Effects of grid instability on RES and its rebound effects : legislation and practices in the EU

Abstract

The various oil crises in the past decades and the increasing awareness of global warming caused primarily by escalating C02 emissions produced cy fossil fuel burning, have prompted politicians, environmental activists and others to encourage researchers in developing alternative energy sources which are sustainable but essentially renewable, imposing minimal environmental impact. Whilst the early seventies saw the first major commercial developments in Renewable Energy Sources, it was then in 1997, when, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) The Kyoto Protocol was adopted by most parties, but came in force only int-0 2005. The European commission has also embarked on several initiatives backed with legislation, in order to intensify the awareness for a more sustainable energy regime, supported by several grant schemes and subsidies to narrow the commercial gap between conventional and renewable energy suppliers.