European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday called on European Union member states to invest in renewable energy sources to increase the EU bloc’s independence from Russian gas and for households to replace their household appliances with bigger ones. effective, writes EFE and Agerpres.

In two tweets, Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the “investment opportunities” in renewable energy contained in the “Repower EU” plan presented on May 18 to drastically reduce the EU’s gas dependence on Russia, as well as European rules on the matter. eco-design and energy labeling to guide the consumer to more efficient options.

“Renewable energy makes us much more independent of Russian gas. Last year, we added 34 gigawatts of renewable energy to the EU’s energy balance, saving 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. All EU countries should make efforts in this area and take advantage of the investment opportunities of the Repower EU plan,” the head of the European executive emphasized.

These 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas represent Greece’s annual gas consumption in 2021, she said.

Von der Leyen also noted that “saving energy can start at home” because “we all have a role to play” and called for reducing energy consumption by replacing inefficient appliances with their more efficient equivalents, saving 1,037 terawatt hours (TWh ) per year (more than the Netherlands consumes in a year).

Last week, the president of the European Commission welcomed the fact that EU member states such as Spain, Slovenia, Italy or Bulgaria introduced “sensible” measures such as limiting air conditioning or heating agent consumption.

The countries of the European Union have committed to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% compared to the average of the last five years, although with some exceptions that allow some of them to limit this reduction, for example 7% for Spain and Portugal due to the reduction due to connections on the Iberian Peninsula.

The rationalization plan, which could become mandatory in emergency situations, is designed to respond to fears that Russia could cut off gas supplies to the EU, which Moscow accuses of “blackmail” and using energy as a weapon of war in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.