Greece was ranked 39th among 100 countries on a World Energy Council list grading environmental sustainability, but concerns were raised on energy supply security as well as energy costs for consumers, from household to industrial.
Since 2010, the World Energy Council has annually graded countries based on three criteria reflecting the Energy Trilemma: security, grading the ability of countries to respond to present and future energy needs, equity, and environmental sustainability.
Greece achieved its highest position on the environmental sustainability list as a result of the country’s increase in electricity generation involving low carbon emissions. Lignite-based generation fell by 15 percent in a year while RES production was up significantly.
The importance of all three criteria must not be overlooked, stressed Dr. Haris Doukas, an Associate Professor of Energy Economics at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), and head of the WEC office in Greece.
The effort to lower carbon emissions is associated with just one of the three criteria and it seems that most WEC countries have overlooked the two other criteria in recent years, Dr. Doukas noted.
The current energy price crisis, as a result of natural gas supply, has once again brought to our attention the importance of energy systems being able to respond to current and future energy needs, cope with abnormal conditions and provide affordable energy, Dr Doukas added.