The benefits of sustainable housing

Andréanne Doyon, Assistant professor, School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University and Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University provide a very good review in an article on The Conversation website about the range of benefits of sustainable housing. How sustainable, liveable and resilient housing … Continue reading The benefits of sustainable housing →

Energy in Demand News, October 15, 2023

Encouragingly, this week the World Bank officially expanded its mission to include climate change, while pushing ahead with reforms that could unlock additional funding and cheaper loans for green projects. The historical objective to “end poverty” should now be achieved “on a livable planet”. The new mission will give the lender the formal mandate to … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, October 15, 2023 →

“It may surprise you, but most economic models predict climate change will just be a blip”

In an article on The Conversation website, Timothy Neal, Senior lecturer in Economics / Institute for Climate Risk and Response at UNSW Sydney, argues that some economists have severely underestimated the financial hit from climate change. What are your views? Have some economists severely underestimated the financial hit from climate change? Recent evidence suggests … Continue reading “It may surprise you, but most economic models predict climate change will just be a blip” →

Energy in Demand News, October 8, 2023

As we get closer to COP28 in Dubai, there are some disturbing signs. For example: the US and China failed to pledge to the UN Green Climate Fund (most countries, including Germany, Austria and France, increased their pledges, while Denmark, Ireland and Liechtenstein doubled theirs but total pledges still did not reach target); Russia says … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, October 8, 2023 →

Energy in Demand News, October 1, 2023

It was encouraging that the heads of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) called on leaders from government, finance and industry across Europe to deliver a clean energy transition that is just, swift and maintains competitiveness. Ministers, ambassadors, business leaders, central bankers and other key … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, October 1, 2023 →

Lessons to be learned in how France lowered its electricity consumption last winter

Ariane Millot, Research Associate in Energy Systems Modelling, Imperial College London and Steve Pye, Associate Professor in Energy Systems at UCL discuss how France was able to lower its electricity consumption last winter by an impressive 10 %. To avoid shortages, France implemented a “sobriety plan” with the aim of lowering total energy consumption by … Continue reading Lessons to be learned in how France lowered its electricity consumption last winter →

We are not moving fast enough, on enough fronts, to wean ourselves off fossil fuels

In an article on The Conversation website, Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist, Climate Science Centre, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency writes about what more is needed to get us back on track to meet our decarbonisation objectives. He ends with an important message: “Climate scientists, on … Continue reading We are not moving fast enough, on enough fronts, to wean ourselves off fossil fuels →

Energy in Demand News, September 10, 2023

This weekend’s G20 Summit in New Delhi has the theme “One Earth · One Family · One Future” (drawn from the ancient Sanskrit text of the Maha Upanishad) which is quite fitting, given the range of topics being covered. There have been discussions regarding strategies to tackle the challenges presented by climate change. Developing nations … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, September 10, 2023 →

Africa climate summit adopts ‘Nairobi declaration’

The first ever Africa Climate Summit ended on Wednesday with a call for world leaders to back global taxes to fund climate action. The "Nairobi declaration" also calls for financial reforms to help African countries. The text is intended to define the shared position of the 54 countries of the African continent ahead of the … Continue reading Africa climate summit adopts ‘Nairobi declaration’ →

“Dwindling appetite for green legislation” affecting roll out of European Green Deal

At a time when we need more ambitious plans and implementation to address major concerns arising from climate change, there is an undoubted backlash for many reasons that could seriously leave us well short of the impact we need for our mitigation actions. Kira Taylor discusses latest developments in an article on the EURACTIV website. … Continue reading “Dwindling appetite for green legislation” affecting roll out of European Green Deal →