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Germany to ramp up the decarbonisation of Buildings Heating from Jan 1st 2024. How?

July 11, 2023 by Sebastian Ligewie

Decarbonising heating is a major challenge for any country. Germany’s Building Energy Act (GEG) means that from 2024 every newly installed heating system, in new or existing buildings, must operate with a minimum of 65% renewable energy. Concerns over the costs to customers (installing new and expensive systems, or paying a penalty for fossil heating) has led to intense debates, hence the new law includes a range of subsidies, bonuses, discounted … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buildings, Energy Tagged With: buildings, costs, decarbonisation, district, exemptions, gas, GEG, Germany, heating, municipal, oil, renewables, residential, subsidies

Heating Households and Buildings: Heat Pumps will be up to three times cheaper than Green Hydrogen

March 3, 2023 by Josh Gabbatiss

A new study concludes that heating from 100% green-hydrogen would be up to three times more expensive than one based on 100% electrification of buildings with heat pumps. Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief summarises the findings, who says it’s yet more evidence to push back against the voices of politicians and fossil-fuel companies wanting to see hydrogen in the household and buildings heating mix (for example, the UK is planning a “hydrogen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, HVAC Tagged With: boilers, buildings, EC, electrification, EU, heating, HeatPumps, households, HVAC, hydrogen, residential, UK

U.S. Residential Distributed Solar: still getting cheaper, installation and permitting too, more batteries

October 20, 2022 by John Rogers

John Rogers at UCS reviews the new and comprehensive “Tracking the Sun” report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which covers both residential and non-residential “grid-connected, distributed” solar PV systems in the U.S. There has been clear progress across the board, including PV module efficiency, system costs, installation and permitting, and the uptake of batteries. For example, median efficiency for modules in residential systems … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: batteries, California, costs, distributed, efficiency, grids, Hawaii, installation, IRA, modules, NonResidential, permitting, residential, solar, storage, Texas

Aluminium, sulphur and salt batteries. Cheaper than lithium-ion, for homes and EV charging stations

September 7, 2022 by David Chandler

The high and escalating demand for the lithium-ion batteries that dominate the market is driving the search for alternatives. Ideally, they will be made from inexpensive, abundant materials. David Chandler at MIT describes research there into a design that uses aluminium and sulphur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in-between. The results point at batteries that have a projected cost per cell of about one-sixth that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Storage Tagged With: aluminium, batteries, charging, costs, electrolyte, EVs, innovation, lithium, research, residential, salt, storage, sulphur

How a street can share a Ground Source Heat Pump

May 11, 2022 by David Barns

Ground and air source heat pumps are expected to play a major role in cutting the use of gas for heating. But one major problem with them is that they need a lot of space. For those living in dense housing it’s just not practical. District heat networks are the usual alternative, but the dense urban areas they serve need to be near a large source of waste heat like power stations or other industrial units. David Barns at the University of Leeds … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, HVAC Tagged With: air, buildings, district, heat, HVAC, local, pumps, residential, urban

U.S. Solar breaks new records. What’s needed to keep the momentum?

May 10, 2022 by John Rogers

The latest available data reveals it’s been a record breaking 2021 for U.S. solar. John Rogers at UCS runs through the highlights. Solar passed the 100GW milestone, with 23.6GW newly installed, up 19% on 2020 and 77% up on 2019. Solar was the biggest source of new electric generating capacity for the third year in a row. Residential, non-residential and utility-scale all performed well. Across the nation, solar accounted for 3.9% of total … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: California, costs, electricity, Illinois, Indiana, policies, residential, rooftop, solar, Texas, US, Utility, Virginia

EU Buildings Renovations: get ready for minimum energy performance standards (MEPS)

February 23, 2021 by Louise Sunderland

To meet Europe’s 2030 climate targets the buildings sector must cut its emissions by 60%. That means annual renovations need to jump by an order of magnitude; at the moment it’s crawling at 1% per year. Worse, standard renovations save very little energy, just 9% in homes and 16% in commercial buildings. It’s the deep renovations that cut energy by 60% or more, but that’s only happening to under 0.3% of the stock. Louise Sunderland at RAP … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buildings, Energy Tagged With: buildings, commercial, CzechRepublic, efficiency, EU, GreenDeal, MEPS, Netherlands, Poland, recovery, renovations, residential, Romania

Buildings Renovation in Germany: success story or potential failure?

January 25, 2021 by Andreas Rüdinger

The German Federal Association of Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW) has claimed that money and effort spent on the nation’s buildings renovations have not worked. But Andreas Rüdinger at IDDRI has looked into the evidence and concluded that the opposite is the case. CO2 emissions from the residential sector in 2018 were 37% lower than in 1990. Though final energy consumption was broadly stable, that’s because efficiency gains were offset by … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buildings, Energy Tagged With: buildings, efficiency, emissions, France, Germany, heating, insulation, renovation, residential, tenants

Distributed Solar: rooftop residential, commercial systems keep getting cheaper

December 6, 2019 by John Rogers

In the U.S., PV module efficiency (median values) rose from 12.7% in 2002 to 18.4% in 2018, much of it in the last decade and a full percentage-point increase in the last year alone. The best modules are even more efficient, says John Rogers at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Improvements have come from manufacturing processes and cell architectures, and the increasing share of more-efficient mono-crystalline technologies: up from 40% in 2016 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids, Renewables Tagged With: batteries, electricity, grids, PV, residential, solar, storage

Most read this week

  • U.S. Inflation Reduction Act: one year on, a summary of impressive progress in the energy transition by Hannah Perkins | posted on September 19, 2023
  • 10 Carbon Capture methods compared: costs, scalability, permanence, cleanness by Ella Adlen | posted on November 11, 2019
  • Sodium-ion batteries ready for commercialisation: for grids, homes, even compact EVs by Carlos Ruiz | posted on September 11, 2023
  • Oil & Gas business is fatally flawed: Russia-Ukraine only delayed the relentless decline in prices by Clark Williams-Derry | posted on September 21, 2023
  • Space-Based Solar Power: getting closer as SpaceX and Blue Origin bring down the cost of heavy-lift launches? by Matteo Ceriotti | posted on September 20, 2023
  • Understanding the new EU ETS (Part 2): Buildings, Road Transport, Fuels. And how the revenues will be spent by Simon Göss | posted on February 6, 2023
  • Affordable €25k EVs by 2025: Europe’s carmakers can do it. Instead they’re making more profitable SUVs by Transport & Environment | posted on September 22, 2023
  • Though the price shocks hurt, Renewables installed between 2021-23 saved Europe €100bn by Joe Myers | posted on September 18, 2023
  • Micro-nuclear reactors: up to 20MW, portable, safer by Christina Nunez | posted on April 22, 2021
  • Industry’s EU ETS reforms and CBAM: how firms can turn the rising cost of carbon into competitive advantage by Pablo Ruiz | posted on September 25, 2023
  • Concawe Symposium tackles climate and pollution as RED commits fuel companies to 29% renewable content from 2030 by Matthew James | posted on September 22, 2023
  • Germany plans for Carbon Capture in Industry: emissions, potentials, costs by Simon Göss | posted on September 15, 2023
  • EU Energy Outlook to 2060: how will power prices and revenues develop for wind, solar, gas, hydrogen + more by Alex Schmitt | posted on December 6, 2022
  • What’s best for Hydrogen transport: ammonia, liquid hydrogen, LOHC or pipelines? by Herib Blanco | posted on May 5, 2022
  • Farming Algae for Carbon Capture: new research cuts “fouling.” Scale-up in 3 years? by David Chandler | posted on June 21, 2023
  • The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric by Schalk Cloete | posted on December 6, 2021
  • Can Aluminium-air batteries outperform Li-ion for EVs? by Helena Uhde | posted on September 8, 2021
  • EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework: new rules to turn greenwashing into genuine removals by Simon Göss | posted on May 16, 2023
  • Can we expect Gas price volatility and spikes this winter? Why? by Michael Bradshaw | posted on September 8, 2023
  • Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks by Simon Read | posted on July 27, 2022

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      Recent Posts

      Agrivoltaics: GWs of solar power from farmland using strategically placed panels (and raising crop yields)

      Industry’s EU ETS reforms and CBAM: how firms can turn the rising cost of carbon into competitive advantage

      Concawe Symposium tackles climate and pollution as RED commits fuel companies to 29% renewable content from 2030

      Affordable €25k EVs by 2025: Europe’s carmakers can do it. Instead they’re making more profitable SUVs

      Oil & Gas business is fatally flawed: Russia-Ukraine only delayed the relentless decline in prices

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