Légion d’Honneur

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has named Dr. Hélène Connor, founder and chairman of HELIO International, a recipient of the 2012 Légion d'Honneur in recognition of her four decades of visionary work in promoting environmental protection, sustainable energy and participatory governance. Hélène and I worked together for more than 12 years and she has been one … Continue reading Légion d’Honneur →

Looking past to look forward

As the year begins, and we look forward to what 2012 will bring to the progress of energy efficiency in Europe, a look back at 2011 can offer some clues. In March 2011, after endless delays, the Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) was finally published. The Plan showed that the EU is not on track to … Continue reading Looking past to look forward →

Everyone is Watching

There are a lot of financial instruments in Europe being used to help consumers improve the energy performance of buildings. The recent study by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe on “ Europe’s Buildings Under the Microscope” documents many of them in place today. Yet, everyone knows that those incentives are not enough if Europe is … Continue reading Everyone is Watching →

Time to listen . . .

These are trying and worrying times in the EU decision-making world when it comes to energy efficiency. The Commission’s proposed Energy Efficiency Directive, which is wending its way through the approval process, was designed to have policies in place to meet the 2020 energy savings target. Since many believe the Directive falls short of the … Continue reading Time to listen . . . →