The United States New Energy Policy: A European Perspective

The US "National Energy Policy" report calls for greater energy efficiency , a modernized energy infrastructure and increased energy supplies. This comment highlights the salient points of the report and compares them w ith similar issues of concern for the European Union (EU). The US policy is a comprehensiv e package of proposals w hose main objectiv e seems to be to satisfy the ambitions of the energy industries either by easing environmental rules or by opening public lands for exploration. Therefore the US policy stresses increased oil, gas, coal and nuclear production while the EU emphasises renewable energy , demand management and energy conservation. Climate change and the Kyoto Protocol are at the centre of the European Commission's Green Paper and are having an important influence on the EU energy policy. The US policy makes, however, no reference to the Kyoto Protocol. The US approach to international energy policy appears to be similarto the EU. Both sides placeas much emphasis on relations with the western world as with countries elsewhere. The EU and US have similar energy supply patterns being the largest and the second largest importers of energy in the world, and they therefore share similar concerns with regard to external dependency.