This week’s briefs

There are several good briefs this week.

• Energy Renovation: The Trump Card for the New Start for Europe – Webinar by the Joint Research Centre on May 20^th

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) is hosting a webinar to disseminate the learnings and main conclusions of its latest report on energy renovation.

The JRC report highlights that energy renovation could be the driver for growth and jobs in Europe if an EU renovation plan is considered. To be successful, this plan should incorporate the existing EU policy frameworks for growth and jobs, energy and climate and those related to cohesion policies into one single framework targeting the modernisation of the overall value chain of the building sector. The report demonstrates that a concerted effort is needed to phase out inefficient buildings from the European building stock. It proposes a clear, coherent and decentralised governance structure including an energy renovation facilitator and a risk sharing pool cascaded at different levels of governance to ensure the transformation of the EU building stock from being an energy waster to being an energy producer.

Mechanisms allowing for bundling of smaller projects into larger ones to make them bankable, creating clusters of accredited companies specialised in energy renovation to improve the quality of energy retrofits work and increasing the transparency of utility data (energy consumption) as well as data on energy renovation costs would also be required to make energy renovation one of the success stories of the New Start for Europe.

You can reserve your place here.

• eceee summer study

In 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) dubbed energy efficiency the world’s First Fuel. Global energy saving investments – and their effects on energy demand – are now equal to the net contribution of other fuel sources, the IEA said, and valued worldwide energy efficiency investments in 2011 at $300 billion (€221bn), a level on a par with global funding of renewable energy and fossil fuel power sources.

Energy efficiency is thus already a fundamental component of our energy and environment policies. Cutting energy demand reduces greenhouse gas emissions in a more cost-effective way than any other energy policy. Massive investments in energy efficiency will create jobs, make Europe more resilient and productive and improve our energy security. But energy efficiency still does not get the recognition from policy makers that it deserves.

The European Energy Efficiency Directive is an important step forward for Europe. The current 2030 policy framework discussions will shape our energy future for years to come. COP 21 in Paris 2015 is another key event that will shape our future.

This is exciting times and the papers presented at the Summer Study will help define how we can make energy efficiency truly recognised as the first fuel.

The Summer Study is only days away. For those still interested in attending, information is available on the eceee website.

• Hungarian Parliament passes energy efficiency law

Parliament recently passed a law on energy savings with a view to meeting the European Union’s targets for energy efficiency. Under the law Hungary’s energy consumption is targeted to decrease by 18% by 2020, in line with the related EU directive approved in 2012. Lawmakers passed the bill with 116 in favour, 31 against and 20 abstentions. The law mandates that large companies should conduct energy audits every four years with the first audit to be completed by December 5 this year.

Consumers will have access to a website providing information on energy conservation techniques as well as the financial and legal aspects of energy reduction. Utility companies will be obliged to provide information on energy efficiency both on their websites and at their offices starting next year. Under the law the government must also make energy efficient renovations to 3% of state-owned buildings. The law further obliges the government to draw up long-term building renovation strategies to be applied to both publicly and privately owned residential and commercial buildings.

• New vans sold in Europe are increasingly more fuel-efficient

The European Environment Agency reports that the average van sold in the European Union in 2014 was around 2.4% more fuel-efficient than those sold in 2013, according to preliminary data from the European Environment Agency (EEA). Fuel efficiency has continued to improve and new vans now emit almost 6 grams of CO2/km below the 2017 target.

Around 1.4 million new vans were registered in the European Union in 2014, with average emissions of 169.2 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre, 4 g CO2/km less than those sold in 2013. This is significantly below the 2017 target of 175 g CO2/km, which was already reached in 2013, four years ahead of schedule.

The data is published by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which started monitoring the emissions of light commercial vehicles in 2012. Final data will be published in the autumn after van manufacturers verify this preliminary data.

Key findings:

• The EU market for vans grew by 18% in 2014. Registrations increased in all EU Member States compared to 2013, except for Malta and the Netherlands. More than 60% of the vehicles were registered in three countries: France (24%), United Kingdom (21%) and Germany (15%).
• Diesel vehicles make up the vast majority of van sales (97%). Alternative fuel vehicles using, for example, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or natural gas (NG), represent less than 2% of the fleet, with electric vehicle sales comprising less than 0.5%.
• The average emission levels vary across Europe. Slightly more efficient models were bought in the pre-2004 EU Member States (169.0 g CO2/km) compared to the EU Member States that joined after 2004 (171.6 g CO2/km).
• Emissions levels were lowest among new vans sold in Portugal (145.1 g CO2/km), Malta (145.7 g CO2/km) and Bulgaria (148.6 g CO2/km). At the other end of the scale, emissions were approximately 30% higher for the average vans sold in Slovakia (193.3 gCO2/km), the Czech Republic (191.1 g CO2/km) and Germany (190.4 g CO2/km).

The increasing fuel efficiency of vans observed in 2014 is similar to that recently reported by the EEA for new passenger cars sold, which improved by 2.6% between 2013 and 2014.