Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

In a recent newsletter by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, its Chairman and CEO, Mr. Tatsuya Terazawa, provides an important argument on the importance of energy efficiency in addressing our long-term climate and energy objectives.   “Why Energy Efficiency?” For many, pursuing energy efficiency is not as attractive as developing renewable energies. While you…

As the effects of climate change become more apparent, the importance of action at the local level has never been clearer. So how can mayors who want to make their cities healthier, cleaner places overcome barriers to change? At a meeting of 16 global mayors convened in London by the climate-focused leadership group C40 Cities this week, Dr. Maria Neira, the World Health Organization’s director for public and environmental health, outlined six “prescriptions” for mayors aiming to deliver meaningful climate action to their citizens.

Authorities in Dortmund have launched a ‘play street’ initiative, offering streets as public spaces for recreation for the locals. This would allow people to play football, party and form communities ..

A new JRC study – EU challenges of reducing fossil fuels in buildings – concludes that to meet EU decarbonisation goals, building renovations must not just be about energy efficiency – they must also take into account the urgent need to switch fossil fuel-based heating systems, like gas, coal and oil, to low-carbon alternatives.

Authors of science fiction are consulted by organisations and governments to help us think about the risks and challenges of the future in ways inaccessible to other discipline. Chris Pak, Lecturer in English Literature at Swansea University in an article on The Conversation website, discusses the role of science fiction as we try to address climate change. It will be good to get your views.

The University of Utah provided details of a new study on the Science Daily website that examined the comparative effectiveness of energy efficiency improvement and renewable energy production in the United States. For the past 150 years, humans have pumped extraordinary amounts of greenhouse gasses, such as CO2, into the atmosphere and warmed the planet…

Whether we are boiling water to make tea, activating a home appliance or relaxing under a hot shower, our daily behaviours and choices at home are important drivers of energy consumption.

IEA energy analyst Elisabetta Cornago looks at the potential for enhancing energy efficiency with policies and programmes designed to educate consumers and encourage them to alter their daily habits – without resorting to large-scale structural improvements. This focus is motivated by the observation that interventions aimed at promoting behavioural change are often cheaper to implement relative to policies that seek to encourage investment. Such measures also tend to be relatively quick to design and implement.

That question animates Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime’s new book, “Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis,” published by Harvard University Press.

A neurosurgeon explores how our tendency to prioritise short-term consumer pleasures spurs climate change, but also how the brain’s amazing capacity for flexibility can—and likely will—enable us to prioritise the long-term survival of humanity.

FULFILL – Fundamental Decarbonisation through Sufficiency by Lifestyle Changes - Fulfill Sufficiency

Researchers analysed 18 carbon-cutting measures at home and at work in areas such as food, transport and energy and assessed the impact of each on issues such as health, clean air and water quality. Of the 306 categories they looked at, 79 % were positive for wellbeing. Tom Bawden discusses the study in an article…

Julie’s Bicycle, a leading international NGO that mobilises the arts and culture to act on the climate crisis, has found that governments around the world have failed to adapt their culture policies to reflect the environmental emergency and commitments to the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In recent research, Julie’s Bicycle set out to understand the contribution that arts and culture makes – and could make — to environmental progress. The research, funded by the British Council, analyses questionnaires and feedback from more than 50 countries as well as interviews with arts leaders

The climate crisis requires a new culture and politics, not just new tech

We are living through what scientists call the Anthropocene, a new geological age during which humans have become the dominant force shaping the natural environment. Many scientists date this new period to the post-second world war economic boom, the “great acceleration”. This rapid increase in our control over the Earth has brought us to the precipice of catastrophic climate change, triggered a mass extinction, disrupted our planet’s nitrogen cycles and acidified its oceans, among other things.