Category: buildings

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 →

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 →

The on-going controversy over lower VAT rates in the UK to promote energy efficiency

Will Nichols of BusinessGreen writes about the problems the UK has been having to convince the European Commission of the importance of a lower VAT rate to improve energy efficiency in buildings.  It becomes all the more important as the UK rolls out the Green Deal.  One would think the Commission would be encouraging this … Continue reading The on-going controversy over lower VAT rates in the UK to promote energy efficiency →

New blogs to watch out for

The IEA’s Sustainable Building Centre (SBC):  First the SBC wins a major global award following the creation of its on-line database, and then it starts its own blog.  Readers are encouraged to follow the SBC here.  Congratulations to Yamina Saheb and her team. Safe and Sustainable Buildings:  Three colleagues from Rockwool International recently started a … Continue reading New blogs to watch out for →

A very targeted financial instrument – for one weekend a year

The fayobserver.com in Fayetteville, North Carolina in the United States reports that North Carolina holds a sales tax holiday on the purchases of certain energy-efficient appliances on the first full weekend of November every year. If the appliances were Energy Star-qualified, met energy-efficiency guidelines established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and were purchased during … Continue reading A very targeted financial instrument – for one weekend a year →

Creating jobs and boosting the economy

Energy efficiency investment is one of the best ways to boost the economy, new research reveals.  GreenWise provides a good review of a new study from Consumer Focus in the UK.  The lessons from this, however, go well beyond the UK.   Carbon taxes could boost economy and lower energy bills Investing money raised through … Continue reading Creating jobs and boosting the economy →

Comments by experts on the energy performance of Russian buildings

The Moscow News recently asked two experts, Sergei Choban and Konstantin Kovalyovabout their views of the state of Russian buildings.  Sergei Choban ismanaging partner of the architecture studio SPEECH Choban and Kuznetsov and Konstantin Kovalyov ismanaging partner of the real estate firm Blackwood and vice president of the Russian Union of Engineers.  The Moscow News … Continue reading Comments by experts on the energy performance of Russian buildings →

Did you know?

There is some good news announced in the past few days: Congratulations to the IEA’s Sustainable Building Centre (SBC).  The jury for the 2012 Energy Efficiency Innovator Awards has selected the International Energy Agency’s BEEP (Building Energy Efficiency Policies) database as the winner in its “Projects” category. Dr. Yamina Saheb received the award at a … Continue reading Did you know? →

Two excellent energy efficiency papers

The journal Energy Policy provides two excellent energy efficiency papers on the impact of energy labels and the possible role of how feed-in tariffs can be an option to promote energy saving. The first paper, entitled The impact of energy labels and accessibility on office rents is by Nils Kok from Maastricht University and Maarten … Continue reading Two excellent energy efficiency papers →