With a total ground floor area over 22,000 km2, 40% of all building roofs and 15% of all facades in EU 27 are suited for PV applications. This means that over 1,500 GWp of PV could technically be installed in Europe which would generate annually about 1,400TWh, representing 40% of the total electricity demand by 2020. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), the world's largest photovoltaic industry association together with Design-Build Solar, has organised today, 23 June, an event on Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, at the premises of the Ministry of housing in Madrid, in the framework of the "Solar Decathlon". The event will count more than 170 participants representing mainly architects, installers, representatives from the renewable and construction industries. The speakers, coming from all around Europe, will address the latest technological and market trends within this sector as well as the economic and regulatory frameworks in Spain and within the main European PV markets.

Yesterday's Energy Council call for an Energy Action Plan 2011-2020 to be adopted by the European Council as early as March 2011 is "an important signal that EU decision makers are serious about reaching the 2020 targets and thinking beyond 2020," said Christian Kjaer, Chief Executive of the European Wind Energy Association. "If the EU is to exploit the huge amount of renewable energy resources available, particularly wind energy, action needs to be taken in five key areas by the Energy Action Plan 2011 - 2020: building a European offshore power grid; improving competition in the internal electricity market; building new electricity infrastructures and smart grids; increasing R&D spending on wind power technology; and effectively implementing the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive," he continued. "If these key areas are tackled properly by the new strategy, then the EU will be on its way to having developed a renewable energy economy by 2050," Kjaer concluded.

As part of its effort to combat climate change and drive economic recovery, the European Commission today called on Member States and industry to use information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve energy efficiency. These technologies are expected to reduce total carbon emissions in Europe by up to 15% by 2020. ICT can not only improve monitoring and management of energy use in factories, offices and in public spaces but above all help make people more aware of how they use energy. With smart metering in their homes, for example, consumers have been found to reduce their energy consumption by as much as 10%.

"Targeting energy-efficient and low-carbon growth will help Europe face its biggest challenges: climate change, energy security and the economic crisis." said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "ICT have an enormous untapped potential for saving energy right across the economy. I personally would recommend to the ICT sector to show the way for the rest of the economy by reducing its own carbon footprint already by 2015 by 20%. I see from the response of European ICT companies to the Commission's ongoing work that Europe is already well ahead in using ICT for greening the economy."

Wind power could be generating up to 16% of Europe's electricity by 2020, delegates heard at the opening of the European Wind Energy Conference in Milan, Italy. "Wind energy will be a main contributor to achieving the target for 20% of the European Union's overall energy supply to come from renewable sources by 2020," said Arthouros Zervos, President of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). Energy policy and climate protection topped the agenda at the Spring Council in Brussels this March where EU heads of state and government committed to a binding target for 20% renewables by 2020. Europe already gets more than 3% of its electricity from wind, produced by 50,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity. Last year was a record, with over 7,500 MW of new wind farms being constructed and by 2020, 180,000 MW could be operating.