''Economic Brief: E.U. Plans for Alternative Energy''

From Power and Interest News

On September 12, a group of European deputies announced the creation of a broad platform designed to find the quickest way to a European hydrogen-based economy, thus ending the E.U. countries' dependence on fossil energy.

Italian liberal-democrat deputy Vittorio Prodi recently told the press that given the high price of oil and the widespread worries about peak oil and an energy crisis, it was time for action in order to ensure energy independence for E.U. member states through the exploitation of renewable, ecology-friendly alternatives to oil and gas. The initiative followed those of the 2002-2004 period, all of which concentrated on the use of hydrogen as the primary energy source. Previous initiatives, however, led to very few concrete results.