“What’s new is that thirty billion figure,” explains energy and climate journalist Mark Beekhuis. ‘There’s almost no gas left from Russia, and their scenarios now completely disregard it. We also import a lot of LNG, but it will probably be more difficult next year. Especially if China is no longer affected by the covid measures next year and the economy could recover.”
“Thirty billion is about one and a half times what we consume in a year in the Netherlands,” says Beekhuis. “It’s 7.5% of what we use overall in Europe, but it’s also the same amount we’ve already saved in the last year. Without the measures we would end up with a deficit of 60 billion.’
Save money
According to him, the solution lies in really massive savings on gas consumption. The IEA also advises everyone to lower the temperature by one degree. ‘The average temperature in buildings in Europe is still around 22 degrees. If we lower the average by one degree, we would save 10 billion cubic meters of gas. If everyone sets the thermostat to 19, we’re already there, but that’s a lot and not everyone is going to do it.’
Other proposals from the IEA include insulating homes, replacing light bulbs with LEDs, speeding up the rollout of all renewable energy projects, and introducing heat pumps everywhere. “It all sounds very obvious, but we can all just do these things,” says Beekhuis. ‘It’s quite simple. We can do it.’
Implementing all the measures proposed by the IEA would cost around 100 billion euros. But according to Beekhuis, you’ll earn it within three years. ‘I would say: no-brainer, just do everything.’