This week there are so many more news items of great interest. These include that the German energy giant, RWE, had its first loss since 1949 and many are questioning how much of the loss was due to the German Energiewende (energy transition). This week also saw growing concerns over energy security, given the crisis in Ukraine, and the worries that this could lead to problems with importing gas from Russia.
Yet, there is also some other news that you will be interested in:
• EREC – The European Renewable Energy Council announced that it has been forced into liquidation and decided the “voluntary” dissolution of the non – profit organisation after over a decade of existence. EREC was forced to decide to go into liquidation mainly due to its high liabilities arising from its lease obligations for the three large office buildings that make up the Renewable Energy House in Brussels. With the importance of renewable energy policies and the transition to a low carbon economy, EREC’s press release said it all: The ultimately inevitable dissolution of EREC couldn’t come at a more inappropriate time. This is truly an unfortunate development.
• Nick Robins – After 6 years leading the Climate Change Centre at the multinational bank, HSBC, Nick is moving on to be co-director of the new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Inquiry into the design of a sustainable financial system. We wish him all the best in that new position and no doubt we’ll be hearing more from him.
• Benoit Lebôt – Benoit has left the UN Development Programme to head the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). Benoit is looking forward to this new professional challenge (as he put it) and we have no doubt he will do a great job. It is great to have Benoit back in Paris.
• Sorcha Edwards – Sorcha has replaced Claire Roumet as the Secretary General of the Brussels-based CECODHAS Housing Europe, the federation of public, cooperative & social housing. This is a great opportunity for Sorcha to expand the work she has being doing at CECODHAS for many years.
• World Sustainable Energy Days – held February 26-28th, the conference attracted more than 750 participants from 59 countries. The conference website includes a review of the conference, some pictures of the events and a short conference video. Christiane Egger is already inviting people for next year’s conference!
• eceee industrial Summer Study – please mark it in your calendar to attend the upcoming Summer Study, June 2-5th. The theme is “Retool for a Competitive and Sustainable Industry.” It covers all types of industry, from manufacturing and food processing to heavy process industry, and it covers large companies as well as SMEs. There are six themes for the 2014 Summer Study:
– Programmes to promote industrial energy efficiency
– Sustainable production design and supply chain initiatives
– Matching policies and drivers: Policies and directives to drive industrial efficiency
– Undertaking high impact actions: The role of technology and systems optimisation
– The role of energy management systems, education, outreach and training
– Business models to improve industrial efficiency, global perspective.
You can come and help EiD do some blogging and tweeting since Rod will be one of the panel leaders. Industrial energy efficiency is starting to get the attention from policymakers that it should have had years ago. The new Energy Efficiency Directive is a major step forward. The Summer Study will be an ideal opportunity to come and discuss the topic in a convivial and relaxed atmosphere.
More information on the Summer Study is available on the eceee website.
• EiD’s Closet – You never know what you will find in the dusty closet, but recently the 2007 IEA study on split incentives, Minding the Gap, was added. You can even download it. Because many of you are involved in the implementation of the abovementioned Energy Efficiency Directive, you will know about Article 19 and the issue of split incentives. While much has been written on the topic, this is a good place to start.
• If you have something you would like the EiD community to hear about, please let us know and we will do our best to include it. Many of you have been doing this (we even got a request to add a website link this week) and it was great to hear from some of you about RWE, academic papers, buildings energy efficiency and the German energy transition. It’s great to see that many of you have joined the informal Sunday morning club. It is also great to see so many retweets of our tweets.
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 