Innovation has many faces

Kara Gray of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, and Cheryl Harrington of NSTAR Electric & Gas write about an innovative approach to target low-income multifamily housing on the Electric Light & Power website. Using Vision and Data to Unlock Energy Efficiency Innovation has many faces. Depending on where you stand, it can look very different. Designing … Continue reading Innovation has many faces →

Take note . . .

There are many interesting brief new reports or news items that should interest EiD readers. • New Germanwatch report: The End of EU Climate Leadership The EU is no longer the world leader on climate policies. Other major countries have caught up or even outpaced the EU, a new study conducted by Germanwatch says. Even … Continue reading Take note . . . →

Promoting smart buildings in New Zealand

Mike Underhill writes in The New Zealand Herald about promoting super-efficient, smart buildings in New Zealand using technology developed by Microsoft. Ratings for buildings that get smart with energy saving In the city of the future, super-efficient, smart buildings will communicate, sharing data to optimise energy performance and dramatically reduce operating costs. This is … Continue reading Promoting smart buildings in New Zealand →

Schneider Electric busy in India and Singapore

There are two posts on the efforts of Schneider Electric to promote energy. First, India’s Economic Times reports on the efforts of Schneider Electric to work with India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency to promote energy efficiency. The company plans to help in technology development, innovation and deployment. Second, Eco-Business.com reports on the efforts to promote … Continue reading Schneider Electric busy in India and Singapore →

Measuring up residential buildings in New York

New York City has been a leader in improving the energy performance of its buildings and now it is publishing data to compare residential buildings. This article by Mireya Navarro in the New York Times explains what appears to be one of the important legacies of Mayor Bloomberg’s time in office. A Fresh Set of … Continue reading Measuring up residential buildings in New York →

New homes in England not showing energy performance improvements

The Green Building Press provides some disturbing news about the average efficiency of new homes in England. Energy efficiency of new homes goes down not up The average energy efficiency of new homes in England has dropped from last year, official figures reveal. Figures released by the Communities and Local Government department on Friday … Continue reading New homes in England not showing energy performance improvements →

New academic paper – “The Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation”

Jan Rosenow, Senior Consultant at Ricardo-AEA, and Nick Eyre, Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, put together the first comprehensive academic peer-reviewed paper on the British Green Deal published in the journal ‘Energy’ of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The Green Deal, introduced alongside the Energy Company Obligation, marks a substantial change … Continue reading New academic paper – “The Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation” →

New publication on modernising building codes

At her last working day at the IEA, Yamina SAHEB launched the joint IEA-UNDP report on how building energy codes can be modernised with the aim of limiting pressure on global energy supply, improving energy security, and contributing to environmental sustainability. The IEA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) partnered to analyse current practices … Continue reading New publication on modernising building codes →

Energy use drops in Irish homes

Build.ie, Ireland’s Construction Directory, recently published the results of new data from the national energy agency on residential energy consumption. The report states that the new building regulations were an important factor. Energy Efficiency Improves In Irish Homes Energy use per household fell by 18% between 2006 and 2011 according to a new report Residential … Continue reading Energy use drops in Irish homes →

Britain’s homes under the microscope

John Kemp, a market analyst for the Reuters news service, provides an excellent article on the dynamics of energy consumption in the housing sector in Britain. It would be good to know how this compares with other European countries. Britain's quiet home energy revolution Britain's homes are in the midst of an energy-efficiency revolution, though … Continue reading Britain’s homes under the microscope →