Tag: energy efficiency

The EU's upcoming energy efficiency directive could send strong enough signals to jump-start the market in energy services for commercial buildings, industry experts told EurActiv.

Allegations of coalition hypocrisy over green issues as critics say documents show UK has caved in to fossil fuel lobbyists.

Buildings account for over 40% of the EU's final energy demand and are a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions, making energy savings there a key element of European climate change objectives. However, it remains to be seen whether Europeans will be able to tap into the area with the single biggest potential – the existing building stock.

From an industry perspective, it is difficult to understand the widespread reluctance in Europe to adopt the Energy Efficiency Directive that can generate thousands of jobs and save private households millions of euros, says Lars Clausen.

In an old harbour crowded with houseboats, Amsterdam is looking to the future with plans to construct low-energy homes in a climate-neutral neighbourhood.

Lars Clausen a top executive at DONG Energy, says the Danish company was able to become one of the leading energy firms in Northern Europe by seeing energy savings not as a "threat", but an "opportunity".

Consumers will not be able to cut their energy consumption unless the energy efficiency directive creates a framework for smart meter feedback, accurate bills and information campaigns, argues Monique Goyens, Director General of The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC). 

Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne has issued a stark warning that the UK's economic growth strategy will not work unless the government pursues "green growth" by investing in industries such as energy efficiency and clean energy.

The European Commission and the Danish EU presidency said the Energy Efficiency Directive could "realistically" come together in the next couple of months, despite member states' consistent watering down of the proposal.

The energy efficiency bill is entering its final round of amendments, as the first talks between the European Commission, Parliament and Council will commence in an informal meeting tomorrow (11 April).

Earmarking too large a chunk of the European Union’s cohesion funds for environmental projects in the 2014-2020 budget could be "detrimental", MEPs said.

Energy companies will have to change their business models from gas and electricity supply only as the EU's Energy Efficiency Directive takes shape, says Jon Slowe, director at Delta Energy and Environment, a consulting firm. 

European energy retailers resisting a mandatory 1.5% annual efficiency target prefer to find their own way to improve productivity – through higher electricity prices or subsidies from the public sector - EurActiv heard at an industry conference.

The European Commission has asked the three member states to transpose the EU’s 2010 energy labelling directive into their legislation, brushing off concerns that the law itself might confuse consumers.

Computer servers, the high-performance machines used to run programmes and software services, are facing a design revamp that will make them more energy efficient, following recent assessments by the European Commission.

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is the single most effective way to meet the EU’s energy savings goals, argues Oliver Rapf of the Buildings Performance Institute Europe.

Italians decidedly rejected the use of existing nuclear power plants, but that does not mean abandoning the study and research on atomic energy, said Environment Minister Corrado Clini. Speaking to EurActiv Italy in an exclusive interview, Clini also addressed other issues related to EU environmental policy and cooperation with Brazil in advance of the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

As Denmark officially inaugurated its EU presidency today (12 January) with green jobs high on its priority list, Danish company Vestas, the world leader in the wind turbine industry, announced it would cut over 2,000 jobs by the end of the year.

The European Parliament's environment committee has thrown its weight behind binding energy efficiency targets for member states in a vote held yesterday (20 December). However, there it little chance that these will survive in later versions of the draft energy efficiency directive, EurActiv was told.

Denmark, which takes over the EU's rotating presidency on 1 January, is likely to use the European Commission's Energy Roadmap 2050 as a tool to push through an agreement on the stalled Energy Efficiency Directive. 

A new report commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on EU climate policies condemns what it sees as a "standstill in long-term strategies". It cites in particular a decline in support for renewable energy sources in the course of the financial crisis.

The European Commission's top energy official has criticised EU member sates for holding a double language on the bloc's target to cut energy use by 20% by the end of the decade.

Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger abandoned the proposal to oblige power companies to reduce customers' energy use, effectively gutting the EU's long-awaited Energy Efficiency Directive, argue Brook Riley and Erica Hope.

A landmark €265 million fund to kickstart European energy efficiency projects was launched on 1 July after protracted negotiation between EU member states. Touted as "market-based" on Britain's insistence, the fund has only raised €5 million from the private sector, EurActiv has learned.