About: renewables Archives

What are intelligent buildings, why are they important and how can we realise their full potential? Christiane Egger takes a closer look at the growing market for intelligent buildings.

The European Commission will soon release its second annual report on the State of the European Energy Union. This is a pivotal moment in the EU's political calendar, write Teresa Ribera and Thomas Spencer.

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.

Europe seeks to stop the increase in transport GHG emissions with the wrong policies, writes Zoltán Szabó.

Across Europe, consumers are choosing renewable electricity and are doing so on a large scale. It’s time to recognise this demand for renewable energy by reporting on national consumption, and not only production, of renewables, writes Jared Braslawsky.

Subsidising the arms industry is not the way the once-peace EU project will improve its popularity with eurosceptic citizens. Especially not when it is done on advice from the industry lobby. Instead, the EU should invest in jobs and research projects which contribute to the prevention of conflicts, says the Laetitia Sedou.

Public policy should be based on verifiable facts, rational analysis and, where possible, on solid science, writes Dick Roche.

Europe started the renewable energy revolution but is no longer its main driver. More ambitious decarbonisation policy would benefit innovative companies, boost the economy and protect the environment, writes Christopher Burghardt.

At a meeting this week in Washington, fossil fuel subsidies should be prioritised in the discussion, so that renewable energy sources can at last be fully exploited, writes Maeve McLynn.

Climate change and the global shortage of raw materials necessitate the need for marketable solutions. More investment in technological research and development are therefore essential to avoid further crises, write Aurelia Figueroa and Andreas Stamm.

A lot is happening in the world of natural gas. Just recently, the European Commission published its gas strategy and the United States exported its first Liquefied Natural Gas. It is a clear sign of the role that gas plays and will have to play in Europe’s energy mix, writes François-Régis Mouton.

The EU played a key role in making the unexpectedly strong Paris agreement on climate change happen.  It must now walk the walk and deliver increased climate ambition through its own energy union, argue Nick Mabey and Sandrine Dixson-Declève. 

The Paris climate deal is a tremendous, historic achievement. For the first time since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the world has been able to agree on a common path to fight climate change, writes Jim Currie.

The EU was a strong bridge-builder in the Paris climate talks, but could have pushed for even more, had one of its members not decided to spoil the party, writes Andrzej Ancygier.

After COP21, multinationals will play a crucial role in achieving ambitious climate targets. While policymakers can provide the right legislative framework and policy priorities, Malgosia Bartosik explains why businesses are taking the lead.

Whether COP21 will be a success or not remains to be seen. What is certain is that climate change is still an urgent problem. Energy efficiency, renewables and sustainable mobility provide the solutions, writes Rolf Wüstenhagen.

Failure to address climate change effectively will lead to adverse impacts on all countries, but if EU ambition is matched globally, we will maintain economic growth and job creation while meeting the 2°C objective, writes Seán Kelly.

Switching to a clean economy will not cost us jobs, it will create them. Employment prospects are not an obstacle to going green, write Sharan Burrow and Paul Polman.

Can energy policy hold the European Union together? Christophe Schramm and Antoine Guillou believe it can.

Gas should play no part in the EU’s energy transition: policy makers must see through the industry’s lobbying and invest in renewables and energy efficiency, argues Brook Riley.

Much of the data on which the EU Commission bases its policy-making on reducing harmful emissions is fake, writes Dick Roche.

Ambitious national plans are needed to tackle climate change, but responsibility for change rests with all of us, not just with governments, writes Aileen McLeod.

The gas industry's claims that it is needed to back up renewables and cut emissions appear to be increasingly accepted by the architects of the Energy Union, writes Brook Riley. But the truth is that gas is not clean and EU leaders, meeting today to discuss the Energy Union, need to focus on renewables and energy efficiency instead.