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...]
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...]
Redesigning UK electricity taxes to boost Heat Pump sales
In the UK, consumer prices for electricity are five times more expensive than for gas. It is a disincentive to adopt electric heat pumps. To make things harder, 23% of the electricity price comes from climate and social levies. Itâs just 2% for gas. No wonder the UK continues to install about 1.7 million gas boilers a year. Jan Rosenow and Richard Lowes at RAP call for changes that will incentivise customers to buy heat pumps while having a … [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...]
Super-efficient space cooling can mitigate 0.5°C of warming by 2100
Space cooling eats up 10% of global electricity use, and by 2050 total energy consumed could triple as ownership takes off in developing countries. Itâs why the Global Cooling Prize was launched to find AC designs that will have an 80% lower climate impact, explains John Matson at RMI. The two main design goals were to reduce electricity demand, and use refrigerants with lower global warming potential (GWP) than traditional refrigerant gases. The … [Read more...]
Why expensive Buildings Renovations? By the time theyâre done the grid will be emissions-free
The big budgets being talked about for the transition require us to decide how much to spend, and on what. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas explains why he thinks a lot of the money being earmarked for buildings renovations would be better spent elsewhere. By the time the renovation wave has successfully âreached the shorelineâ in the next few decades buildings will be powered overwhelmingly by clean grids (thatâs the plan, … [Read more...]
How to ramp up Green Mortgages for climate-friendly house improvements
Green mortgages are used to finance climate-friendly house improvements. In the U.S. they already exist, but need to be made far more accessible and marketed widely. Greg Hopkins at RMI cites their report âBuild Back Better Homes: How to Unlock Americaâs Single-Family Green Mortgage Marketâ to explain that the financial markets are looking increasingly favourably at lending that is certified as ESG (environmental, social, and governance). … [Read more...]
“China and Europe – Energy Efficiency, the foundation of our net-zero future” [EVENT highlights and VIDEO]
We present the videos of the third of our three, 4-session workshops on the opportunities for European energy solutions providers to take part in Chinaâs energy transition, held on April 13th and 14th 2021. In this workshop the theme was efficiency, with special reference to finance, buildings, heating and cooling, and smart solutions. Both regions need to go beyond the efficiency "easy wins" so we take a close look at what Europe can offer as … [Read more...]
Energy efficiency is the âfirst fuelâ, making decarbonisation easier for all other sectors
To set up our upcoming online event âChina: Carbon Neutral by 2060 -EFFICIENCY FIRSTâ we look at the profound importance of efficiency to the global energy transition. Energy efficiency is the âfirst fuelâ, meaning success here will make the decarbonisation of all the other sectors and technologies easier, faster and cheaper. Basically, use and waste less energy. Alyssa Fischer at the IEA starts by noting that their Sustainable Development … [Read more...]
EU Recovery funds: where is the support for District Heating?
District Heating is an efficient way to heat homes, particularly in a country like Latvia where 58% of its primary energy consumption is used for heating. But SelÄ«na VancÄne at Riga City Council is very concerned that the draft EU Recovery plans do not include any support under the climate goals for district heating projects. Perhaps itâs because of a blind spot: most of Europe is prioritising individual heating units powered by electricity. … [Read more...]
Cooling: up-front costs are the barrier to new solutions that cut energy use by two-thirds
Existing, latest technology could be delivering the worldâs current air conditioning needs with just a third of the energy use, say Sneha Sachar at the AEEE (India) and Iain Campbell at RMI. The main barrier is the up-front costs. And thatâs for everything from improving the thermal efficiency of buildings to accelerating the deployment of the most efficient cutting edge ACs (at present, legal minimums lag behind the best ACs, and the best ACs … [Read more...]
German Geothermal: from 1.2TWh to 100TWh by 2050?
The IEAâs Sustainable Development Scenario sees the world's geothermal power generation tripling to almost 300 TWh by 2030. Thatâs because thereâs an almost unlimited supply that can provide power, heating and cooling. Itâs also a continuous supply uninterrupted by the weather, unlike solar and wind. The plants are small and quiet. For heating, ground-source heat pumps use significantly less electricity than other technologies. Writing for CLEW, … [Read more...]
UK heating plan still means 120 gas boilers installed for every low-carbon system
Though the UK is a leader in grid electrification it is a poor performer when it comes to the electrification of heating. In May the UK government proposed a clean heat policy to support the switch away from gas heating for 12,500 homes a year for two years. Jan Rosenow and Samuel Thomas at RAP say that looks like business as usual: for every one new low-carbon heating system, more than 120 gas boilers will be installed as normal. In 2019, 1.7m … [Read more...]
Tipping Points reached for Solar, Wind, Batteries, EVs. What of the other Clean Energy techs?
History shows a disruptive technologyâs tipping point can be under 5% of market share, thatâs all it takes. The number of horses in use peaked in the U.S. once car ownership reached 3%. Gas lighting in the UK peaked with electric lighting at just 2% of the market. Landline phones in the U.S. fell precipitously after mobiles captured 5% of the market. Ji Chen and Koben Calhoun at RMI argue the tipping point has already been passed for solar, wind, … [Read more...]
Developing nations: Efficiency is cheaper than Coal in Indonesia
Developing economies face a particularly big challenge in reducing emissions. Their economies are growing rapidly, industrialising and urbanising. Their populations surely deserve the same rewards of wealth that the rich countries â the historical and per capita big emitters - have experienced. Can they get there without all the emissions? Indonesia believes so, committing itself to 29% unconditional emissions reductions by 2030. Virginie … [Read more...]
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