This week’s briefs

There are several good brief news items this week

• American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) celebrates

ACEEE, one of the most influential organisations promoting energy efficiency, celebrates its 35^th anniversary by providing a tribute to Dr. Art Rosenfeld, who was instrumental in the creation of ACEEE and still guides their vision. Art is thier founder and is currently distinguished scientist emeritus at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and professor emeritus of physics, University of California, Berkeley.

ACEEE asked seven leaders in the energy efficiency community to help make a video honouring Art at their recent Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. The stories they told and the history they shared with the sold-out crowd inspired Art to deliver an impromptu remembrance to “1,000 of his closest friends,” as he put it.

Many Europeans continue to look up to the achievements and inspiration of Art. The energy efficiency community in Europe still owes so much to him. Also, ACEEE was the model that helped create the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee) and its regular summer studies.

This is so worth watching, even for those who never came across Art Rosenfeld in person. As Andrew Warren, Honorary President of the UK’s Association for the Conservation of Energy, says: “We all owe him so much.” You can watch the video on the ACEEE website.

• Significant drop in shipping emissions

The British International Freight Association reports that, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the total greenhouse gas emissions from global maritime transport are estimated to have been over 20 percent lower in 2012 than in 2007. 
The global shipping industry, which transports by sea around 90 percent of all world trade, is thought to have produced only about 2.2 percent of the world’s total GHG emissions during 2012, compared with 2.8 percent in 2007. The estimates are contained in a study prepared by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which will be considered by its Marine Environment Protection Committee next month.

• latest update on global Feed-In Tariffs

Paul Gipe has updated his tables on global feed-in tariffs. These tables summarise tariffs for different technologies in different countries, and various states and provinces. The tables may also provide an overview of program details.

These tables are updated as information becomes available or is thought pertinent to the discussion of renewable tariffs. The data in these tables is compiled from multiple sources, not all of which are in English. Magazines that periodically summarize renewable tariffs or changes in renewable tariffs are Photon International (English and German versions), Sonne Wind & Wärme (English & German versions), Neue Energie (German), and New Energy (English).

Tables available in two formats: QuattroPro and Excel. The tables are available on the Wind-world website.

* New report from BPIE on Energy Performance Certificates

The Buildings Performance Institute Europe has recently published a new report on EPCs. This report explores the national approaches to buildings efficiency certification and finds that Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) could be among the most important drivers of energy performance of the European building stock. However, most Member States are struggling with public acceptance and market-uptake.

It provides a comprehensive overview of EPC schemes and databases for residential and non-residential buildings across Europe and identifies good practices to make EPC data reliable and accessible. It builds on the findings to elaborate policy recommendations and concludes that data gaps, low reliability due to a lack of quality control and limited access to data are preventing Member States from exploiting the full potential of the schemes.

EPCs were introduced for the first time in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2002, and in 2010 the EPBD recast added a set of new requirements to improve the quality, usability and public acceptance of EPCs. To date, all 28 MS formally implemented the EPBD requirements in their national legislations.

The report concludes by highlighting the need to strengthen the role of EPCs in national legislations and to increase the monitoring of the EPC scheme compliance both at Member States and European levels. The European Commission should provide guidance for the development of centralised EPC registries, not only to support independent control systems, but most importantly as a tool to map and monitor the national building stock. Finally, the report concludes that comprehensive and independent evaluations of the EPC effectiveness should be undertaken.

The report can be downloaded on the BPIE website.