New EEA reports on which European cities have the best air quality

The cleanest cities in Europe in terms of air quality during 2020 and 2021 were Umeå in Sweden, and Faro and Funchal in Portugal according to the updated European city air quality data viewer published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) recently. In addition to the viewer, the EEA also published two reports looking at … Continue reading New EEA reports on which European cities have the best air quality →

New JRC report – Empowering vulnerable consumers in the energy transition

A new JRC paper examines ways to empower the energy poor and vulnerable consumers as active informed citizens and actors in the energy system, looking at exemplary practices from around Europe. Promising initiatives include energy advisors, trusted intermediaries, locally embedded innovative business models (like one-stop shops), trainings of energy actors, energy ombudsmen, energy cafés and … Continue reading New JRC report – Empowering vulnerable consumers in the energy transition →

Now, listen here – special big brain series

A podcast on Mrs. Green’s World with John A. “Skip” Laitner, International Resource Economist, Past-President of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) and University of Arizona Instructor. Skip is well known to EiD readers. Impact Earth: Special Big Brain Series, Episode 1 This is the first episode in a three-podcast series that they … Continue reading Now, listen here – special big brain series →

Clean energy funding to surge 12% in 2022, remains insufficient

Global energy investment is set to increase by 8% this year, the energy forum has estimated. Dimitris Mavrokefalidis discusses the IEA report on the Energy Live News website. The report is available here. IEA: “Capital spending is insufficient to tackle the energy and climate crises” The current level of global capital spending is still … Continue reading Clean energy funding to surge 12% in 2022, remains insufficient →

A review of recent studies has ruled out hydrogen playing a major role in the heating of buildings

Investigations repeatedly find that H2 will prove to be too expensive and inefficient compared to other clean alternatives such as heat pumps. In an article on the RECHARGE website, Leigh Collins discusses the findings of a total of 18 independent studies. Revealed | What 18 independent studies all concluded about the use of hydrogen … Continue reading A review of recent studies has ruled out hydrogen playing a major role in the heating of buildings →

The UN sustainable development goals have infiltrated the things people say, think and write about global sustainability challenges but nothing has changed where it matters

Sixty-two academics analysed more than 3,000 academic studies that scrutinised aspects of the SDGs. Unfortunately, their findings were “disheartening”. One of the authors, Frank Biermann, Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University discusses their findings in an article on The Conversation website. UN sustainable development goals failing to have meaningful impact, our research … Continue reading The UN sustainable development goals have infiltrated the things people say, think and write about global sustainability challenges but nothing has changed where it matters →

New DNV report predicts that the amount of hydrogen in the energy mix will be only 0.5 percent in 2030 and 5 percent in 2050

Robin Whitlock discusses the new DNV Hydrogen Forecast to 2050 in an article on the Renewable Energy Magazine website, noting that while it has a crucial role to play in global decarbonisation, update will be too slow without urgent, significant, policy interventions. DNV forecasts hydrogen to meet a third of what is required for Paris … Continue reading New DNV report predicts that the amount of hydrogen in the energy mix will be only 0.5 percent in 2030 and 5 percent in 2050 →

The economic lockdowns imposed across many parts of the world to stop the spread of Covid brought clear skies to some areas only temporarily

Discouragingly, any improvements in air quality during the Covid lockdowns were only temporary according to recent analysis. Rebecca Ratcliffe discusses the developments in an article on The Guardian website. Air pollution got worse during lockdown in many countries, study finds Lockdowns imposed to stop the spread of Covid led to “virtually no change” in … Continue reading The economic lockdowns imposed across many parts of the world to stop the spread of Covid brought clear skies to some areas only temporarily →

Message from recent IEA global energy efficiency conference: with the potential to provide one-third of the emissions reductions needed for net zero, energy efficiency has a key role to play

Jonathan Spencer Jones writes on the Smart Energy International website about the important message that came loud and clear from the recent IEA global energy efficiency conference. Energy efficiency – the dark horse for reaching net zero In the day-to-day businesses of utilities, as reflected in the comments and stories that reach our desk, … Continue reading Message from recent IEA global energy efficiency conference: with the potential to provide one-third of the emissions reductions needed for net zero, energy efficiency has a key role to play →

Read all about it – important new publications

New JRC report – Prosumerism and energy sustainability This report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre develops a sociotechnical understanding of energy prosumerism to investigate how energy prosumerism can lead to actual reductions of energy and resource demand. The report starts out by explaining what a sociotechnical and broad understanding of prosumerism means. Thereafter, … Continue reading Read all about it – important new publications →