How far away it seems, the time when the whole of Europe, Luxembourg included, held its breath in the face of the possibility of an energy blackout, resulting from a reduction in Russian gas deliveries and tensions on the energy markets. It was more than two years ago, during the winter of 2022-2023. Today, despite a dizzying rise in prices and the end of aid measures, the fear of a shortage of natural gas seems to be part of ancient history. However, in fact, EU countries still continue to make efforts to reduce their consumption of natural gas, in order to reduce this energy dependence on Russia.
Indeed, in July 2022, EU countries adopted a recommendation to continue reducing natural gas consumption by at least 15% compared to their average gas consumption in the period from April 1, 2017 on March 31, 2022, and until March 31, 2025. Luxembourg has, from the start, actively participated in European efforts, regularly exceeding the set objective of 15%.
Efforts that continue today
Efforts which, as indicated, continue today. The government announced this Tuesday, January 7 that for the month of December 2024, the reduction in natural gas consumption corresponded to approximately 15% compared to the reference period of the years 2017 to 2022, exactly at the level of the objective therefore.
In detail, natural gas consumption for the month of last December was 834 gigawatt hours (GWh) compared to 982 for the 2017-2022 average. In previous months, the drops in consumption were more marked (-21% in November or -27.2% in October). Note that the month of December was colder than previous months. But the fact remains that it remains to be seen whether, given the falling temperatures, Luxembourg will manage to maintain its efforts during the winter. Freezing temperatures are expected for the second weekend in January.
If the objective is still respected in December, we note that the efforts were much more marked in the previous months. © PHOTO: Luxembourg Government
At the time, the government had increased prevention campaigns aimed at the population so that they adopt more economical behaviors, such as turning down the heating or using less energy-consuming appliances. Likewise, the temperature in public buildings had been lowered and the initiative had been followed by a large part of the private sector. Also, Luxembourg had promoted heat pumps through several subsidies or even accentuated the energy renovation of older buildings, real energy sieves. Particular attention was also paid to the industrial sector, in order to implement less energy-intensive processes.
The government recalls in any case that additional information on energy trends in Luxembourg is available on the platform www.energieauer.lu, launched by the Ministry of the Economy in collaboration with Klima-Agence.
Note also that this initiative to reduce natural gas consumption also targets the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Limit the consumption of natural gas, which is an energy fossil fuel, contributes to this transition by accelerating the adoption of renewable energies.
