LEDs are 90% more efficient than modern incandescent bulbs. Their rapid uptake has resulted in measurable cuts in energy demand and emissions. But their plummeting cost over the last ten years is also causing a “rebound effect” where people are using more and more LEDs, not least for outdoor lighting. Lucas Davis at the Haas School of Business believes we must embrace it, even if it’s counter to maximising energy savings. More and brighter … [Read more...]
Russia–Ukraine war: household energy costs worldwide have nearly doubled, with the poorest hit hardest
A new study measures the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war on household energy costs worldwide. It’s nearly doubled, explain Klaus Hubacek, Jin Yan and Yuru Guan at the University of Groningen and Yuli Shan at the University of Birmingham. Their study sums the costs of direct energy like heating, cooling, lighting and mobility, as well as the indirect costs through the energy used to produce goods and services. That doubling translates into an … [Read more...]
The light bulb transition: when standards and subsidies promote sub-optimal technologies
This article is for those who want to understand the importance of timing: when is the right time to impose new standards and start/stop subsidies, to optimise the pathway to maximum efficiency? The light bulb transition of the last two decades is one of the successes of energy efficiency: from the old incandescents (15 lumens/watt) to halogen incandescents and CFLs, and then, finally, to LEDs (80 lumens/watt and prices falling 90% in ten years). … [Read more...]
Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: how to start saving from day one
Edie Taylor, Rebecca Esau and John Matson at Rocky Mountain Institute explain how their report “Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Made Easy” 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...]
Perovskites: the next generation of solar cells and lighting?
Enthusiasm about the discoveries being made about perovskite materials is spreading, explains Sam Stranks at the University of Cambridge. Perovskite solar cells hit 25.2% efficiency in 2019, not far off crystalline silicon cells at 26.7%. Research is suggesting that figure could rise higher still. Perovskite can be “tuned” to absorb particular frequencies of light, allowing different layers of perovskites to absorb different and therefore more … [Read more...]
Ad van Wijk: “The energy sector has nothing to do with energy companies anymore”
There are many developments in the world today that have far more influence on the energy sector than the energy sector itself, says technology visionary Ad van Wijk in this exclusive interview with Energy Post. The Professor in “Future Energy Systems” at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands explains how LED lighting, a DC grid, fuel cell cars, the Internet of Things and 3D printing are upending our energy system as we know it. “The … [Read more...]
