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EU wants 20 pct cut in energy use by 2020 2 hours, 27 minutes ago

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe should reduce its energy consumption by 20
percent by 2020 through more efficient technology, the EU executive
Commission said Wednesday, helping cut dependency on oil and meet climate
change targets.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said 60 billion euros ($73.12
billion) a year could be saved in fuel costs in the 25-nation bloc.

A household could save up to 1,000 euros a year in electricity and heating
bills by using energy saving lightbulbs, getting rid of old fridges and
replacing boilers, he added.

"If we (are) making good progress on energy efficiency, we are decreasing
dependency from oil prices and at same time creating jobs in the sectors
related to energy efficiency," Piebalgs told a news conference.

The Commission forecasts that the EU will be 90 percent reliant on imported
oil and 80 percent dependent on gas imports by 2030. Oil prices steadied at
$59 early Wednesday, on average $10 a barrel more than last year.

Piebalgs said the Commission would present an action plan at the end of
2006 with concrete steps on energy efficiency.

Half of the 20 percent cut in energy use will come from the entry into
force by 2007 of new EU laws making the design of buildings and household
appliances more energy efficient.

EU governments must also implement new measures to reach the target. The
Commission suggested reducing tax on cleaner cars and making public tenders
subject to energy efficient criteria.

But a group of cross-party EU lawmakers called for tougher limits and a
mandatory energy saving of 23 percent by 2020.

They say this reduction would represent over half the EU's target for
cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

"(Energy) efficiency has by far the biggest potential (to cut emissions)
and by far the cheapest," Luxembourg Green EU lawmaker Claude Turmes told a
news briefing.

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Bush: U.S. Needs More Nuclear Power Plants By NEDRA PICKLER, AP Writer

LUSBY, Md. - Pushing for the construction of nuclear power plants,

President Bush on Wednesday pressed Congress to send him an energy bill,
though he acknowledged that even when he signs the legislation, gasoline
prices at the pump won't fall overnight.

Bush is promoting nuclear power as a way to take the pressure off fossil
fuels — oil, natural gas and coal.

"It's time for this country to start building nuclear power plants again,"
said Bush, who noted that while the U.S. gets 20 percent of its electricity
from nuclear reactors, France meets 78 percent of its electricity needs
with nuclear power.

While Bush's speech was focused on energy, he also spoke about economic
concerns like

Social Security, medical liability insurance, education, permanent tax
relief and trade. It was part of a White House effort to focus on economic
security for Americans as well as national security in the war on terrorism.

"Listen, I understand parts of our country are still struggling from the
effects of the recession and the attacks," he said, ticking off Americans'
worries about jobs going overseas and the need to learn new skills, health
care costs and retirement security.

"So even though the numbers are still good, there are still worries out
there in the country," Bush said.

"We're not taking the good numbers for granted — we're moving aggressively
with a pro-growth, pro-worker set of economic policies that will enhance
economic security in this country."

Before he spoke, Bush, wearing a white hard hat and shirt sleeves, walked
through the plant's sweltering turbine building and its control room, where
he thanked workers for "taking time to explain all the dials and gauges."
Executives from the plant, operated by Constellation Energy Group Inc.,
also showed Bush their confidential plans for building a third reactor
onsite — if they can get a federal license.

Calvert Cliffs is a candidate for the construction of the first nuclear
energy reactor in the United States in 30 years. It is one of six sites
that a consortium of nuclear power companies, including the Baltimore-based
Constellation Energy, is considering as a location for a new type of
advanced reactor.

"The energy bill will help us expand our use of the one energy source that
is completely domestic, plentiful in quantity, environmentally friendly and
able to generate massive amounts of electricity and that's nuclear power,"
Bush said.

"I look forward to signing that bill and it's going to be an important part
of developing a national energy strategy," he said. "I recognize, and you
recognize that when I sign that bill, your gasoline prices aren't going to
drop. This problem has been long in the making."

Not since 1973 has an order been placed for a new reactor. Two events
helped end, for a time, any U.S. interest in reactors beyond those already
under construction: the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant
in Pennsylvania in 1979 and the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl plant in
the Ukraine.

Even some environmentalists have abandoned their opposition to nuclear
power, arguing it is needed to address climate change because reactors do
not produce "greenhouse" gases as do fossil fuels. Other environmentalists
are not convinced, citing worries about reactor waste and safety.

Without some government help, no new reactors are likely to be built before
2025, according to the Energy Information Agency, the government's energy
statistical agency. Congress is considering loan guarantees for new-design
reactors, and lawmakers are expected to come up with other tax breaks. But
a Bush proposal to provide "risk insurance" to protect the industry against
licensing or legal delays has attracted little interest on Capitol Hill.

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