Austria aims for energy independence with renewable energy
Since the 1978 referendum, which saw a majority of Austrians say "no" to nuclear power, the country has imported its energy from countries which, like the Czech Republic or Slovenia, are betting on atomic energy. A contradiction which Vienna wants to put an end to by ensuring its energy independence thanks to renewables.
If the announcement made by Germany to leave nuclear power had the effect of a bomb, the objective announced by Austria, aiming at energy autonomy thanks only to renewable energies, went largely unnoticed. It seems wrong. Vienna has just published its energy balance for the year 2010, which shows how renewable energies have developed in Austria: they represent 30,8% of the country's total energy consumption, up 5% from compared to 2009, and cover 65,3% of electricity consumption. A policy that has enabled it to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30,27 million tonnes. Wood and hydraulics are the main suppliers of renewable energies, which is hardly surprising in a country covered by two thirds of the Alps. Austria has, after Norway and Switzerland, the largest supply of hydroelectric power in Europe.
Austrian atomic contradiction
These figures, however, offer only a partial insight into the overall picture offered by Austria. If Vienna is truly betting on new energies, this bias is recent compared to the country's official anti-nuclear policy. A step backwards is necessary: the referendum held on November 5, 1978 saw 50,4% of the Austrians refuse the operation of the only nuclear power plant in the country, Zwentendorf. An extremely thin majority therefore, but sufficient to force the Austrian government to turn to its neighboring countries and their power stations to import energy. Because the legislation then put in place does not provide for a ban on the import of nuclear energy and no declaration on the origin of the imported energy is necessary. For the environmental organizations Greenpeace and Global 2000, the Austrian link in the Friends of the Earth network, this legal vagueness undermines the credibility of Austria's official anti-nuclear policy on the one hand and leads to fraudulent practices on the other. Reinhard Urig, of Global 2000, cites an example: "Energy suppliers pump water overnight using nuclear energy from neighboring countries and use the water thus pumped to supply stamped electricity, then renewable energy. . It's pure greenwashing. (...)
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