Category: energy efficiency

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 →

New energy efficiency fund targeting business

James Murray for BusinessGreen describes a new corporate energy efficiency fund in the UK.  The bank is drawing on government’s Funding for Lending scheme to offer competitive loans to help businesses deliver energy efficiency improvements. RBS launches £200m corporate energy efficiency fund Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will today launch a £200m (€246m) Carbon Reduction … Continue reading New energy efficiency fund targeting business →

Everyone knew there would be costs involved to meet energy goals but . . .

Conor Keane, Business Editor of the Irish Examiner reports on the estimated costs for Ireland to meet its legal obligations under EU Directives Meeting energy goals to cost €23bn Ireland needs to invest €22.8bn between now and 2020 if it is to fulfil its legal obligations under EU directives on the environment and energy efficiency … Continue reading Everyone knew there would be costs involved to meet energy goals but . . . →

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 →

Turkish banks recognised for financing industrial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects

Finchannel.com from Tblisi, Georgia describes the recognition that Turkish banks have received from the EBRD for promoting energy efficiency.  The EBRD has been active in getting its member countries to take an active role in energy efficiency and it appears to be paying off. EBRD celebrates excellence in financing energy efficiency in Turkey The European … Continue reading Turkish banks recognised for financing industrial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects →

Making our cities more energy efficient

Cities are getting a lot of attention globally because of their high energy consumption and their potential to make significant savings.  Dr. Mayarani Praharaj from the Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Technology, provides a detailed account of some of the issues and the initiatives underway Bhubaneswar for the Daily Pioneer in Delhi and … Continue reading Making our cities more energy efficient →