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

Before imposing measures on individuals to increase the housing supply, like forcing them to rent out their vacant properties, the government should look inwards and set the example, Lisbon’s Mayor, Carlos Moedas (PSD), said at a conference about housing on Tuesday.

Speaking at the closing of the conference “More Housing – Protection, regulation or brake”, Lisbon’s mayor talked about the government’s plans to increase the supply of housing across the country.

Marine Cornelis examines rising energy poverty in Europe – and what consumers can do about it.

How can households be sustainably protected against rising energy prices and lifted out of energy poverty? Energy poverty already has dramatic social and health consequences for 50 to 125 million Europeans.

Due to the gas and electricity price crisis and soaring inflation, many more people might feel the cold and must make terrible trade-offs, such as having to choose between buying schoolbooks and clothes or feeding their kids.

Citizen-led retrofitting, long the poor relation of climate policy, could now be its secret weapon in accelerating rapid transition. Home renovation through the citizen-led model is making breakthroughs from Tipperary in Ireland to Texas in the United States, and with the European Union carving out space for it in their continent wide-approach to improving energy efficiency.

The City Council of Sevilla has come to an agreement with company Emvisesa for the new affordable homes and they announced that 720 new rental homes have been signed off for the northern part of the city. New homes will be offered at below market rates and will also offer sports facilities on more than …

The theme for 2021's UN-Habitat World Habitat Day recognizes that "cities are responsible for some 70 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions with transport, buildings, energy, and waste management accounting for the bulk of urban greenhouse gas emissions." Even though most governments, organizations, and communities agree on ambitious, global, collaborative actions must be unfolded in order to lessen the climate crisis, the content of those actions —and who should take action— isn't that clear. Architects and designers have embraced this challenge by pondering their roles and exploring their own practical approaches.

With significant buying power, corporations and businesses can support the development of energy efficiency measures faster than households

Want to solve homelessness and make it so people aren’t paying nearly all their income on housing? Look to Vienna

Energy consumed in the residential sector accounts for up to 30 per cent of Latvia’s energy usage. Approximately 23,000 multi-apartment buildings need to be renovated, but only 1,600 buildings have been insulated since 2009, a renovation rate of 0.5 per year. Will Latvia seize the chance and use REPowerEU chapters for renovation?

Across Europe, rising temperatures, combined with an ageing population and urbanisation, mean that the population is becoming more vulnerable to heat and that demand for cooling in buildings is rising rapidly. Buildings, as long-lasting structures, can offer protection from heatwaves and high temperatures if appropriately designed, constructed, renovated and maintained. The summer of 2022, with its successive long heatwaves and high energy prices, may have raised the sense of urgency given to the alleviation of heat stress. But there is a gap in knowledge on the extent of overheating in buildings and data and information is scarce regarding the share of EU citizens unable to keep their homes comfortably cool during the summer. This briefing examines key elements of sustainable cooling policy, and its potential impacts on vulnerable groups, by reducing health risks, inequalities and summer energy poverty.

Rising temperatures are leading to a surge in demand for cooling. But, ironically, the more we rely on energy-intensive air conditioners, the more the planet warms. Natalie Muller and Neil King discuss the options in an article on the Deutsche Welle website.   Climate emergency: Keeping homes cool on a warming planet In many places,…

In October, the UK government released two different strategies on how to achieve its net zero emissions target by 2050 – the net zero strategy and the heat and buildings strategy. Although both look at how to decarbonise the UK’s economy, they also both overlook an important feature of the future of energy consumption – the demand for cooling.

The only way to fix our problems is to change our lifestyle. We need to buy less stuff, travel fewer miles, consume less resources, live in smaller homes (or share your larger home with more people). We need to live less complicated lifestyles including little or no social media. We can plant a garden, eat more plant based, locally produced food. We can slow cook more meals (including vegetarian and vegan options). We can recycle our clothes and household goods by giving them to stores such as Goodwill. We can enjoy the simple but rewarding experience of sharing a meal with friends and family.

Our recent study, which examined whether building denser and taller is the right path to sustainability, busts this myth: we found that densely built, low-rise environments are more space and carbon efficient, while high-rise buildings have a drastically higher carbon impact.

Retrofitting Britain’s homes so that they stay warmer and don’t rely on fossil fuels could be our first significant step to tackling the climate crisis, as well as creating a million good green jobs. But how do we do it?