French partnership between construction economists and Electricité de France

The National Union of Economists of the Construction Industry in France and EDF signed a partnership to contribute jointly to improving the energy performance of buildings. Economists accompany construction projects to renovate buildings, to optimise cost, quality and timeliness of design and production operations. Guarantors of budget estimates, they work with builders or contractors to … Continue reading French partnership between construction economists and Electricité de France →

More from the Clean Energy Ministerial

The Clean Energy Ministerial also had more to say on carbon capture and storage. At the 2011 CEM meeting in Abu Dhabi, the CEM Carbon Capture, Use and Storage Action Group (CCUS AG) presented seven recommendations on concrete, near-term actions to accelerate global carbon capture and storage deployment. This week, at the 2012 CEM meeting … Continue reading More from the Clean Energy Ministerial →

Follow up on Russian energy conservation policies

Following the EID post of April 16th, there has recently been an important all-Russia conference on energy conservation. The following is from the Russian Business News. Particularly note the comment on financing energy conservation by the first vice president of Gazprombank that the government is only prepared to allocate 7 % of needed funds with … Continue reading Follow up on Russian energy conservation policies →

Employment impacts from retrofitting Poland’s buildings

Central European University in Budapest has just published Employment Impacts of a Large-Scale Deep Building Energy Retrofit Programme in Poland. The report was funded by the European Climate Foundation. The research demonstrates that up to 84% of energy used to heat Polish buildings, and corresponding CO 2 emissions – can be avoided by a wide-spread … Continue reading Employment impacts from retrofitting Poland’s buildings →

Energy efficiency laws in Russia – starting the journey

With high potential, Russia has much to do to improve its energy efficiency in all sectors. Rod Janssen of EiD has worked in many parts of Russia and knows first hand the problems that the country faces. This is an excellent article from the Moscow Times giving an overview of the policies and the challenges … Continue reading Energy efficiency laws in Russia – starting the journey →

Why are few Singaporeans going ‘green’?

This is a question that many if not most countries should be asking. This is a good article from the Straits Times of Singapore showing the behavioural studies that Singapore is undertaking to understand more about consumer behaviour. Interestingly, the International Energy Agency’s Implementing Agreement on Demand Side Management has a new focus on behavioural … Continue reading Why are few Singaporeans going ‘green’? →

Question of the week

Reuter’s news agency reports that of Romania’s 19 million population, less than five million are workers paying taxes, with most of the rest pensioners, children, subsistence farmers or people working illegally. Costs for the more than five million pensioners amounted to 9% of GDP in 2010. Also, Romania, the EU’s second-poorest member with an average … Continue reading Question of the week →

Energy efficiency: Siemens launches a centre of excellence in France

Siemens recently announced the planned launch on May 1 of a centre of excellence for energy efficiency in France. It will be a combination dedicated website and call centre, with the aim of helping manufacturers in their efforts to improve their energy efficiency. While customers have the product catalogue on energy efficient products, the company … Continue reading Energy efficiency: Siemens launches a centre of excellence in France →

Housing project becomes a beacon

This is a very good article from the New York Times about a housing project about a 15 minute walk from the EiD office. The results on energy performance are good and can probably even be better. But they show that important upgrades can be made to public housing. Hopefully this "beacon" will inspire changes … Continue reading Housing project becomes a beacon →

China making significant progress in building energy code compliance

A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Global Buildings Performance Network, published mid March, shows that compliance on building codes in China has been steadily improving since 2005. "The significant improvement is rooted in strong governmental regulatory support; clear rules about the responsibilities of key stakeholders and penalties for … Continue reading China making significant progress in building energy code compliance →