The EU is aiming for the installation of 50 million heat pumps by 2030, equating to annual growth of 16%, reaching one third of the total 150 million boiler installations in the bloc. Helen Farrell reviews these ambitious targets and the policies that are driving them, and turns to a report by RAP to identify the weaknesses in the plan and how it can be improved. The main danger is a âone size fits allâ approach. Different countries have … [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...]
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...]
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...]
Buildings Efficiency: France must embed deep retrofits into its market
Franceâs energy efficiency ambitions for buildings are well off target. Buildings account for 28% of the nationâs emissions and theyâve hardly reduced since 1990 â only by 3%. Itâs because of the lack of development of the buildings renovation sector, explains Andreas RĂźdinger at IDDRI. Without it, thereâs little chance of renovating 500,000 housing units per year and bringing the entire housing stock up to the "low-energy building" (BBC) … [Read more...]
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