Edie Taylor, Rebecca Esau and John Matson at Rocky Mountain Institute explain how their report âGrid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Made Easyâ identifies simple, low-cost steps that produce immediate cost, energy, and carbon savings. As utilities evolve their pricing structures to encourage users to avoid peak times, building managers must ready themselves with the controls that will allow them to buy electricity when it is cheapest. Demand … [Read more...]
COP26 and the Glasgow Pact: a summary of achievements, and shortfalls
Experts from around the world summarise their reaction to the outcomes of this yearâs UN climate summit, COP26, including the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed by all 197 countries attending the talks. Each expert covers their area of interest: overall targets, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel finance, nature conservation, transportation, cities and buildings, energy sector transitions, science and innovation, and gender equality. The overall … [Read more...]
The greenest energy is the energy we donât use
As COP26 comes to a close, Martin Rossen, Senior Vice President, Head of Group Communication and Sustainability at Danfoss reminds us in a powerfully persuasive way why the most direct route to net-zero is managing consumption. Inspired by a glaring omission by Bill Gates in his recent book, Rossen draws our attention to the futility of developing new tech if we donât prioritise making use of readily available energy efficiency solutions. … [Read more...]
Behaviour Change: strategies and case studies for reaching net-zero by 2050
Technological solutions on their own are unlikely to deliver emissions reductions at the speed and scale required to reach net zero by 2050. Daniel Crow, Insa Handschuch, Gabriel Saive and Leonie Staas at the IEA look at a suite of policy-driven citizen âbehaviour changesâ that should be used to bridge the gap. The impact will be greatest in advanced economies where energy intensity is highest. Meanwhile, in emerging economies the good habits put … [Read more...]
Modelling Hydrogenâs role in high penetration Wind + Solar grids
A hydrogen ramp-up is going to be expensive and asset-heavy. So, a whole-system analysis is needed to ensure its deployment is done cost-effectively today and meets long term goals. This is what all nations committing to hydrogen are struggling with. Kelley Travers at MIT describes their modelling, in collaboration with Shell, that looks at the optimisation of hydrogen deployment in grids where variable renewables (VREs) like wind and solar are … [Read more...]
Ice for storage for intermittent renewables, then for cooling
Cooling accounts for around a fifth of total energy consumption in buildings. All those air conditioners and electric fans make up a tenth of all global electricity consumption. Demand will keep rising as developing nations get wealthier. Andrea Willige, writing for the World Economic Forum, looks at ice as a seemingly simple solution. Ice can be used as an energy store like a battery, to balance the grid. Create it when energy is cheap (at … [Read more...]
Energy-efficient and affordable housing will increase public support for the Green Deal
Energy poverty â the inability to afford basic household energy needs â affects up to one-third of U.S and European households. The energy transition can be part of the solution, says Clare Taylor. Targeted energy-efficient retrofits and newbuilds for low-income households will cut bills and improve living conditions. This will not only cut emissions, but get the beneficiaries behind wider climate change policies like the Green Deals in Europe … [Read more...]
Only Carbon Removal can make Germanyâs new climate goal a reality
Germany canât hit its emissions targets without significant carbon dioxide removal (CRD), explain Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at cr.hub. Clean energy and energy efficiency wonât do it alone. Policymakers have grasped that hard-to-abate sectors (industry, agriculture, buildings, transport) will struggle to deliver the reductions needed. Meanwhile, the climate disasters (floods, wildfires, etc.) that have cost lives this year are piling on … [Read more...]
EU âFit for 55â: how it impacts the EU ETS to accelerate emissions reductions
Christoph Kellermann, Lun Zhou and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool explain how the EUâs new âFit for 55â proposals, released in July, will impact the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), hailed as one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions. The authors cover the changes to the existing ETS, the planned new ETS for road transport and buildings, the controversial Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and the new CO2 standards for … [Read more...]
Central and Eastern Europeâs buildings renovation plans fall far short of 55% emissions cuts
There are big decarbonisation gains to be had in a renovation wave in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) precisely because their building stock is very energy-inefficient, explains Christophe Jost at CEE Bankwatch. But Bankwatch's report on eight national plans - Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia â reveals weaknesses in scale, funding, strategy and policy. Many are planning to comply with only the former 40% … [Read more...]
‘Fit for 55’ should prioritise decarbonisation of laggards: buildings, transport, industry, agriculture
Todayâs long-awaited "Fit for 55" legislative package from the European Commission will trigger intense and difficult negotiations that will last two years, says Nicolas Berghmans at IDDRI. Its scope is wide and inevitably interconnected. The twelve legislative proposals include adjustments to existing measures (renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon market/EU ETS, energy taxation, climate effort sharing between Member States/ESR, land use … [Read more...]
UK: exposing the gap between ambitious climate laws and actual policies
Like many nations, the UK has big gaps between what is actually needed to reach net zero by 2050, what targets and ambitions have actually passed into law, and what policies are actually in place to comply with those laws. The UKâs climate watchdog, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has issued two reports that measure the UKâs performance and makes recommendations, summarised here by Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. The first report focuses on … [Read more...]
New rules for EU green bonds to raise âŹ350bn/yr, but no decision on nuclear and gas
The EU needs âŹ350bn/year from private investors to fill the Green Dealâs funding gap. The rules for the new green bonds that companies can issue to raise money are supposed to set a âgold standardâ, ensure thereâs no greenwashing, and make Europe the best place to invest your money sustainably. Benjamin Wehrmann at CLEW summarises the new strategy that was presented on 6th July, and has gathered reactions. Particular attention is paid to … [Read more...]
Buildings Retrofits: inaccurate efficiency ratings are going to waste budget
Buildings renovations are going to be expensive, and complicated to roll out. Accurately predicting how much energy a building actually wastes will make that process easier and cheaper. EPC ratings are used to categorise the energy efficiency of homes. But Freya Wise at The Open University quotes research in Europe, along with her own investigations in the UK, to show that a lot of older buildings waste less energy than the standard estimates are … [Read more...]
U.S. DoE: National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Energy-Efficient Buildings
Buildings account for more than 70% of U.S. electricity use and one-third of economy-wide CO2 emissions. Andrew Satchwell at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory presents the U.S. Department of Energyâs comprehensive plan, âA National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildingsâ, that could deliver up to $200bn in savings to the U.S. power system and cut CO2 emissions by 80m tons per year by 2030 (6% of total power sector emissions). … [Read more...]
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