No “E” for effort

The UK magazine, Energy in Buildings & Industry, in its January 2013 issue provides the following report on how landlords are prepared for the upcoming changes to require landlords from 2018 to have their properties reach a certain standard before renting. What is also worrying in this article, is the general attitude towards sustainability. … Continue reading No “E” for effort →

New EBRD financing to help Turkey establish a low carbon market economy

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is taking an active role in Turkey. The EBRD is continuing to help Turkey become an energy-efficient and low carbon market economy with a new financing package of €50 million provided to Finansbank for on-lending to private companies investing in renewable energy, industrial energy efficiency and waste-to-energy projects. … Continue reading New EBRD financing to help Turkey establish a low carbon market economy →

New York gives new push to improve energy performance of its public buildings

Greenbiz.com provides us with an important new executive order by outgoing Governor of the state of New York to improve the energy efficiency of it’s state buildings. It ranks amongst the most ambitious in the USA. There is a very interesting comment below on comparing some of its older buildings to LEED-certified ones. How … Continue reading New York gives new push to improve energy performance of its public buildings →

News from the IEA – Powering down to save energy need not be a turn-off

After success of its 1-watt initiative, IEA turns to “smart” appliances’ power consumption in network standby Less than a decade ago, televisions in homes around the world consumed significant electricity whether they were turned on or off. But in 1999 the IEA spearheaded the “1-watt” initiative that led to the average new television’s standby consumption … Continue reading News from the IEA – Powering down to save energy need not be a turn-off →

Ontario shows the way forward in decreasing electricity demand

Ian MacLeod of the Ottawa Citizen writes about Ontario being the only place in North America where electricity demand is decreasing, in large part because of energy conservation. Ontario’s decelerating appetite for electrical power leaves it as the only electricity-generating jurisdiction in North America to forecast negative growth in winter demand and flat growth in … Continue reading Ontario shows the way forward in decreasing electricity demand →

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 article on energy efficiency product standards

Now that the Commission has published the Ecodesign working document for 2012-2014, our minds should be focussing more on how products can become more energy efficient. Noah Sachs recently published an article in Vanderbilt Law Review entitled “Can We Regulate Our Way to Energy Efficiency? Product Standards as Climate Policy.” In the United States, regulation … Continue reading New article on energy efficiency product standards →

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 →

Reviewing environmental taxes

Martin Baxter, Executive Director for policy at the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment wrote this blog for Sustainable Business in the Guardian. While it is about issues in Britain, it has relevance to all countries. Environmental taxes need review to stay relevant When environmental taxes change business behaviour, revenues will fall – something the … Continue reading Reviewing environmental taxes →