Investing in renewables and interconnecting Europe through projects such as the Trans-Adriatic pipeline could reduce Europe's vulnerability to a fuel and energy crisis.

How to avert an EU energy crisis when winter hits?

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You’ve got to be joking, they’ve cut the gas?

I know I paid my bills, so maybe  I'll go and check on the gas metre.

Since the 2009 gas crisis  and the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict,

the EU has been looking for other ways  to meet its energy demands.

The Parliament and Europe's capitals  are trying to stop our dependency on Russia

Today, we are still highly dependent  on fossil fuels.

Despite all their efforts, the EU imports  more than 60% of its gas and 80% of its oil.

We are here at the Zeebrugge gas  terminal in Belgium.

Gas comes into the terminal  in two ways:

by boat, just like the one behind me  which is from Qatar,

or by pipeline from countries  like Norway and the UK.

By 2015, a second jetty for loading and  unloading liquefied gas will be completed,

with a capacity to store  up to 50 billion cubic metres of gas

and it's going to pass through this terminal.  The project, is partly funded by the EU.

How can Europe safeguard  future energy supply?

One solution is by ensuring we interconnect  gas supply between Member States.

It's true that we currently  do not receive Russian gas,

but we are certainly open  to receiving it in the future

as it will simply bring in  an additional source into Belgium.

Today our terminal connects us to Qatar  and to all other regions in the world,

we are connected by a direct pipeline  to the Norwegian fields in the North Sea.

We are also connected to the Dutch grid  where we have production.

So basically, we could become the hub  where all producers meet

and it will be good both for competition -  as it will probably reduce prices -

and it will be good for security of supply  because if we have an operational

or political problem  with a particular source,

we'll still have sufficient sources  to compensate for it.

A new pipeline will be built by 2018  to supply gas to Southern Europe.

The trans-Adriatic pipeline system  will be around 800 km long

and will link the Greek-Turkish border  with Italy, crossover into Greece,

From 2018 or 2019, it will then transport  10 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe

coming from the Shah Deniz 2  gas field in Azerbaijan.

This will give much food for thought  for Gazprom, the Russian gas giant.

Another way to boost its energy supply,  the EU is heavily investing in renewables.

The market makes up 14 %  of our energy mix

This will also help us  to reduce our greenhouse gases.

Parliament has an emissions  reduction target of 85-90% by 2050.

However, renewable energy costs more  than traditional based fossil fuels.

But, with gas and oil prices on the increase  could we see a push towards renewables?

Europe could also have a problem  with electricity in the future.

MEPs say we must increase investment  and interconnect electricity grids

between Member States to avoid a shortfall,  worse yet, a blackout

like the one from 2006 which affected  many countries across Europe.

One way is to reduce import costs.  If the States were to club together

to negotiate with foreign suppliers,  they could bring prices down.

With Europe now awake  to its looming fuel and energy crisis,

its next steps are crucial: improving  our energy efficiency by 40% by 2030

could save each household  almost 300 euros a year.

My friend here is helping me  renovate my apartment,

to make it a little bit more energy efficient.

There are many ways we can all do our bit  to save energy and reduce our bills.

To start off with, these windows  are double-glazed.

They prevent thermal bridging,  basically they keep the heat in.

And the outside walls of my house  are fitted with wall insulation panels.

Under this floorboard, there is  over 30 centimetres of cellulose insulation.

Not only does this help reduce  the city’s overall gas consumption,

it also makes life a lot more comfortable.

Finally, let’s take a look at the boiler.  This is the latest condensing boiler,

a high-efficiency system saving 30%  in energy compared to older models.

One small hint: fitting an outdoor sensor  can maximize the boiler’s efficiency.

So finally back at home  with all my creature comforts,