A coalition of industry-leading businesses from the building industry including AkzoNobel, Philips Lighting and Siemens have urged the European Commission (EC) to implement continent-wide action to improve the energy efficiency of Europe’s building stock. A letter addressed to the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and Vice-President Frans Timmermans by a group of 42 representatives from the European building sector is calling for the European Union (EU) to create a clear 2050 vision which ensures that all buildings have a very high energy performance. The alliance states that a “Nearly Zero Energy” building stock by 2050 would provide an opportunity to create jobs and economic growth in line with climate change commitments set in the Paris Agreement. The letter reads: “It is clear that the Paris commitment cannot be honoured without drastically reducing energy consumption in our buildings; the EU building stock emits over one-third of our CO2 emissions, three-quarters of our buildings are inefficient, and up to four-fifths will still be in use in 2050. We need EU wide action to drive the transformation of our inefficient building stock and make it a resilient component of the energy system of the 21stcentury.”
Edie 27th Sept 2016 read more »
For the past 50 years, the UK government has issued many projections estimating future demand for energy. These have varied greatly, especially regarding the predicted market share of different fuels 15 or 20 years hence. But there is one factor every official projection has always had in common. Without fail, our governments always grossly over-estimate the overall amount of energy that will be consumed. One current example: since 2010, when the Conservative party returned to government, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station has endlessly been justified by official threats that “without it, the lights will go out.” In practice, demand for electricity has already fallen during this decade alone by 25 terrawatt hours; that is the same realistic output that Hinkley might provide when/if it is finally built. It has not required £24bn to achieve these savings. This spring the trade body Energy UK published an in depth survey of current electricity industry opinion about their likely 2030 marketplace. Practically nobody working in the retail electricity industry is expecting any serious increases in the market’s size. Almost everybody in the supply industry reckons that demand for electricity will continue to decline overall, or at most remain constant.
Business Green 28th Sept 2016 read more »