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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…
Helsinki continues to invest in energy efficiency of municipal buildings as part of efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.
Under Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen, city authorities noted that the move will help to reduce energy consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
While the UK government on Friday announced an additional £1bn for energy efficiency obligations under new legislation, to begin from April 2023, undoubtedly the main focus of the new government is to increase energy supplies (yes, with a cap on consumer prices), largely of fossil fuels including fracking. The energy crisis is currently with us…
Devolution has freed the Scottish government to come up with innovative publicly funded energy-saving schemes. Whitehall should take note of their success according to Andrew Warren, chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation, writing in the July/August issue of Energy in Buildings & Industry.
The energy transition is about more than switching power carriers. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy generation is perhaps the most significant change the world will make in its attempts to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. Still, it is not as simple as a straight swap. It requires a complete overhaul of how we live and interact with our world. This is where energy efficiency and the efficient use of energy comes in
The Swedish city is a pioneer of its own in the field of sustainability. One of its praiseworthy initiatives was the creation of the LFM30 roadmap to climate-neutral construction. In essence, this is a large-scale collaborative platform among all the main local stakeholders involved in the construction industry, working in accord with the public administration to achieve a climate-neutral status for their city.
The European Commission is revising the economic assumptions behind its energy and climate laws package presented last year, saying sky-high gas prices fuelled by the war in Ukraine have strengthened the case for more ambitious energy efficiency goals.
The findings contained in this report suggest that decarbonisation in new buildings in the EU is happening too slowly and inconsistently. A reasonable conclusion to draw from this is that Europe’s 2050 decarbonisation objectives will be at high risk unless MS building policies can be made to provide stronger support. Government policies differ in several important ways when it comes to “moving the needle” on new building standards, both in terms of being consistent with the NZEB definition as laid out in the EPBD, and in terms of ambition levels on building-sector decarbonisation.
We need to work out new ways of living—on individual, local, regional, national, and international scales—to prosper without economic growth and to develop our human potential without robbing the opportunities of future generations.
Buildings contribute nearly 40% of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, so the push is on to “get to zero” on many fronts. What happens when ambitious goals like zero energy meet a conventional building industry that’s structured on repetition and cost, in a market that struggles to keep up with massive demand? This is often—too often—our challenge.
Poland has one of the largest housing stocks in Europe (almost 13.9 million residential units) but around 72% of the total was built using pre-1989 technologies. Around 70% of single-family houses in the country use coal for heating. Coal powers the bulk of electricity (90%) generated in Poland. The country also has one of the highest per capita rates of coal consumption in the world.
Thousands of buildings across Europe will need to be renovated on an unprecedented scale if climate and greenhouse gas reduction targets are to be met. Lawmakers’ minds are turning to how best to undertake the Herculean task
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric makes a strong case for improving energy efficiency in our drive to address climate change in an article for the World Economic Forum on the European Sting website. Do you agree? Why energy efficiency is the unsung hero of the fight against climate change…
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Excess heat produced across Europe could almost power the entire region but preventing this waste is largely being ignored as a solution to the energy crisis, say environmental experts.
Energy communities can make an enormous contribution to climate goals but their efficiency and effectiveness can be boosted, smartEn advises.
Soaring energy prices and gas supply disruptions are mounting pressure on Europe to renovate its ageing, inefficient buildings as governments scramble to protect citizens from big bills.
Buildings are in the spotlight as the EU contemplates a long, hard winter on the back of an energy price crisis intensified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Already the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ climate package aimed to double renovation rates by 2030 and pioneer minimum energy performance standards for buildings. The REPowerEU proposals – issued in response to the Russian invasion – complement this with a solar rooftop plan and raise the EU’s overall energy efficiency goal for 2030 from 9% to 13%.
This “Cost Study of the Building Decarbonization Code” analyzes the incremental first cost and life cycle cost of two common building types that follow the code language in NBI’s Building Decarbonization Code. The study, which was supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), analyzes first costs for both all-electric and mixed-fuel paths for single-family and medium office prototypes. It also includes life cycle cost analysis for the single-family scenario. Ultimately, the cost study found that all-electric homes achieve construction savings and mixed-fuel buildings households are only nominally more expensive. It also found marginal additional first costs for property owners of the all-electric medium office building prototype, with most of those attributed to electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Additionally, researchers determined that life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for the single-family prototypes produced both economic and societal benefits. Researchers used cost data from New York State, a relatively expensive market, in colder Climate Zone 5A.
Europe faces a major challenge to renovate its building stock and achieve its carbon emission targets. Doing so will not be achieved through public funds alone, but also requires investment from private funds. Public authorities can help to leverage private investment through financial instruments, which can incentivise investments by overcoming market failures and distortions.
A number of financial instruments have been tested and used and are ready to be replicated throughout Europe, and the Member States will need to be ready to implement financial instruments in their operational programmes for the next financial period of 2021-2027.
This policy roadmap sets out the necessary steps to introduce whole-life carbon considerations and align the provisions of the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) with climate-neutrality goals. It argues that the 2022 EPBD recast should ensure a comprehensive vision of a carbon neutral building and construction sector, and set the requirements and clear triggers to reduce whole-life carbon emissions of the building stock.
The UK government must expand support for most vulnerable households and ramp up retrofitting programme to prevent fuel poverty emergency, businesses and charities warn. Harry Cockburn explains in an article on The Independent website. Insulation is ‘no regrets’ solution to the energy and climate crises, Boris Johnson told Improving insulation on the UK’s least…
It is about time the UK government got to grips with retrofitting existing housing to scale up home energy efficiency across the country. One way to do this would be to establish a one-stop shop on every high street; offering trusted advice, recommendations for trained suppliers, and help with grants and other incentives. Our struggling town centres could do with the community buzz of a genuinely useful venue and there are plenty of empty commercial properties to choose from. It could provide employment, generate training locally, encourage re-skilling of workforces, and help us reach our climate goals. Plus our houses might actually get warmer.
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.
Global progress on energy efficiency has recovered this year to its pre-pandemic pace, but that was already well short of what would be needed to help put the world on track to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, according to the IEA’s annual market report on the topic. Total annual investment in efficient energy worldwide needs to triple by 2030 to be consistent with a path towards reaching net zero emissions by 2050, as set out in the IEA’s Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050.
The year 2020 saw remarkable progress towards meeting the EU's climate and energy targets. Rarely in the publication of the annual Trends and projections in Europe report has this executive summary presented such substantial progress as this edition does. Preliminary estimates indicate that, in 2020, we witnessed the full achievement — and even overachievement — of Europe's 20-20-20 goals for climate change mitigation, renewable energy deployment and energy efficiency gains. This keeps Europe well on track in its journey towards climate neutrality by mid-century.
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