Professor Elena Gaura of the Low Impact Buildings Grand Challenge Initiative at Coventry University in the UK writes about a new experiment to have a better understanding of tenant data in order to help develop a more sustainable approach to sustainable housing Sustainable housing movement held back by lack of tenant data The Naked House … Continue reading Data needed on tenant behaviour
Category: Analysis
No time to delay
Richard Chirgwin writes in The Register about a new study by IIASA in Austria about the significant cost increase if there are delays in mitigating GHG emissions. Delay climate mitigation, escalate the costs: study Costs would escalate five-fold in next seven years Which would hurt less: a global carbon price of $US20 now, or … Continue reading No time to delay
2012 – the year in graphs
The Washington Post asked many experts for the graph that they felt best explained 2012. Two of the graphs relate to sustainable energy. First, the nominee related to climate change was Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. The second graph is by Michael Greenstone, professor of economics at MIT and Director of the Hamilton Project. It … Continue reading 2012 – the year in graphs
Cars in Europe cause serious negative impact on environment
Peter Walker writes in the Guardian of recent research that shows the cost of cars to our environment. Car pollution, noise and accidents 'cost every EU citizen £600 (€750) a year' Researchers challenge view that drivers are overtaxed, saying they are subsidised by other taxpayers The perennial complaint from drivers that they are excessively taxed … Continue reading Cars in Europe cause serious negative impact on environment
Positive impact from home air conditioning
Juliet Eilperin recently wrote in the Washington Post about a new study that has analysed the impact of deploying air conditioning on a wide scale to reduce deaths from excessive heat. While this is interesting indeed, it does not mention that maybe houses should be better built to integrate passive heating and cooling in order … Continue reading Positive impact from home air conditioning
New survey on the state of implementation of energy efficiency policies in the EU
Energy Efficiency Watch 2 has recently published an extensive survey on the progress of energy efficiency policies and their implementation of national energy efficiency policies. More than 700 experts from all 27 Member States contributed to the survey between April 2011 and September 2012. More information on the survey is available here. You can download … Continue reading New survey on the state of implementation of energy efficiency policies in the EU
Pollution from cars is devastating
John Vidal of the Guardian describes a study that was published by the medical journal, the Lancet, on the deadly effects of pollution from vehicles in China and India. The study says surge in car use in south and east Asia killed 2.1m people prematurely in 2010. Pollution from car emissions killing millions in China … Continue reading Pollution from cars is devastating
Now the insurance industry is starting to take climate change seriously
Kenneth Weiss of the Los Angeles Times writes about a new study undertaken by Evan Mills of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Evan has just written a column on the subject for eceee and this article complements that column well. Climate change taken seriously by insurance industry, study says Paying out billions of dollars here and … Continue reading Now the insurance industry is starting to take climate change seriously
bigEE launched
bigEE has now been launched. bigEE is an international initiative of research institutes for technical and policy advice and public agencies in the field of energy and climate, co-ordinated by the Wuppertal Institute (Germany). Its aim is to develop the international web-based knowledge platform bigee.net for energy efficiency in buildings, building-related technologies, and appliances in … Continue reading bigEE launched
2012 Sustainability Society Index now available
The report of the newest update of the Sustainable Society Index, SSI-2012, is available on-line, showing at a glance the level of wellbeing and sustainability for 151 countries. The index is prepared by the Sustainable Society Foundation, SSF, a non-profit organisation, established in 2006 with the objective of stimulating and assisting societies in their development … Continue reading 2012 Sustainability Society Index now available
