states has increased by the same rate as the global Gross Domestic Product (10.8%), thus thwarting the overall energy savings of between 1999 and 2004". According to the Ccr, "electricity consumption in the service sector has actually increased by 15.8%, while that of the industrial sector has risen by 9.5%" between 1999 and 2006. In addition, the report calculates "possible future savings generated by new technology". (continued)
