New energy efficiency regulations for renovation work in Finland

Finland’s Ministry of the Environment issued new regulations on February 27th for improving the energy efficiency of buildings during renovation and alteration works. The regulations will come into effect on June 1, 2013 for buildings in public use and on September 1, 2013 for other buildings. The regulations define the minimum requirements for energy efficiency … Continue reading New energy efficiency regulations for renovation work in Finland →

UK’s Green Investment Bank supports new energy efficiency initiative

Louise Downing writes for Business Week about an investment by the GIB for an energy innovation centre for hospitals in Cambridge. U.K. Green Bank Backs Energy Efficiency Center for Hospitals The U.K. Green Investment Bank provided 18 million pounds ($27 million) to build a facility in Cambridge, southeast England, that will include a biomass … Continue reading UK’s Green Investment Bank supports new energy efficiency initiative →

Backlash?

In February, the Bulgarian government resigned amidst protests about high electricity prices and other austerity measures that were considered too harsh on consumers. While many other governments have fallen recently because of austerity measures, the Bulgarian case was the first to relate specifically to energy prices. Now we are seeing increasing frustration in the UK … Continue reading Backlash? →

New reports for your spring reading

There are a few new reports that are well worth spending time reading. The first is a comparison of German and UK experience in evaluating energy efficiency programmes. The second concerns climate policy and industry, policy interaction and the external environment. The third is on developing roadmaps for a retrofit strategy. Evaluating the evaluations: … Continue reading New reports for your spring reading →

More interaction . . .

In the past few months, we have had data hubs from the IEA’s Sustainable Building Centre and the BPIE. They are both excellent, and constantly evolving, which is good. On February 8th, EiD had a post that included reports coming from ENTRANZE, a project funded by Intelligent Energy Europe to support policy making to encourage … Continue reading More interaction . . . →

Target setting and the role of consumer behaviour – ask an expert

EiD recently wrote Dr Sea Rotmann, the Operating Agent for the IEA DSM Implementing Agreement Task 24 [Closing the Loop - Behaviour Change in DSM: From Theory to Policies and Practice] and asked her: Given the role of behaviour in affecting energy demand, how can governments ever agree to a binding target for energy savings? … Continue reading Target setting and the role of consumer behaviour – ask an expert →

Potential for energy savings in Romania

Romania Insider provides a good article on energy efficiency measures that can be deployed in Romania to good effect. It is based on the study from a new industry association promoting energy efficiency in Romania. Study: Energy efficiency measures can save Romania some EUR 7.4 billion Romania has the potential to cut its energy … Continue reading Potential for energy savings in Romania →

LEDs shed some light on the future

David Pogue writes an excellent article in the New York Times on why consumers should shift to using LED light bulbs. As he ends the article, you’d have to be a pretty dim bulb not to realise that LED light is the future. New Reasons to Change Light Bulbs People sometimes have trouble making small … Continue reading LEDs shed some light on the future →

The benefits of better information on energy efficiency

Meg Handley writes in USNews.com about a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy on the savings that consumers could achieve if there was better information available. Consumers Could Save $1 Trillion With Better Energy Efficiency Information "The report is spot on—existing technologies and anticipated technologies could be realized without significant … Continue reading The benefits of better information on energy efficiency →

Take the time to watch . . .

Benoit Lebot, well known to many EiD readers, works for the United Nations Development Programme in Dakar, Senegal but he recently was able to attend the Australian Alliance to Save Energy (A2SE) Summer Study on Energy Efficiency and Decentralised Energy in Sydney, Australia. A2SE is now on YouTube and presented Benoit as the charismatic and … Continue reading Take the time to watch . . . →