Inadequate housing is a major contributor to respiratory illnesses. That is why the VELUX Group is calling for increased political focus on renovation aimed at healthier homes.
This European Commission famously promised to focus on the big policy picture and avoid petty regulations. But small things can grow into something big, for example on energy efficiency and eco-design rules for electric appliances, writes Ingrid Holmes.
Ahead of the annual review of Ecodesign and Labelling measures by the college of Commissioners, the executive was asked by political leaders and NGOs to unfreeze the Ecodesign and Labelling process, stalled for over a year, and to expand the scope of regulated products, Dr Yamina Saheb analyses the issue.
Data has been transmitted across a national electricity grid for the first time, in what could be a significant step towards the creation of virtual power stations, where many thousands of homes and businesses combine to manage electricity use more smartly.
Atomic energy is not competitive in the energy sector and must not be artificially preserved at the expense of renewable alternatives, Benedek Jávor, Green MEP and member of Nuclear Transparency Watch, told EurActiv Slovakia.
15% of Juncker Plan funding supports fossil fuel projects, according to a report by group of NGOs, which raises serious questions about the investment plan’s consistency with the EU's climate objectives. EurActiv France reports.
SPECIAL REPORT / The large scale roll-out of electric cars on EU roads will help fight climate change but more electricity will have to be generated to power the vehicles which, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned, could have its own impact on global warming.
The EU needs to stop treating all energy sources as if they were equally desirable when it comes to energy savings. This approach undermines the promotion of renewables, with negative effects for the EU’s energy independence, writes Anders Stouge.
Half of Europeans could have solar panels on their roofs by 2050. And the trend won’t stop as small-scale energy cooperatives bring in eight times more revenue to local authorities than big utilities, argues Dirk Vansintjan.
Half of EU citizens – including local communities, schools and hospitals – could be producing their own renewable electricity by 2050, meeting 45% of the EU’s energy demand, according to new research published on Monday (26 September).
Leading voices from Europe’s building industry have called on the Commission to do more to improve the energy efficiency of Europe’s building stock, saying this would benefit the economy and the climate.
SPECIAL REPORT / When world leaders in Paris last December agreed on a landmark deal to cap global warming, it was hailed as the starting gun on an irreversible path to a low-carbon economy.
A report from the European Commission’s own research centre triggers an interesting debate by showing that the EU is well on track to reach its headline 2020 energy efficiency target. The 2030 target should be more ambitious as a result, writes Marion Santini.
France will become the world's first state to issue "green bonds" in 2017, as part of its effort to finance environmentally friendly investments. EurActiv's partner La Tribune reports.
Energy efficiency in the European Union is constantly improving. But this could be as much down to the economic downturn as its own efforts, a new study has found. EurActiv's partner Journal de l'Environnement reports.
The EU must focus its legislation on policies that have the most potential to bring change. Unfortunately, its new Effort Sharing Regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions missed an opportunity to drive energy efficient building renovation, which has huge potentital to cut CO2, writes Shradha Abt.
EU member states will be able to bank annual emissions savings from sectors such as agriculture and transport, and use them in later years to meet their climate targets, under EU legislation set to be put forward on Wednesday (20 July).
A lot of good can come out of the Brexit vote if the European Commission makes it 100% clear that continued action on climate change and energy savings are crucial issues which transcend politics and pro or anti-EU sentiment, writes Brook Riley.
The EU is no longer leading the global energy transition. To reclaim this position, it must stop prioritising fossil fuels and nuclear, increase energy efficiency and keep fossil fuels in the ground, argues Christine Lins.
Stakeholders want the European Commission to push for indoor climate quality requirements in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) revision. Buildings may also help with adaptation towards climate change, experts say.
A vote for Brexit in tomorrow’s UK referendum on EU membership (23 June) would mean that the COP21 agreement would have to be rewritten, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said today (22 June) in Brussels.
Boosting renewable energies and using existing sources more efficiently are the two main pillar of the German energy transition, better known as Energiewende. Both pillars contribute to the goal of lowering the dependence on energy imports.
There are lots of investors and lenders now who want to deploy capital into energy efficiency. But the lack of standardisation, which causes uncertainty, is a barrier, Steven Fawkes told EurActiv Czech Republic in an exclusive interview.
