Green Deal is an E-Deal
The Green Deal of the European Commission comes with a tall order of making EU climate neutral by 2050. The target year might be perceived to be in very far future by some of us but for future generations, it will be the reality they will live in. Equally, the carbon neutrality might be considered a mission impossible, but after all, it is about finding a sustainable balance between CO2 emissions and carbon sinks.
Many people surely are worried about their future and what happens to their lifestyle. Could I still use my car for commuting? What about other conveniences in life? Should I stop heating my house and start using woolen underwear? No air-conditioning? Switch off all lights and use only candles? These questions reflect our dependency on various applications using energy. In many forms.
There must be a means of achieving the Green Deal goals without giving up the standard of living and ease of everyday life.
Energy production and use of fuels, natural gas, coal and other heavily fossil based sources account for a vast majority of greenhouse gases in the EU. By decarbonizing the energy sector, we at best will get rid of many side-effects of energy forms requiring combustion. Clean air combined with sustainable energy would really be a dream come true.
Heating, cooling and lighting among many other functions in housing sector consume a lot of energy. A key to savings is energy efficiency. LED-lighting, heat pumps, electric heating, mobile devices and computers with very low consumption and building automation taking care of energy matters and savings in stealth mode. Energy renovations do pay off.
Nothing excites as much passion as cars or football. Both share people´s minds, and opinions on cars and players vary from opposition to worship and everything in between. Football is not experiencing such a drastic technological change as the car industry. Players will be players, but cars will be increasingly energy efficient, silent, emission free and increasing number of them will be fed from the electric grid.
As the Green Deal puts lot of pressure on energy sector, building energy use and mobility, the effects are mostly indirect to consumers, but electrification professionals will meet the challenges as the demand for cleaner energy increases. Electricity and electrification have been in a major role in making our lives better for over 100 years and this time it is no different. Then the Green deal would only become a real deal with well-functioning smart electric grids, renewal electric energy and highly skilled electrification professionals.