Once a week, NEU offers a selection of relevant news on issues related to Energy.

An Energy Efficiency Revolution
By NEU-Newsletter for the European Union

As a suitable mean to address the triple challenge of the current economic crisis, energy dependency and climate change, energy efficiency is increasingly becoming an area of emphasis on the EU’s policy agenda.The European Union is committed to saving 20% of the primary energy consumption by 2020 compared to a business-as-usual scenario. The “Europe 2020 Strategy” for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth includes energy efficiency among its headline targets. Consequently, the EU had updated the Union’s legal framework for energy efficiency. Read more here.

Britain’s renewable energy attractiveness ‘on a landslide’
By George Ogleby of Edie.net

The UK’s attractiveness as a destination for investment in renewable energy has reached an all-time low. That’s according to a new report published today (9 May) by analyst EY, which spotlights the early closure of the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme and the unclear future of Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism as two prime examples of changes in policy leading to Britain’s slump in global rankings of renewable energy attractiveness for investors. Read more here.

Beyond COP21: Time To Buy Or Sell Clean Energy?
By Wal van Lierop of Forbes

2015 was a stressful but interesting year for the energy industry with the
 need for innovation and sustainability becoming more important than ever. From the conclusion of COP21 in Paris where 195 countries committed to a landmark agreement to combat climate change and unleash actions and investments towards
 a low carbon sustainable future, to many credible agencies including the IEA (International Energy Agency) adjusting their forecasts for hydrocarbon demand, indicating that the world is at or close to “peak oil demand”, one thing is certain: change is happening and policies are being put into place that will significantly impact the energy industry. Read more here.

German renewables industry warns policy reforms risk country’s clean energy dominance
By James Murray on Business Green

The UK’s continuing slide down EY’s renewables investor attractiveness index may have commanded the headlines earlier this week, but it also distracted from the latest signs Europe’s leading renewable energy market is facing its own growing pains. Germany, for so long synonymous with ambitious clean energy policy thanks to its Energiewende strategy, saw its position in the global league table slip from fourth to fifth as it was overtaken by Chile. The report noted investor confidence had been dented by proposals to limit renewables to 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the total generation mix, declaring the plans “introduced significant uncertainty about long term demand in Germany, particularly for onshore wind, which will be the balancing technology”. Read more here.