Author: Rod Janssen

The struggles of a resource economy

A recent report commissioned by the Canadian International Council analyses how Canada should start shaping its resource policies for the future.  Fur, fish, wood, and minerals may have shaped this country's early history, but more recently, natural resources were largely regarded as part of the old economy, best left behind as Canada raced toward a glittery … Continue reading The struggles of a resource economy →

New report from Siemens Financial Services

Jonny Williamson from Manufacturing Digital writes about a new report on the potential for energy savings in industry.   Are you squandering money on inefficient energy use? The latest report from Siemens Financial Services demonstrates the enormous potential energy cost savings of implementing variable speed drives on motors in industrial production environments The incorporation of … Continue reading New report from Siemens Financial Services →

Number of the week – 20041

The Brussels-based organisation Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes has a novel approach for promoting industrial energy efficiency in Europe through the use of social media.  It now has 20041 “community members” following it on such as Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media. EEIP also has traditional ways of reaching out to the industrial … Continue reading Number of the week – 20041 →

Health effects from wind farms

Andrew Gilligan of The Telegraph writes about the first peer-reviewed scientific study on the health effects from the noise of wind farms. Wind farm noise does harm sleep and health, say scientists American and British researchers compared two groups of residents in the US state of Maine. One group lived within a mile of a … Continue reading Health effects from wind farms →

Quote of the week

From Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, writing an article entitled The UK must look to Berlin to improve energy efficiency for businessgreen.com: . . .for many years, German governments of all political hues have run long-term, consistent and purposeful energy efficiency programmes, designed to minimise new supply requirements. An … Continue reading Quote of the week →

New report on green procurement

The European Commission’s DG Environment published a new brochure titled “Green Public Procurement: A collection of good practices”, illustrating how European local authorities successfully launched green tenders and providing guidance to those wishing to do the same. Green public procurement is highlighted as an important element in the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) guidebook, which … Continue reading New report on green procurement →

Inside the Brussels beltway

Here are updates on some of the on-going issues in Brussels. Ecodesign For those interested in Ecodesign and products, the 2012-2014 Working Plan, which was to have been published already, is still not available. In May EiD was told that it was still in inter-service consultation and it had been hoped it would have been … Continue reading Inside the Brussels beltway →