Greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 0.8% in 2005, according to an annual report by the European Environment Agency (EEA). While the Commission welcomed the decrease and called for more action, environmental groups saw the modest figure as a sign that the EU is not likely to achieve the emission-reduction targets agreed in Kyoto in 1992.

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs inaugurated last Friday the first European Wind Day, a pan-European awareness campaign, which aims to celebrate the power, popularity and effectiveness of wind energy in the European Union. This campaign, coordinated by the European Wind energy Association (EWEA), will include events taking place simultaneously in Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Athens, Vienna and other major cities.

The big business division of the High Court has agreed to hear a case which claims that more than half of Ireland's wind turbines infringe a German company's patent. The case, which was brought by German wind giant Wobben, alleges that some 348 wind turbines in the State infringe their patented processes. The 348 turbines, controlled by Scottish firm Vestas Celtic Wind Technology, make up more than half of Ireland's 650 wind turbines.

Residents on the remote Greek island of Skyros are engaged in a last-ditch fight to prevent the construction of one of the world's largest wind farms on a protected nature reserve. The plans have pitched the country's largest landowner, the Orthodox Church, against the islanders. Conservationists, echoing the debate across Europe, are split between those keen to expand Greece's renewable energy production and those who argue the destruction in this case would too great.

From Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to E.ON, the world's largest companies are investing in wind power, the best-performing energy in the past year. Led by Vestas Wind Systems and Iberdrola of Spain, utilities and governments in the United States, China and Europe will spend as much as $150 billion on wind projects in the next five years, according to CLSA Research. Lawmakers are providing financial incentives because windmills are non-polluting and cost less than solar projects. "Wind has the biggest potential to meet renewable energy targets over the next decade, compared with solar and biofuels," said Philippe de Weck, who started the Pictet Clean Energy fund last month for Pictet in Geneva.

The permit application for the offshore wind farm slated for the North Sea has been approved. Now the partnership Evelop International and Ballast Nedam Concessies has the exclusive right to develop Scheveningen Buiten. Rijkswaterstaat Noordzee announced the approval includes the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The wind farm, Scheveningen Buiten, which will be built outside the 12-mile zone off the seaside resort of Scheveningen, approximately 30 kilometers (km) from the coast, is expected to be finished by 2011. It will generate more than 300 megawatts (MW).

Since the extension of the production tax credit, European wind companies have been keener on investing in the U.S. market. Several of the largest turbine producers are now selling to U.S. developers for projects, and opening offices and manufacturing plants in the United States. The federal production tax credit was extended for two years in August 2005 by President Bush. It was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, but was extended as one of Congress' last acts and will now run through Dec. 31, 2008. The PTC provides a 1.5 cent per kilowatt hour credit, or 1.9 cents when inflation-adjusted, to energy facilities during the first 10 years of operation.

MILAN, Italy, May 10 New technologies are making an effort to mitigate environmental concerns over bird fatalities caused by wind turbines in Europe. A new monitoring program called WT-Bird has passed preliminary tests and will enter the next phase of testing. The WT-Bird, created by the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, uses several techniques to monitor bird collisions.

MILAN, Italy, May. 11 (UPI) -- In order to continue its high rate of growth, the wind industry has many opponents to convert and obstacles to overcome. From siting to operation, wind project developers face a barrage of challenges. First, though regulations vary, you can't put a wind turbine within a certain distance of an area of national, historic or natural value. Also, unless residents are offered a share of the project, locals sometimes oppose them, citing aesthetic concerns.

German renewable energy group WPD's said Wednesday it was planning erecting a 500-600-megawatt offshore wind power park off Korsnäs on Finland's Gulf of Bothnia coast. If built, the generators would quintuple Finland's wind power generating capacity.

The Green Party said today it would introduce special financial supports for renewable energy sources if in government. Speaking following a visit to Airtricity's Arklow bank wind farm off the coast of Co Wicklow, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the party would introduce a "fixed-price support mechanism for offshore wind, wave and tidal power supplies to give a secure investment climate for what are still experimental technologies.

While most members of the European Union have joined in the push for wind energy, some, like Italy, face resistance. Anti-wind groups are pushing for a moratorium on new wind-power projects, claiming the wind turbines negatively affect the landscape and surrounding wildlife. They also say developers take advantage of residents in small towns with bad deals, and they question the reliability of a power source that is highly variable.

WASHINGTON - New worries about the environment, technology advances and tax break extensions are empowering European wind energy companies to try their luck in the United States. The United States has led the world in installing new wind turbines for the past two years, but it still ranks behind Germany and slightly below Spain in wind power production, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. Now America's renewed embrace of policies to encourage energy alternatives has led companies with years of experience in Denmark, Germany and Spain to invest in this country, challenging both the U.S. market leaders and environmental opposition to building giant turbines.

The vast majority of commercial practices defined as unfair under the general prohibition will fall into two categories; they will be "misleading" and/or "aggressive". An important objective of the Directive is to create greater legal certainty, so the ways in which a commercial practice can stray into this territory is set out in detail. A misleading commercial practice will contain false information (i.e. be untruthful) or will in some way deceive, or be likely to deceive, the average consumer into taking a transactional decision that he would not otherwise have made. An aggressive commercial practice achieves much the same outcome but by means of harassment, coercion (including physical force) or undue influence so as to significantly impair (or be likely to impair) the average consumer's freedom of choice or conduct.

The German feed-in system, called the Erneuerbare Energieen Gesetz (Renewable Energy Law or EEG) guarantees producers of sustainable power a fixed price per kWh fed into the grid. Since the introduction of the EEG in April 2000, the amount of renewable energy in Germany has more than tripled. Last year saw the production of 20,000 GWh of wind power and 18,000 GWh from other renewable sources. The share of renewables in the electricity mix has increased from 3.01% in 2000 to 10.53% in 2006. The target for 2012 is 20%. At the same time, the increasing share of renewables confronts the power sector with growing pains. They are facing an increasing input from highly variable sources. For instance, in 2004 the grid feed-in from renewable sources has varied between 1.8 and 14 GW.

The view from the beach could be radically different soon with wind turbines replacing uninterrupted coastline before long. The government is proposing to introduce a law to allow wind turbines to be built offshore, the Spanish daily El Pais reported on Tuesday. They would stretch around 4,000 kilometres of Spain's coastline.

Executive director of the RTÉ Transmission Network Mick Kehoe has claimed some wind farm developers were completely ignoring the impact they could have. Continuing problems with reception are being reported in areas such as Rockchapel, Co Cork, and Kilgarvan, Co Kerry. Mr Kehoe called for a coordinated approach to the problem by the planning departments of Cork and Kerry county councils. Siobhan Griffin, of the Kerry County Community and Voluntary Forum, said some of the areas affected by poor reception had large numbers of older people for whom television services were very important.

Schemes to monitor the bat population will be carried out all over Ireland this summer amid concerns the population of the endangered species has dropped dramatically. Despite being protected by law, the nocturnal flying mammals are being affected by hedgerow removals, the renovation of old buildings, bridge work and pesticides.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil majors love to boast about their renewable energy activities but the glossy advertisements showing windmills and solar panels often mask modest investments and even skepticism. The companies say their investments show they are doing their part to help fight climate change. Environmentalists counter that the spending is inadequate and aimed solely at deflecting criticism away from the role that burning oil and gas plays in global warming.

Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs more than doubled its money by selling Horizon Wind Energy, a developer and operator of wind power generation, for at least $2.15 billion to Energias de Portugal. Goldman had bought Horizon in 2005 for less than $1 billion. The deal will help diversify the renewables portfolio of state-controlled EDP, which transmits electricity to around 5.9 million customers in Portugal and 3 million in Brazil, and it will bring the company's wind operations up to 3,800 megawatts of power.