Energy in Demand News, December 21-22, 2025

EiD wishes you a very festive season and we look forward to seeing you in 2026

Let’s all do our best to get our zero-carbon energy transition on track

The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration is planning to close its key climate research centre. The National Center for Atmospheric Research laboratory in Boulder was founded in 1960 at the base of the Rocky Mountains to conduct research and educate future scientists. Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget wrote on X: “This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” Really? Do we all agree on who are the climate alarmists?

There is so much discussion this year about refugees and the efforts undertaken to slow down migration. The Economist reports that Australia will receive the world’s first officially recognised climate refugees in 2026. “The arrivals, from Tuvalu, are the product of a bilateral treaty that could redefine sovereignty, as climate change causes deadly levels of warming that threaten island nations.”  Well, climate change is having an impact on migration that will certainly increase over upcoming years.

The Building Decarbonization Coalition in the US has produced the blog 2025 Wrapped: Building Decarb Edition, which highlights several building decarb trends in 2025, including the impact rising natural gas prices have on affordability, how electrification can lower energy bills, the passage of 41 state building decarb bills, & new “plug & play” window heat pumps & induction stoves.

Euronews has a good video with the IEA’s Lucas Boehlé warning that global energy efficiency progress remains off track.

Mark your calendar. The eceee bi-annual summer study will be held next June 1-6, in Center Parcs Lac d’Ailette, in Haute-de-France, about an hour north-east of Paris. The abstract submission deadline has been extended until December 31. eceee will accept both peer-reviewed papers and extended abstracts. Details are available here.

There are two upcoming industrial energy efficiency events not to miss:

• The next eceee Zero Carbon Industry 3–5 February 2026 in Rome offers three days of discussions on industrial decarbonisation, competitiveness and industrial renewal. Information is available here.
• World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) will be held in Wels, Austria on February 25-27, 2026,  with dedicated conferences on pellets, energy efficiency, energy communities, industrial energy transition, young energy researchers and smart e-mobility. You can register here.

In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:

• The Man in Seat Sixty-One explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey.
• Travel off Path describes a brand new train route launching next spring that looks set to connect 3 of Europe’s most incredible capital cities –  Prague via Berlin to Copenhagen.
• Check out the Good Night Train website for the unique way to travel through Europe while you sleep.
• World Walks provides us with walking holidays in Europe.
• For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.  Watch their slide presentation for available tours in 2026.
• Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 best cycling holidays in Europe in 2026.

Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (1868-1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky, was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism who was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, gives us an uplifting message as we come to the final days of 2025: “Everybody, my friend, everybody lives for something better to come. That’s why we want to be considerate of every man – Who knows what’s in him, why he was born and what he can do?”

EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:

• EU walks back 2035 all-electric target, permitting some new combustion engine cars
• New IEA report on employment in the global energy sector
• The European Energy Network has published “Supporting SMEs in the Energy Transition: Insights from European Business Associations”
• Blog by Rose Morrison – Excavating for energy resilience: how salt cavern construction is addressing renewable energy’s intermittency challenge
• How Europe’s carbon border tax will show up in your shopping basket
• Brownfield redevelopment isn’t just about land use, it is also about energy justice
• Clean heat at city scale: the case for giant heat pumps
• About two-thirds of American voters think global warming is affecting the cost of living
• After Paris: Canada’s climate commitments meet political reality
• “Most plug-in solar devices are still sold in Germany, far ahead of the rest of the world”

Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.

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