The European Commission must ask the states of the European Union (EU) next week to limit heating to 19º and cooling to 25º in public buildingsto reduce the demand for gas, according to the draft of a text to which AFP had access.
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The intention of the document is to reduce European gas consumption by between 25,000 and 50,000 million cubic meters, as part of the effort to face an eventual drop in Russian gas supply, or even a possible cessation.
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Hot water and heating represent a high level of energy consumption in the home.
“Acting now could reduce the impact of a sudden break” in supply by a third, argues the Commission (the EU’s executive arm) in the document, which should become public on July 20 and will be subject to possible changes.
According to the document, a saving of about 11,000 million m3 could result from the reduction in heating or cooling of public buildings.
The plan outlined in the document calls for bloc states to enact binding restrictions on heating and cooling in those public buildings.
In addition, the text highlights, “significant savings can be achieved by deploying alternative heat sources for district heating” in private homes.
Likewise, it calls for communication campaigns to encourage households to lower the thermostat by 1 degree this winter.
The text points out that “protected customers” (as provided for in European legislation: households, social services, SMEs) represent less than 37% of total consumption in the
EU.
For this reason, “the simulations show that they would not be affected on a large scale” by the gas shortage, the Commission pointed out.
Therefore, it prefers to target power plants and industry, the big consumers.
Sudden interruptions in supply “could cripple industries that have little room to suddenly reduce production or switch to other fuels, because they use gas as a feedstock,” he warned.
“It would be significantly cheaper to moderately reduce demand over a longer period, starting earlier,” he added.
To encourage the movement, Brussels proposes to the states of the bloc to establish “auction systems”possibly covering several countries, which would offer “offsets” to companies in exchange for a reduction in their consumption.
These proposals from Brussels will be at the center of the agenda at an extraordinary meeting of European energy ministers scheduled for July 26.
Brussels suggests giving compensation to companies that
reduce your gas consumption
A number of signs, such as the latest decision to further cut supplies to Italy, point to a likely deterioration in the gas supply outlook.
The draft of the document that the Community Executive intends to unveil next Wednesday and to which Efe has had access, defends that the club is still capable of minimizing the impact of a “possible great cut” in the gas supply in winter if it already adopts a series of measures and incentives.
The text underlines that gas flows from Russia have fallen by 30% compared to the average for the 2016-2021 period and part of this reduction “has been the result of sudden, unjustified and unilateral actions by Gazprom to reduce or stop deliveries to European consumers with the aim of disrupting economic activity and manipulating prices”.
“There is no reason to think that this pattern will change. Instead, a number of signs, such as the latest decision to further reduce supply to Italy, point to a likely deterioration in the gas supply outlook,” warns the European Commission. .
This is the context that leads the Community Executive to propose a contingency plan that includes a series of measures to reduce the demand for gas from this summer, but also to encourage companies and industries to cut the
consumption and replace gas with other energy sources, including coal and nuclear.
![European Parliament](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala; the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola; and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
EFE/EPA/JULIEN WARNAND
“The Commission strongly supports best practices, such as the idea of auctions or bidding systems to incentivize a reduction in consumption by industrial consumers by letting industries offer those reductions in gas consumption in exchange for compensation,” the document proposes.
These auctions, the text continues, could be organized between several countries “to maximize the possibilities of consumers who operate in several Member States and for Member States with fewer fiscal means.”
Another possibility are the so-called “interruptibility contracts”, which contemplate the granting of economic compensation to finance a predetermined reduction in gas consumption during a period of disconnection.
“After exhausting all these measures, Member States may need to start partially or totally restricting (consumption) from specific groups.
of consumers who have been identified in their emergency plans”, recognizes
Brussels, to later indicate that such prioritization may differ from one country to another.
The contingency plan highlights that “each citizen and each household can save gas” and emphasizes the volume of this fuel used in heating or cooling systems, although it recalls that households, district heating and some essential social services they are protected consumers and would be the last to suffer rationing.
The report emphasizes that “gas savings can already materialize during the summer” with a reduction in electricity consumption that refrigeration systems entail and in winter it can be greater by using “alternative sources of heating”, such as heat pumps in buildings or with awareness campaigns to lower the temperature of the home by one degree.
![russian gas](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
The war in Ukraine has affected gas supplies in Europe.
It also suggests making it mandatory where “technically and legally possible” that the thermostat in public buildings, offices and commercial buildings be set to 19 degrees Celsius during the winter.
With regard to plants that generate electricity, the plan includes the possibility of promoting the use of fossil fuels other than gas, but warns that moving to use biomass and diesel “requires ensuring that sufficient quantities are available for the plants that use them.”
In this line, remember that some countries have announced the reactivation of coal plants and others have delayed their plans for the closure of nuclear power plants.
Brussels does not criticize these decisions, but stresses that the measures to replace the
gas “are temporary by nature and must be designed in such a way that they do not compromise” the EU’s climate objectives.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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