Hope after Cancún?

According to Michael Jacobs in the Guardian sees the Cancún climate summit as a sign of hope because not only action must be taken to tackle climate change but also a low-carbon world generates different opportunities and a green growth.

Now countries have put domestic emissions reduction commitments into a formal UN agreement, further action can be justified. The really convincing political and economic case for investing in low-carbon energy is not just tackling future climate change but generating "green growth" now. It's the jobs and the new clean industries that will be stimulated by a low-carbon world that countries and businesses are eyeing up eagerly. But investing in these requires confidence that others are also cutting emissions – that there will be new low-carbon markets, and that high performance will not be undercut by competition from lower-cost polluters.
After Cancún, the global race to produce clean technologies is back on. Business and investor confidence has a chance of being restored. Europe has justification for moving to its higher 30% emissions reduction target by 2020. The really significant shift is the willingness of emerging economies — China, India, Brazil, South Korea and others – to cut emissions growth, and their refusal to allow the world to be dragged backwards by the dysfunctional domestic politics of the US. The view now is that America will simply have to catch up later when the economic costs of its high-carbon economy become painfully apparent.

Michael Jacobs

Revised Energy Efficiency Action Plan should focus on efficient buildings

The European Parliament passed a resolution that states that efficient buildings should be a key priority in the revised Energy Efficient Action Plan, proposing proper implementation of existing legislation and public sector example-setting. Energy efficiency should also be improved 20% by 2020.

Since existing buildings consume about 40% of energy, the European Parliament strongly advocates their efficiency-oriented renovation. However, investment costs are high and must be upfront and incentives are split in multi-apartment buildings. Innovative ways to remove these downsides, such as district refurbishment plans, financial incentives available at regional, national and European levels (proven "pay as you save" mechanisms, are needed.

The assessment of the energy efficiency potential of existing buildings should start with public buildings including schools. EU institutions and agencies should set an example by refurbishing their buildings in a cost-effective manner to near-zero energy consumption levels by 2019. The Commission should propose minimum requirements for the installation of street lighting and the purchase of vehicles by public authorities.

Want to destroy carbon? Now you can!

The Sandbag created an initiative to take pollution permits out of the system: Destroy Carbon.
Sandbag claims it is giving individuals and organisations the chance to intervene directly to buy and destroy pollution permits, taking them out of the hands of would-be polluters.

This is citizen action to reduce the number of pollution permits and hence to reduce the cap on CO2 emissions.

It comes with a cost, of course: the market price of permits plus Sandbag's operational costs (£14.78 per tonne), but includes an email to politicians to reduce the supply of pollution permits and a certificate.

Summary of the Cancún summit by the Pew Center

The Pew Center provided a summary of the Cancún summit here.

The agreements import the essential elements of the Copenhagen Accord into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including mitigation pledges and operational elements such as the Green Climate Fund for developing nations and a system of “international consultations and analysis” to help verify countries’ actions. Agreement hinged on finding a way to finesse the more difficult questions of if, when, and in what form countries will take binding commitments. The final outcome leaves all options on the table and sets no clear path toward a binding agreement.

Pew Center

IEA-IETA-EPRI GHG Emission Trading Workshop Proceedings

Check out the Proceedings of a workshop organized by IEA, IETA and EPRI on greenhouse gas emission trading.

The workshop covered topics relevant to the future of global carbon markets post-COP 15, including scaled-up and new market mechanisms, regional linkages, carbon market oversight, and accounting and verification. As in previous years, the workshop invited government and business to discuss advances in various national GHG markets, as well as carbon market developments over the past year. A high-level panel was invited to discuss the future of carbon markets in a Copenhagen Accord world.

Sara Moarif, IEA

Energy Efficiency not very popular amongst politicians

A report from the World Economic Forum warns about the substantial gap between policy and implementation of energy efficiency measures.
The report "Energy Efficiency, accelerating the agenda" refers that energy efficiency could reduce substantially the energy demand by 2030. But identifies market and institutional failures that limit its success.
The major challenges identified include access to capital for energy efficiency projects, a regulatory structure of incentives, uniform measuring and reporting, skills and supply chains to deliver energy efficiency measures and international standards for products.

Tapping into the “largely unrealized potential” of energy efficiency will be essential to meet growing energy demand in the future, which is expected to see a 40% increase by 2050.

Pawel Konzal (World Economic Forum)

More information: Energy efficiency not necessarily low-hanging fruit, warns report

Cancún climate summit

The Cancún climate summit didn't bring a new deal for post 2012 (the Kyoto protocol ends in 2012). It brought an agreement to take some modest steps to combat climate change and assist developing nations. It established a $100 billion a year Green Climate Fund to help poorer nations adopt low-carbon technologies, adapt to climate change and protect the world's forests.
It was also agreed that average global temperature should not rise above 2ºC above pre-industrial times and to share information about clean energy technologies.
We will have to wait for South Africa in 2010 for a successor of the Kyoto Protocol that attributed a legally binding target to the world's richest nations, with the exception of the US, to cut their greenhouse gas emissions since Japan, Canada and Russia refused to discuss extending the Kyoto Protocol in favour of a new deal including the US, China and India in this summit.

More information: COP16: Cancún talks end with modest climate deal

Financing energy efficiency, a new report by the IEA

Money Matters—mitigating risk to spark private investments in energy efficiency is a new free publication from the IEA.

Scaling-up investment in energy efficiency is essential to achieving a sustainable energy future. Despite energy efficiency’s recognised advantages as a bankable investment with immense climate change mitigation benefits, most of the energy efficiency potential remains untapped and the investment gap to achieve climate goals is tremendous. This report seeks to improve understanding of why this is so, and what can be done about it.

Fourth Environment State and Outlook report by EEA

The EEA released its fourth environment state and outlook report - SOER2010. This assessment shows that natural resources are being consumed at an accelerated rate increasing pressure in ecosystems, economies and social cohesion in the European Union.
However, there are some good news: the environmental policies developed in EU continue improving the environment without undermining its growth potential.
The report also states that all environmental resources (biodiversity, land, carbon, rivers, the seas and the air) need to be fully considered in production, consumption and global trade decisions.

There are no quick fixes but regulators, businesses and citizens need to work together and find innovative ways to use resources more efficiently. The seeds for future action exist: the task ahead is to help them take root and flourish.

Executive Director of the EEA

Key findings and recommendations

Climate change: The European Union has made progress in cutting emissions and expanding renewable energy. The EU-27's 2009 emissions stand 17 % below the 1990 level and therefore very close to the bloc’s target of cutting emissions 20 % by 2020. However, sectoral trends are not all positive. EU-27 emissions from transport rose by 24% between 1990 and 2008.
Climate change adaptation: Even if Europe meets all its emission reduction targets and world leaders agree on bold measures during the climate talks currently taking place in Cancun, Mexico, Europe will still need to adapt to ongoing and expected climate change impacts. Dedicated management of natural capital can help deal with these challenges.
Biodiversity, ecosystems and people’s health: The Natura 2000 network of protected areas, which now covers around 18 % of EU land, has helped protect endangered species and preserve green spaces for leisure. Air and water quality legislation has reduced pressure on biodiversity and people. On the other hand, intensification of land use, loss of habitats and overfishing prevented the EU from meeting its target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.
Integrated solutions with a global perspective: By showing the many links between different challenges, environmental and others, SOER2010 encourages us to increase integrated actions across different policy areas dealing with these challenges, so as to deliver improvements quicker and maximise co-benefits (e.g. mitigate climate change and improve air quality at the same time).
Resource efficiency: Food, energy and water security are key drivers of land use as often conflicting demands increase (e.g. for food, feed and fuel). Accounting and pricing that takes full account of resource use impacts are essential for steering business and consumers towards enhanced resource efficiency.
Citizen involvement: Policy alone cannot halt or reverse environmental trends. We need to increase the number of citizens committed to reducing their impact on the environment by involving them in collecting data and through social media.

SOER2010 analysis for Portugal:
Air pollution: air quality is good except in some agglomerations in the north and centre regions, Lisbon and the Tagus valley. Most important pollutants are ozone and particles (PM10).
Climate change: Portugal is extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels and coastal erosion.
Nature protection and biodiversity: preservation of “montado” (traditionally grazed oak forests), the cereal steppes and the mountain “lameiros” (humid meadows) is essential to maintain the portuguese biodiversity. Desertification caused by water erosion and the degradation of water quality is a major threat. Portuguese ecosystems and agriculture are also particularly vulnerable to climate change due to the associated risks of fire and drought.
Land use: pressures created by increasing urban areas particularly in coastal zones; in rural areas major threats are the intensification of farming and forestry activity and abandonment.
Freshwater: an evaluation of the state of our river basins is being currently developed. This assessment will identify rivers that have poor ecological quality and define measures to increase it until 2015, according to the Water Framework Directive. Wastewater collection still needs to be improved.
Waste: Inadequate treatment or improper disposal of industrial, agricultural, domestic or medical waste are major threats.

European Parliament puts energy efficiency at top of the agenda

The resolution A new Energy Strategy for Europe 2011-2020 adopted by the European Parliament states energy efficiency should be a key part of the EU energy strategy 2011-2020.

Exploit better the EU's energy efficiency and renewable energy potential

[The European Parliament]
37. Takes the view that energy efficiency and energy savings should be key priorities of any future strategy, as they represent a cost-effective way of reducing EU energy dependency and combating climate change, contributing to job creation and economic competitiveness and counteracting the increase in energy tariffs and bills, thus reducing energy poverty; calls on the Commission and the Member States to put energy efficiency at the top of the EU agenda, and calls for the implementation of existing legislation to be stepped up and for the timely adoption by the Commission of an ambitious Energy Efficiency Action Plan; therefore believes that it should be implemented in a way that takes into account the efforts already made in some Member States;

40. Believes that energy efficiency and energy savings should also focus on the whole energy supply and demand chain, including transformation, transmission, distribution and supply, alongside industrial, household and transport consumption;

41. Supports the development of a properly functioning market for energy services and the introduction of further market mechanisms to improve the energy efficiency as a way of stimulating the competitiveness of the EU economy;

42. Believes, further, that more focus should be placed on the energy performance of energy-consuming products; encourages the Commission to implement the eco-design directive to the full, e.g. by including more products and applying a dynamic standard-setting model to ensure that ambitious targets are set and regularly updated;

43. Calls on the Commission to present an evaluation of the implementation of the existing legislation; considers that, if the evaluation reveals unsatisfactory implementation of the overall energy efficiency strategy and the EU is therefore projected not to reach its 2020 energy efficiency target, the EEAP should include a commitment by the Commission to propose further EU measures for Member States, such as individual energy efficiency targets which correspond to at least 20% energy savings at EU level in line with the EU2020 headline targets and which take into account relative starting positions and national circumstances, and the approval in advance of each Member State's national energy efficiency action plan; considers that such additional measures should be shown to be necessary, fair and measurable and to have an effective and direct impact on the implementation of national energy efficiency plans; calls on the Commission and the Member States to agree on a common methodology for measuring national energy efficiency targets and monitoring progress towards achieving those targets.

Reviewing existing and proposed emissions trading scheme

Reviewing existing and proposed emissions trading scheme is a new publication by the IEA that analysis emissions trading schemes in place and under consideration in 2010, focusing on the energy sector.
An emission trading scheme is very important to effectively tackle climate change. Without a greenhouse gas emissions price companies are not stimulated to take action.

China's commitments

The chinese government is committed to stick to the targets announced at last year's Copenhagen Climate Summit to cut the country's carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.
A new plan for 2011 to 2015 pledges to make "progressive efforts" to establish a carbon market, work towards improving energy efficiency, and further develop low-carbon technology on an international basis.

Yesterday, the Gulbenkian Foundation promoted a talk with Christine Loh, the founder of Civic Exchange about China and the World. Special attention was given to environmental challenges, particularly air pollution. It is expected that by 2020 China will have 50% of the population living in cities and this creates great challenges. This talk was broadcasted online (but with cuts) and it may be available soon here.

More information: China unveils climate goals

A new climate deal in Cancun? Probably not

Starting on the 29th November, the climate change conference will be held in Cancun. A new climate deal for the period starting in 2013 is unlikely, but some agreements are possible, according to a UN official, on forestry, technology transfer and long-term financing to help governments tackle climate change issues.


More information: Cautious optimism ahead of climate summit

http://www.climatepolicytracker.eu

WWF and Ecofys launched a new tracking tool that shows that only a third of the necessary action needed today to put EU countries on a path towards a low carbon economy by 2050 (reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95%), is currently being undertaken.
It provides for the first time an up-to-date snapshot of greenhouse gas emission controls across the EU using a Member State-by-Member State and sector-by sector analysis.

“The Climate Policy Tracker is a powerful tool that measures the impact of policies and their effectiveness. It allows people to easily identify the policy sectors which need more attention and where action is most effective in reducing emissions. []
There are success stories in each country and policy makers should learn from best practices across Europe. Overall, however, the ratings are low. Support for renewable energy is most widely implemented across Europe and shows the most progress, whilst energy efficiency, transport and industry are lagging behind.”

Niklas Höhne, Director Energy and Climate Policy, Ecofys

Portugal is rated E in the climate policy tracker, along with other 14 member states, including Spain and the UK. Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Sweden are rated D.
Country Summary
Portugal made a significant effort to implement new policies to reach the Kyoto target, but significant gaps exist for the country to be on a low-carbon development path. Several good initiatives are planned but not yet implemented. Highlights are its support for renewable electricity and efficient appliances. If the positive policy-making trend continues, Portugal will rate significantly better next year.

Success Stories
Portugal has a well-designed feed-in tariff for RES and is about to reach the ambitious target of 45% of electricity consumed coming from RES. - Energy efficiency policies in industry, buildings and transportation are promising.

Areas that need improvements
Portugal made a significant effort to implement new policies to reach the Kyoto target but significant gaps exist to be on a low-carbon development path. - Although the support for RES electricity is well designed and is giving important results, important barriers, such as administrative bottlenecks and grid development need to be removed to reach the targets.

Evaluation per sector for Portugal

Green touchscreen

Green touchscreen is an online tool developed by Siemens to measure the energy efficiency of buildings, allowing to monitor energy consumption in real time.

Green touchscreen in Lx sustentável blog (in portuguese)

Lighter coloured roads could reduce temperatures in hot urban areas

Urban areas are considered heat islands due to land use changes (materials that effectively retain heat with low permeability to water). Compared to rural areas, temperatures in cities can typically be warmer by several degrees. This heat is transferred to the surrounding air and increases air pollution problems (tropospheric ozone and smog) and the demand for air conditioning and even heat-related illness and dead in vulnerable people.
However, this effect can be minimised through the use of green roofs and lighter-colored surfaces, which reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat.
A recent study by Synnefa, A., Karlessi, T., Gaitani, N. (2010) tested the use of cool colored thin layer asphalt and estimated its potential to improve microclimate. This solution could significantly lower surface temperatures in hot urban areas, making living conditions more comfortable and reducing the amount of energy needed to cool buildings. Paved roads are typically made of a mixture of asphalt (bitumen) and aggregate material. But different ways are being developed: in this study they used a colourless, flexible asphalt binder and various pigments and sizes of coloured aggregates (granular materials), resulting in beige, off-white, green, red and yellow paved material that were tested for their ability to reflect solar energy and compared to a thin-layer sample of conventional black asphalt. All samples reflected back higher levels of solar radiation than conventional black asphalt, ranging from 55% (off-white) to 27% (red and green), compared with 4% radiation reflection of black asphalt.
However, lighter coloured surfaces can cause glare, which can be a problem for drivers. But some 'invisible' reflectance is possible if the reflectance is in the 'near-infra-red' part of the spectrum.
In conclusion, the thin-layers of coloured asphalt could be applied onto existing or new asphalt road surfaces. Computer modelling suggests an off-white coloured surface on a road could lower the average air temperature by 5°C in low wind speeds.

Reference: Synnefa, A., Karlessi, T., Gaitani, N. (2010) Experimental testing of cool colored thin layer asphalt and estimation of its potential to improve the urban microclimate. Building and Environment. 46: 38-44.

Contact: asynnefa@phys.uoa.gr

IEA Open Energy Technology Bulletin (18th November)

The IEA Open Energy Technology Bulletin states that if their 25 energy-efficiency policy recommendations were applied globally, carbon emissions equal to 200% of those currently emitted by the EU could be saved per year.

The IEA release the following Policy Pathways Brochures:
Monitoring, Verification and Enforcement - Improving Compliance within Equipment Energy Efficiency Programmes - provides policy makers and other stakeholders with “how-to” guidance for hands-on action to capitalise better on energy-efficiency policies.

Energy Performance Certification of Buildings - A Policy Tool to Improve Energy Efficiency - focuses on the building sector that is responsible for 40% of energy consumption.

Natural gas network and energy grid upgrades

According to the European Commission, €200bn will be spent in the next ten years to upgrade EU's natural gas networks (€70bn) and energy grids(€130bn) and bring more renewable energy on-line.

The EU energy strategy 2020 published on 10th November

defines the energy priorities for the next ten years and sets the actions to be taken in order to tackle the challenges of saving energy, achieving a market with competitive prizes and secure supplies, boosting technological leadership, and effectively negotiate with our international partners.

Some priority areas for improving energy transport systems include a North Sea offshore electricity grid to link wind power installations in the regions and south-western electricity links between the North of Africa, Spain, France and Italy for solar power projects.

It is also referred that the implementation of smart grids could reduce the EU's annual primary energy consumption in 2020 by almost 9%. A decision on a specific strategy for smart grids is expected in the first half of 2011.

Carbon capture and storage should be treated with caution because the technology has not been proven.

More information:
Brussels unveils energy infrastructure overhaul

How to Build the Supergrid

Check out the latest Scientific American article on how to build the supergrid (paid article).

Smart grids could save Europe €52bn

Experts from the Smart Energy Demand Coalition state that smart grids and smart meters could save Europe €52bn.

Smart grids reduce losses in the electricity network through automation and smart meters provide information on energy consumption to consumers and allow them to manage their consumption.

Utilities will also be able to lower the system voltage level and make meter-reading redundant, argued Chris King, chief regulatory officer at eMeter. After deducting necessary costs like the installation of smart meters and new software, the net benefit would still be €31 billion per year, he said.

More information:
"Smart grids could save Europe €52bn"

Energy efficiency and emissions reduction

According to the EPA, energy efficiency is most likely the most cost effective way for industrial facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The revised Clean Air Act states that from January 2011, new facilities or major modifications to existing ones should employ the best available control technology (BACT) to minimise emissions

More information:
Energy efficiency most effective way to reduce emissions, says EPA

Roadmap 2050

Roadmap 2050 is an initiative by the European Climate Foundation to provide a practical, independent and objective analysis of pathways to achieve a low-carbon economy in Europe, in line with the energy security, environmental and economic goals of the European Union.
In 2050 is it technically possible and affordable to have an electric mix of 80% renewable energy, 10% fossil fuels with CCS and 10% nuclear. For this to happen, governments need to start cooperating now to create an European "super grid" reliable for high shares of renewable energy supply and to define ambitious targets to 2020 for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, so that the carbon price starts working as a stimulus for innovation and competitiveness.
Reports are available for download here.

World Energy Outlook 2010

World Energy Outlook 2010

The world appears to be emerging from the worst economic crisis in decades. Many countries have made pledges under the Copenhagen Accord to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Commitments have also been made by the G-20 and APEC leaders to phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies. Are we, at last, on the path to a secure, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy system?

What more must be done and spent to achieve the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius? What would be the impact of these actions on oil markets?

How will emerging economies increasingly shape the global energy landscape? Where will their policy decisions lead us? And will China sustain and intensify the four-fold improvement in energy intensity it has achieved in the last thirty years?

How quickly will the contribution of renewables to meeting the world's energy needs grow? How much will it cost? And to what extent does growth in deployment and use of renewable energy hinge on government support?

All these questions and many others are answered in the World Energy Outlook 2010 (WEO-2010).

Article uploaded in Pluridoc

Analysing the implementation of three vehicle renewal and one urban mobility measures defined in the Portuguese Energy Efficiency Action Plan (PNAEE) is available in Pluridoc.

Abstract:
The Portuguese Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (PNAEE) aims a 10% reduction in final energy consumption in 2015, compared with the average of final energy consumption from 2001 to 2005, through the implementation of energy efficiency policies in transportation, residential, services, industry and government. The transportation sector is responsible for more than a third of final energy consumption and will have the highest predicted energy savings (41%). This paper analyses the implementation of measures included in the vehicle renewal and urban mobility programs. The vehicle renewal program aims to increase energy efficiency of cars through incentives to replace them by more efficient ones and equipment changes. It focuses on reducing the percentage of passenger and commercial vehicles with more than 10 years to 30% and the greenhouse gas emissions from new cars to 110 g CO2/km, so low emissions vehicles represent 10% of the total number of cars circulating in 2015. Urban mobility program aims to encourage the use of public instead of individual transport in urban areas through the creation of mobility plans, the increase in efficiency of public transportation and modal shifting in cities. It focuses on transferring 5% of passenger km (pkm) in Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon (AML) and Porto (AMP) from individual to public transportation in 2015. Based on estimated car ownership, end-of-life vehicles’ decommissioning and new low-emission vehicles sales, the paper concludes that meeting the targets for vehicle renewal measures is unlikely. Based on the increase from individual transport in pkm in AML and AMP, meeting the target is likely. However, trends in pkm are uncertain in the upcoming years. Even assuming that public transportation will continue losing pkm (from 1991 to 2001, the transportation system in AML and AMP changed from one based on public transport to one based on individual transportation), the percentage loss to cars remains difficult to estimate.

Keywords: efficiency plan, transportation, policies, mobility, vehicle renewal

Comments are greatly appreciated!

Interview with Tulsi Tanti (in portuguese)

An interesting interview with Tulsi Tanti, the CEO of Suzlon (Indian wind turbines manufacturer) can be found here (in Portuguese).

Suzlon is the third largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the World.

Tanti argues that tariffs should be dynamic and that who should pay renewable energies costs' is everyone that consumes above the average and in the peek hours.

PassivHaus construction

An interesting article from The Ecologist about PassivHaus Construction

How does it work?
Imagine wrapping a whole house in a tea cosy. Instead of just insulating the walls and lofts, the insulating layer is continuous. The emphasis is on super-insulation and stringent levels of airtightness to create a ‘tea-cosy effect’ (or minimal thermal bridging). The houses are also designed to optimise heat from the sun (passive solar gain). The only techie bit is the mechanical ventilation and heat-recovery system (MVHR), which provides the house with fresh air and helps to warm it by recovering heat from the extracted air and transferring it to the incoming air. In addition, most of the of heat generated inside – body heat from people and animals, heat from lighting and cooking, as well as solar gain – is retained within the building. As a result you hardly need any traditional heating or air conditioning systems.

Europe facing €1trn bill to upgrade electricity grids

A draft version of the EC energy strategy estimates that the EU will have to spend about €1trn by 2020 to update, expand and strengthen its ageing electricity grids.

The European Union's five main energy priorities for the next ten years must be energy efficiency, an integrated market, technological leadership, energy security and strong international partnerships.

Read the article

Policy Pathways: Showing the way to energy efficiency implementation now

Policy Pathways: Showing the way to energy efficiency implementation now is a publication by the IEA aimed at helping governments implement energy efficiency policies.

This first issue is about performance standards of appliances.

Governments are missing a great opportunity to save energy. Even the countries that are most proactive on energy efficiency have implemented less than 60% of the IEA energy efficiency recommendations,” said IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka at the launch in Paris.

Read the article

International Low-Carbon Energy Technology Platform

IEA created the Low-Carbon Energy Technology Platform.

Its aim is to accelerate and scale-up action for the development and deployment of clean energy technologies by: catalysing partnerships and activities at regional and national levels; sharing best-practice technology policy; and reviewing progress on low-carbon technology deployment to help identify gaps in policy and international collaboration.

Q&A about new energy labels for TVs, refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines

The European Commission set new energy labels for appliances.

How does energy labelling concern consumers?
Televisions; refrigerators, freezers; dishwashers and washing machines represents on average 30% of the electricity bill paid each month by households. The energy label will allow the consumer in the shop to easily see which are the appliances consuming the least energy.

What are the main differences between the old and the new label?
The new labelling system allows up to three classes (A+ to A+++) to be added on top of class A so as to provide consumers with more differentiation between products. If the majority of the market reaches the upper two classes (A++, A+++), the classification will be reviewed. However, it is expected that classes A+++ are close to the technological limit of possible efficiency improvements.
Another novelty is that the label is language free and will be added in the packaging of each appliance. It will allow retailers to easily attach the label to the appliances at the point of sale and avoid today's situation where appliances are often mislabelled.

How much energy can a household save with the highest energy class on the label?
The actual amount of energy saved depends of course on a concrete product (its size and features). For example, a refrigerator-freezer in class A+++ will consume on average 60% less than a refrigerator-freezer in class A. A dishwasher or a washing machine in class A+++ will consume on average 30% less than a dishwasher or a washing machine in class A.

Will the TV and other equipment be more expensive for consumers?
The label scheme does not increase the prices. Energy efficient products tend to cost more but they save energy. The label gives the consumer the choice which product he prefers.

Does the introduction of these new labels ban some household equipment from the market?
The label does not ban any product from the market but provides information and market transparency to assist consumers to make an informed purchasing decision. It ensures that all products are comparable using the same test methods and classification. The aim of energy labelling is to provide incentives for industry to develop further improved products and innovations beyond the "minimum" mandatory energy efficiency levels.

Why does the energy label for televisions have seven classes from A to G while the energy label on refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines goes up to class A+++?
The principle is that the energy label starts with the classes A to G when it is introduced for the first time on the market (which is currently the case for televisions). Refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines have already been displaying the energy label with the A to G classes for more than 10 years. As a result of the technological improvement triggered by the label, around 90% of those products currently reach class A. This is why new classes have been introduced on top of class A to allow consumers to differentiate "better than A" products.

How will the new label be introduced at the point of sale? Is an old class A of household refrigerating appliances, dishwashers and washing machines the same as the new one?
The new label will gradually be introduced at the point of sale, meaning that consumers are likely to see the old and the new label close to each other for several months at the point of sale. However, since an old class A or B appliance is equivalent to a new class A or B, consumers will still be able to compare products at the point of sale on the basis of both energy labels.

When will the Regulations enter into force and when will the label become mandatory?
The entering into force of the Regulations is subject to the right of objection of the European Parliament and Council. If they do not object, the Regulations should enter into force around December 2010 or February 2011. The label will be allowed on a voluntary basis immediately after the entry into force of the Regulation and become mandatory on all appliances placed on the market one year after the entry into force of the Regulations.

What is the difference between energy labels, ecolabels and ecodesign?
Energy labels are adopted by the European Commission on a product by product basis (energy labelling Directive 2010/30/EU). They display ranking of products according to their energy efficiency consumption on an A to G scale, the A class (green) being the most energy efficient appliances and the G class (red) the least. Once the majority of products reaches class A, up to three classes (A+/A++/A+++) are added on top of class A.
Energy labels are mandatory for all appliances placed on the EU market and should always be clearly displayed on each appliance at the point of sale.
Ecolabels are voluntary labels adopted by the European Commission on a product by product (Ecolabel Regulation (EC/66/2010). The Ecolabel, i.e. the flower logo, may be displayed on products and promotional material on a voluntary basis if they respond to a list of the criteria pre-defined in implementing measures of the Commission and guaranteeing that the product is among the most environmentally friendly in his sector.
Ecodesign requirements are adopted by the European Commission on a product by product basis (ecodesign Directive EC/2009/125). They set minimum requirements on the performance of the products so as to improve their environmental impact. Ecodesign requirements are mandatory and must be met by all products to be allowed to be placed on the EU market. They are based on an assessment of the impact of the product on the environment throughout its life-cycle, starting from the production stage, through to production, distribution and disposal.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) network

The CCS network is the first network of CCS demonstration projects.

More information: Commission sets up world's first project network for CO2 Capture and Storage

EU risks missing efficiency goal

A report by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) concludes that EU's 20% energy efficiency goal for 2020 may not be reached. Despite 2008 economic recession and existing efficiency and renewable energy policies Europe will still have to save 208 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

This is more than half of what is needed to achieve the 20% non-binding target, which is equivalent to energy savings of about 394Mtoe. The gap can be bridged almost entirely by strengthening energy efficiency efforts in end-use sectors: residential, services, transport and industry. Further savings can be achieved by improving the energy efficiency of power generation and refineries.

The 2006 EU action plan on energy efficiency will be reviewed soon.

Source: ECEEE - EU risks missing efficiency goal, report warns

More information: Roadmap 2050

China turns climate change into Jobs

Thomas Friedman in The New York Times writes about chinese cleverness in turning climate change into jobs. On the contrary, the US is getting behind: the energy bill needed to scale clean technologies has not been approved and lots of doubts remain about climate change.

So while America’s Republicans turned “climate change” into a four-letter word — J-O-K-E — China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word — J-O-B-S.
And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.

EU ETS responsible for no more than 0.3% carbon savings from 2008 to 2012

A new report from Sandbag warns that the emissions trading scheme implemente by EU since 2008 can increase CO2 emissions rather than reducing them for most of the coming decades unless the it is revised.

The group's calculations show that the scheme, which covers some 12,000 industrial installations and half of the EU's emissions, will at best achieve some 32 million tonnes of CO2 savings during the 2008-2012 period. This is a small fraction of the annual emissions of 1.9 billion tonnes from these installations, it said, adding that the EU would have been better off by simply imposing a cap on one of Europe's largest polluters over the same period.
Moreover, the report argued that the meagre reductions are unlikely to take place in Europe because there is an ample supply of cheap international offset credits. As a result, European emissions could actually increase by 34% from current levels by 2016.

More information:
'Minuscule' CO2 savings expected from EU scheme

Recession accelerates the decline in EU greenhouse gas emissions

The European Environment Agency estimated that greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union decreased by 6.9% in 2009, compared with 2008. This is due to the recession that affected cement, chemical, iron and steel industries. Consumption of fossil fuels, particularly coal, fell by 5.5 % in 2009 compared to the previous year. At the same time, renewable energy use (excluding biomass) increased significantly, rising by 8.3 %.

Siemens makes its factories greener

According to a press release from Siemens, the company wants to reduce energy and CO2 emissions by 20% by the end of 2011. Siemens will invest circa €100 million until the end of 2012 to make its factories greener. The german company is also worried about its suppliers' performance, stating that in the next two years they are to check their companies' energy and environmental efficienct.

“We want to be the first industrial enterprise in the world with an entirely environmentally friendly supply chain”

It is estimated that the company’s 1,000 most important suppliers alone could reduce their CO2 emissions by 1.5 million tons a year and their energy costs by around €170 million.

Doing More While Using Less Power

An interesting article in the New York Times about energy efficiency and the obstacles to efficiency:

“Policy makers are supportive of energy efficiency in concept, but there’s this whole argument of ‘just leave it to the market,”’ Mr. Nadel said. Politically, too, building a power plant brings visible, vote-winning jobs, so “efficiency is everyone’s second choice,” he said.

But some market incentives are misaligned. “Major energy providers make more money out of kilowatt-hours that they sell rather than the ones that they don’t sell,” Ms. Zoi said.

Decoupling utility profits from the amount of energy sold, as California did in 1983, is a way to fix this problem, and it is a growing trend. Twenty-nine other U.S. states have since followed that lead or are about to do so, according to the Institute for Energy Efficiency.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy

Worldwide energy consumption would be 56% higher today than it would have otherwise been without the various Energy Efficiency policies that have been implemented since 1973.

Worldwide, investment in renewable energies has boomed in recent years, with some $190 billion worth of new clean energy in 2008, according to the Renewables Global Status Report for 2009. The number of large solar plants tripled to 1,800 between 2007 and 2008, with the majority of new plants in Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Portugal.

Electricity survey May 2010

The International Energy Agency released the May 2010 electricity survey for OECD countries.

The Figure below shows the electricity production by source in Portugal in May 2010. The highest share is hydro power production.

Electricity production by source in Portugal in May 2010

In May 2010, Portugal exports were higher than imports.

Compared to May 2009, electricity production from fossil fuels decreased 58.2% and hydro power increased 317.5%. 2010 has been a great year for hydro power production, as shown below.

Year to date comparison of production by fuel type

More information:
International Energy Agency Electricity Survey

Is efficient sufficient?

A report published by ECEEE, Is efficient sufficient?, argues that energy efficiency does not prevent power consumption or annual energy use to rise, even if it is in a steady, linearly way, with product performance, size, amenity or functionality.
Although

we have slowed the rate of growth compared to a business-as-usual scenario, but have not consistently turned absolute energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions downward.

The report recommends that efficiency specifications should be tailored in a more effective way:

Progressive efficiency specifications can in many cases be crafted where the allowable power consumption approaches those sufficiency limits and ceases to increase, no matter how much more performance or amenity is provided. ENERGY STAR has proposed exactly that in its version 5.0 television specification, which will help to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions even as televisions continue to grow in size. Such specifications, when employed by programs that also recover and recycle the energy-using products consumers are replacing, reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels, increase product durability, and minimize hours of use, have the potential to finally bring overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions downward.

However,

progressive efficiency standards alone will not be enough to turn down energy consumption.

We will need voluntary and mandatory efficiency policies and programs to systematically implement sufficiency and progressive efficiency concepts, keep specifications up to date, and discourage excessive consumption through price and information signals.

Renewable energy in Portugal

An article in the New York Times, Portugal makes the leap to renewable energy, reveals the effort Portugal has been doing in renewable energies, particularly wind, hydropower, sunlight and ocean waves. Nearly 45% of the electricity in Portugal will come from renewable sources in 2010, wind power has expanded seven times and in 2011 there will be a national network of charging stations for electric cars.
However,

while Portugal’s experience shows that rapid progress is achievable, it also highlights the price of such a transition. Portuguese households have long paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity, and prices have risen 15 percent in the last five years, probably partly because of the renewable energy program, the International Energy Agency says. Although a 2009 report by the agency called Portugal’s renewable energy transition a “remarkable success,” it added, “It is not fully clear that their costs, both financial and economic, as well as their impact on final consumer energy prices, are well understood and appreciated.”

The other issue is the promise of job creation, but this can be limited:

In Portugal, as in the United States, politicians have sold green energy programs to communities with promises of job creation. Locally, the effect has often proved limited. For example, more than five years ago, the isolated city of Moura became the site of Portugal’s largest solar plant because it “gets the most sun of anywhere in Europe and has lots of useless space,” said José Maria Prazeres Pós-de-Mina, the mayor. But while 400 people built the Moura plant, only 20 to 25 work there now, since gathering sunlight requires little human labor. Unemployment remains at 15 percent, the mayor said — though researchers, engineers and foreign delegations frequently visit the town’s new solar research center.

China shuts down inefficient factories

There are about 2,000 factories to shut down by 30th September in China, including steel mills, cement works and other energy-intensive factories.
According to the chinese Minister of the Industry and Information Technology, the goal of the factory closings is “to enhance the structure of production, heighten the standard of technical capability and international competitiveness and realize a transformation of industry from being big to being strong”.
The chinese plan to reduce energy use by 20% for each unit of economic output (compared to 2005).
Efficiency improved 14.4 percent from 2005 to 2009, but deteriorate by 3.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to official statistics.

China to close 2000 factories in energy crackdown

Collapse movie

Collapse is a documentary about energy and oil dependence starring Michael Ruppert.

Energy shock within 10 years?

The UK’s Energy Secretary said recently in the Financial Times that the UK is “very likely” to experience an oil shock similar to the crises of the 1970s in the next decade.

In Ireland, a report published last week warned that the country’s GDP could fall “by as much as 7.5% if the world were to experience a sudden oil or gas price rise.” It notes that Ireland is more vulnerable to such a shock than the US, UK or the rest of Europe.

In the EU, the average dependency on foreign energy supplies is about 53.8%. However, in some countries, this rises to as much as 100% (Cyprus and Malta) and it’s in the 90% bracket for Luxembourg and Ireland.

Clean Energy Ministerial

Ministers from 24 governments launched new initiatives to accelerate the global transition to clean energy in the Clean Energy Ministerial
Some of them are:
-Appliances: The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative aims to transform the global market for energy-using equipment and appliances, such as televisions and lighting. SEAD will help governments overcome market barriers to capture a significant portion of global appliance efficiency energy savings.
SEAD addresses both ends of the efficiency spectrum: helping “pull” super-efficient devices into the market through cooperation on measures like manufacturer incentives and research and development investments and helping “push” inefficient devices off the market by bolstering national policies like minimum efficiency standards. Specific efforts include the development of “toolkits” for policymakers seeking to enhance national appliance efficiency programs and launching new Global Efficiency Awards, which will recognize the very best super-efficient appliances sold (and under development) in global markets.
-Buildings and Industry: The Global Superior Energy Performance (GSEP) Partnership will help large buildings and industrial facilities – which account for almost 60 percent of global energy use – measure and reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions over time, incentivizing positive change with an internationally-recognized certification program. GSEP participants will share tools, trainings and best practices for tracking and accelerating energy performance improvements, both within their sector and across industry sectors. As part of the program, eight companies representing over $600 billion in annual sales and one university will pilot the program.
-Smart Grid: The International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) will help accelerate the development and deployment of smart electricity grids around the world through high-level government dialogue, sharing best-practices, technical assistance, peer review and project coordination, where appropriate. Smart grid technologies will promote the growth of renewable energy, help consumers and businesses to better measure and manage their energy use, improve the reliability of the electrical system, and speed the introduction of fuel-saving electric vehicles. ISGAN complements the Global Smart Grid Federation, an ‘association of associations’ composed of leading smart grid stakeholder organizations from around the world, which was also announced at the Ministerial.

Energy priorities during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The energy priorities during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU are:
-Preparing the Energy Action Plan;
-A blueprint for a European Energy Infrastructure Plan;
-A benchmark report on measures how to make the energy policy more consumer-friendly with a special attention to vulnerable consumers;
-Finalising the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR) review;
-Energy Efficiency: An Indispensable Tool for Decarbonising European society;
-Evolving by 2050 not only towards a low-carbon economy, but towards a low-carbon society.

Events scheduled under the Belgian Presidency:
-An Informal Energy Council "Fuelling a Secure, Low-Carbon and Affordable Energy Future for Europe" taking place in Brussels, 6-7 September, that will try to discuss how to make energy policy more consumer-friendly and how to build a modern and integrated european energy grid.
-The Conference on the Energy Challenges for European Industry in Spa, 16-17 September;
-The Atomium Culture High-Level Workshop "A low-carbon society by 2050" in Brussels, 19-20 October
-The Biomass Conference in Brussels, 29 November.

EU proposes to end coal subsidies by 2014

Mines in Spain, Germany (Ruhr) and Romania (Jiu Valleu) rely on subsidies to be explored economically. The EU proposes to end coal subsidies by 2014. Why not ending coal subsidies sooner?

"Ending coal subsidies in 2010 would have "dire" social and economic consequences. It would also be worse for the environment because indigenous coal would probably be replaced by imported coal rather than other alternatives, says the Commission."

Poland produces more than half the EU's hard coal without subsidies.

China has become the most energy consuming country

According to the IEA, China became the largest consumer of energy in the world in 2009.

“In the 2000, the US consumed twice as much energy as China, now China consumes more than the US.”

However, on a per capita basis, the US still uses far more energy than China and remains less efficient than Europe.

China will determine how energy is used on a global scale – from the types of cars manufactured to the kinds of power plants built.

Source:
Finantial Times

Municipalities, schools and others can start producing electricity (in Portuguese)

Autarquias e IPSS incentivadas a produzir electricidade
09.07.2010
Lurdes Ferreira

As autarquias, as IPSS, as escolas e os mercados abastecedores podem passar também a ser produtores de electricidade e vendê-la à rede, segundo o pacote de medidas aprovado ontem em Conselho de Ministros, que estabeleceu também que a grande e média indústria deixa de ter tarifa eléctrica regulada em 2011.

As novas entidades produtoras de electricidade, com acesso a um regime bonificado de tarifas, passam a funcionar no regime de miniprodução descentralizada, que terá até 2020, uma quota de produção de 500 MW, o equivalente a onze centrais fotovoltaicas da Amareleja. As autarquias, que já recebem rendas pela concessão das suas redes à EDP Distribuição, poderão passar também a injectar energia na rede. O Governo tem dois meses para aprovar o diploma que vai estabelecer o regime jurídico de acesso a esta nova actividade e o regime remuneratório, cuja bonificação depende da associação a medidas de eficiência energética.

Na microprodução, a alteração que se espera de maior significado refere-se à agilização dos processos de registo junto do sistema informático online da Direcção-Geral de Energia, com o Governo a prometer agora que o registo passa a ser aberto até que se atinja o tecto de potência destinado a cada ano e que é aumentado de 10MW para 25 MW.

O interesse público das entidades candidatas e as medidas de eficiência energética associada passam ainda a ser critérios para o acesso ao regime de incentivos à microprodução. Entre as entidades estão as que prestem serviços de carácter social nas áreas da saúde, educação, solidariedade, protecção social, defesa, segurança, outros serviços do Estado e também autarquias.

A produção descentralizada de energia está prevista na Estratégia Nacional de Energia 2020 como um dos meios para atingir a meta de energias renováveis.

O impacto mais imediato do pacote de estímulo ao sector da energia, visando cumprir as disposições das directivas europeias sobre a matéria, prende-se com a extinção das tarifas eléctricas reguladas para a muito alta, alta, média e baixa tensão especial a partir de 1 de Janeiro de 2011. Actualmente já cerca de 85 por cento do consumo no mercado liberalizado é a da responsabilidade dos muito grandes, grandes e médios consumidores industriais.

A medida traduz-se, na prática, pelo fim da possibilidade de as empresas destes escalões de consumo poderem transitar entre o mercado regulado e o liberalizado consoante os preços, acabando a tarifa regulada. Hoje, apenas uma pequena parte da indústria permanece com tarifas reguladas, não passando dos cinco por cento do total. Todos os restantes consumidores - domésticos e pequenas empresas - continuam a ter acesso à tarifa fixada pela ERSE.

Para o Governo, esta medida "afigura-se simultaneamente favorável para os consumidores e para o desenvolvimento do mercado, tornando-o mais aberto e competitivo".

Na produção e utilização de biocombustíveis, será criado um sistema de emissão de títulos de biocombustível, baseado no princípio do mercado de carbono, e com valorização adicional para quem produza biocombustível a partir de resíduos e detritos ou matéria-prima com origem lenhosa. É também introduzido um sistema de comércio de títulos de biocombustível entre quem tenha disponibilidade de títulos e quem precise deles para cumprir as metas de incorporação ditadas pela directiva europeia.

From:
Ecosfera, Público

Interview with Randall Bowie about energy efficiency (in Portuguese)

Randall Bowie worked for the EC and helped set the energy policy. He is now a consultant in Rockwool International. He was one of the speakers at PCEEE.


Jornal Público publishes an interview with him.

Goal 2020 - strategy for Portugal

Biosfera is a portuguese television show dedicated to the environment.
One of the last shows was about the Portuguese energy paradigm and the strategy for 2020.
Video (in portuguese)

Energy intensity data

World energy intensity (2009)

Energy intensity from 1990 to 2009 (koe/$05p)

Energy intensity per region (2009)

World energy intensity has been slowly decreasing.
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States; includes Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) countries are the main contributors to energy intensity, followed by Africa and the Middle East. Europe has the lower share (8% and less than 0.15 koe/$05p).

Source:
ENERDATA

World electricity consumption per sector

Source: IEA, 2007

The Figure above shows the world electricity consumption per sector.
Residential and commercial and public services account for 50% and industry for 42%.

The dirty truth about plug-in hybrid cars

An interesting article in the Scientific American points out that although electric cars are emissions free on the road, their charging will increase electricity consumption and can also increase emissions depending on the fuels used to produce that electricity.

PCEEE - energy efficiency conference

I attended today part of PCEEE - Portugal em conferência para uma economia energeticamente eficiente.

This conference was organized by CENSE, ISR, UC, Quercus and IST.

Some interesting information I gathered:
- Energy efficiency is important in all the stages of the electric system.
- Lobbys that advocate for energy efficiency are not too powerful so it does not have the importance in public agenda that it should have.
- Policies associated with energy efficiency measures do not have enough visibility compared with renewable energies, for example.
- Negawatt hour does not have a direct value associated; only an indirect value related with CO2 eq emissions.
- Studies indicate that energy efficiency costs less to implement and has more direct impacts in energy supply and demand because when reducing energy consumption at home we are indirectly increasing the comfort index.
- In transportation, the average occupation of vehicles (private or public transportation) is about 20%. For cars this represents about 1.2 passengers per car.
- There is an Action Plan in preparation by the EU. It should be released in the summer of 2011 and it focus on increasing energy efficiency standards of existing buildings (30 million buildings should have deep renovations by 2020). The problem with this Action Plan is that it seems to be more a set of guidelines and a strategy than measures and actions.
- A lot of problems pose when thinking about financing existing buildings renovations, but there should be no "cherry picking". If you consider that the renovation cycle is of about 30 years, if you today renovated your building by 20%, the rest will be left to renovate 30 years later.

Some interesting links:
European Council for an energy efficient economy
Portugal Clima 2020 (in portuguese)
Ecocasa Quercus
Top ten Quercus
Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the US economy, McKinsey study

Fossil fuel subsidies

According to IEA, fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $557 billion in 2008. This represents an increase from $342 billion in 2007. Fossil fuel subsidies are leading to higher levels of consumption and not promoting energy efficiency nor the switch from fossil fuels to alternative, renewable fuels.

“Many governments are giving subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption that encourage greenhouse gas emissions, at the same time as they are spending on projects to promote clean energy,” says Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General. “This is a wasteful use of scarce budget resources.”

Source of this information:
Energy Efficiency News

Energy efficient equipments deductible in the Portuguese taxes (IRS)

The Portuguese government approved that expenses with energy efficient equipments can be deductible in the taxes (IRS).

The equipments are the following:
- Solar thermal installations to be used in water heating and climatization.
- Heat pumps to be used in water heating.
- PV panels to produce electricity in buildings.
- Wind power equipments, with nominal power<5 kW to produce electricity in buildings.
- Biomass burning equipments
- Equipments and renovation works that improve isolation and thermal conditions of the buildings.
- Electric charging equipments for electric vehicles.

The maximum deductible amount is 803€, which corresponds to an investment of 2677€.
These deductions are only valid once every 4 years, to avoid abuses and to assure that every IRS payer can use it.

In PT:
Portaria n.º 303/2010 de 8 de Junho:
Lista de equipamentos abrangidos pelas deduções à colecta a que se referem as alíneas a) e b) do artigo 85.º -A do Código do Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares.
1 — Instalações solares térmicas para aquecimento de águas sanitárias e de climatização, utilizando como dispositivos de captação da energia colectores solares.
2 — Bombas de calor destinadas ao aquecimento de águas de uso doméstico.
3 — Painéis fotovoltaicos e respectivos sistemas de controlo e armazenamento de energia, destinados ao abastecimento de energia eléctrica a habitações.
4 — Aerogeradores de potência nominal inferior a 5 kW e respectivos sistemas de controlo e armazenamento de energia, destinados ao abastecimento de energia eléctrica a habitações.
5 — Equipamentos de queima de biomassa florestal, combustíveis derivados de resíduos ou de biogás, nomeadamente recuperadores de calor de lareiras, destinados quer ao aquecimento ambiente quer de águas sanitárias, e as caldeiras destinadas à alimentação de sistemas de aquecimento ambiente ou aquecimento de águas sanitárias e de climatização.
6 — Equipamentos e obras de melhoria das condições de comportamento térmico de edifícios, dos quais resulte directamente o seu maior isolamento:
a) Aplicação de isolamentos térmicos na envolvente dos edifícios, seja pelo exterior ou pelo interior, incluindo coberturas (telhados ou lajes), paredes e pavimentos adjacentes ao solo ou a espaços não climatizados;
b) Substituição de vãos envidraçados simples por vidros duplos com caixilharia de corte térmico.
7 — Equipamentos de carregamento de veículos eléctricos de instalação doméstica, em conformidade com as especificações técnicas a definir por portaria.

Pay as you save

An interesting strategy from the UK government was presented last May: a "pay as you save" loan scheme that will enable householders to pay for the installation of energy efficiency measures out of the savings on their energy bills.

More information on the Green Loans Q&A

EU greenhouse gas emissions have been decreasing

A new report by EEA states that greenhouse gas emission in the EU have been decreasing since 2008. This is not surprising because Europe has been facing a hard recession. This is to remind us that economic development and greenhouse gas emissions are still tightly tied up and makes us wonder if the decarbonization of the economy is possible.

EU greenhouse gas emissions: more than half way to the '20 % target by 2020'
Key findings
-The EU-27's emissions have been declining steadily since 2003 to reach 4 940 billion tonnes CO2 equivalents in 2008. Compared to the 2007 emissions, this represents a reduction of 99 million tonnes or 2 %. With the 2008 emissions 11.3 % below its 1990 levels, EU-27 has already achieved more than half of its unilateral reduction target of 20 % by 2020 through domestic emission reductions alone.
-In this first year of the Kyoto Protocol's commitment period, EU-15 cut its emissions by 76 million tonnes CO2 equivalents, corresponding to a drop of 1.9 % from 2007. This brought the EU-15 emissions 6.9 %, or 295 million tonnes, below Kyoto base-year levels, already in 2008, not accounting for carbon sinks and the use of Kyoto flexible mechanisms.
-For the first time since 1992, emissions from international aviation and maritime transport fell in EU-27, partly due to the economic recession. These two sectors account for about 5.9 % of total greenhouse gas emissions in EU-27 but are not accounted for in relation to measuring progress towards Kyoto targets.
Spain accounted for one third of the net reduction in EU-27, mainly due to a substantial replacement of coal by natural gas and a sharp decline in gasoline consumption in road transport, complemented by an increase in renewable energy generation.
-The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) covered 43 % of total EU-27 greenhouse gas emissions in 2008. In 2008, emission levels under the EU ETS were about 3 % lower than 2007 levels. The recently published 2009 EU ETS data, reveal that verified emissions in 2009 decreased by 11.6 % compared to 2008 levels, and reflects the impact of the economic recession.

Portuguese Energy Strategy 2020 - public consultation started on the 1st June

The public consultation of the Portuguese Energy Strategy 2020 started on the 1st June and will be possible until the end of the month.
Unfortunately I did not find any more details.

Energy use in 2035

According to EIA's 2010 long-term global energy analysis, energy use will increase 49% in 2035 (comparing with 2007). This is mainly due to China, India and other developing countries building of more power plants and driving more cars. This is a business as usual scenario that assumes that oil prices will not increase significantly. In fact, OECD countries will account for just a 14 percent increase in energy consumption while non-OECD countries will be responsible for an increase of 84%.
If oil prices were to increase up to 200 dolares per barrel, renewable energy would become increasingly more attractive. That is also true to unconventional petroleum exploration, such as oil sands, that are heavy energy use processes, and for biofuels from Brazil and the United States,

"all providing a combined 70 percent of the increment in total unconventional supply over the projection period."

More information:
Global Emissions predicted to grow through 2035

Energy efficiency results from PT in 2009

Anticipating this year's Energy Day (29th May), ADENE (Agency for Energy) released some energy results in 2009:

-Transportation - public transportation investment (Metro do Porto)
-Buildings - solar thermal investment (installation of 145 thousand m2); energy efficient bulbs (6 million)
-Industry - creation of a new certification system (SGIE)
-Government - energy efficiency for public lamps; certification of new buildings
Finally, that the government has 300 million euros to spend to promote energy efficiency.

Some interesting links:
Energy Efficiency
Naturlink

Hot, Flat, & Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman

I've been reading Thomas L. Friedman book "Hot, Flat, & Crowded, why the world needs a green revolution - and how we can renew our global future".
Hot because of climate change, flat because of IT (Information Technologies, internet and cell-phones) and globalization, and crowded because the population is expected to continue growing.
According to Friedman we cannot continue the business as usual path. We need a green revolution and we need to focus on ET - Energy technology -, based on renewable energy production and energy efficiency. This is the beginning of new era - the Energy Climate Era (E.C.E).

In 20 E.C.E, Friedman describes a world where everyone has a SBB (smart black box), which is a personal energy dashboard.

The SBB's touch screen can tell you exactly how much energy any of the devices you own is consuming at any moment.

All your appliances can take instructions via SBB as to when they should operate and at what level of power, and tell your utility company when they want to purchase and sell electricity. Because in 20 E.C.E. people are both electricity consumers and producers. Cars are now RESU - Rolling Energy storage units.
The focus in the beginning of the E.C.E should be not only on innovation on the energy supply side, but also on the demand side through energy efficiency.

A study by McKinsey Global Institute from 2008 concluded that the world could cut projected global energy demand growth between now and 2020 by at least half by capturing opportunities to increase energy productivity - the level of output we achieve from the energy we consume. So much of this involves just being smarter about how we design buildings, packages, vehicles, refrigerators, air conditioners, and lighting systems and constantly insisting on higher and higher standards of efficiency from each of them - so we get the same comfort, mobility, and illumination from fewer resources.

To be a part of this green revolution there are two actions individuals should do:
1. Pay attention and personally lead as environmentally sustainable life as you can: make sure your environmental awareness and behavior is always a work in progress.
2. Influence your leaders in participating in international and national commitments, by institutionalizing them in laws, regulations and treaties. These rules and regulations establish price signals, influence markets, create incentives and regulated the performance of machines, vehicles and devices.

Although his book is focused on the leading role that U.S.A should have in the E.C.E, Friedman also dedicates his attention to China and to Petrodictatorships (mainly OPEC countries), trying to establish a relationship between the price of oil and freedom - in oil-rich petrolist states, the price of oil and the pace of freedom tend to move in opposite directions. I find this a bit farfetched, because I've always heard that we would need high oil prices and carbon taxes to change the current energy paradigm. But Friedman states that the lower the price of crude oil falls, the more petrolist leaders are sensitive to what outsiders think of them and when money can be extracted from the ground, people simply don't develop the DNA of innovation and entrepreneurship. For Friedman, the U.S.A is a key player in sponsoring petrodictatorships.

More information about the book: Wikipedia, New York Times Review, Weakonomics Review

EU cities pledge to reduce CO2

500 European cities signed the Covenant of Mayors, where they pledge to save energy, foster renewable energy and raise awareness among their citizens.
According to Durão Barroso,

"Smart green buildings, smart transport and logistics and, in general, the whole concept of smart cities are job-intensive activities that contribute directly to the local economy. Crucially, they also make a positive contribution to other issues, such as social integration, quality of life, well-being, and the attractiveness of our cities."

The portuguese cities that signed this pledge were:
- BEJA
- FERREIRA DO ALENTEJO
- SANTIAGO DO CACÉM
- SANTO AMADOR

The Covenant cities and towns from Portugal are:
1 - Águeda
2 - Almada
3 - Aveiro
4 - Beja
5 - Benavente
6 - Cascais
7 - Esposende
8 - Ferreira do Alentejo
9 - Guarda
10 - Lisbon
11 - Loures
12 - Moura
13 - Oeiras
14 - Ovar
15 - Palmela
16 - Ponta Delgada
17 - Porto
18 - Santiago do Cacém
19 - Santo Amador
20 - Vale de Cambra
21 - Valpaços
22 - Vendas Novas
23 - Vila Nova de Gaia
24 - Viseu

More information:
Covenant of Mayors
Press Release from EUROPA

Can our electricity grid cope with all the new wind power? - article in the Ecologist

Can our electricity grid cope with all the new wind power? discusses the solutions that have been investigated to deal with the intermitency of renewable energy.

"For a country so determined to grow its wind capacity, it is ironic that Spain has discovered one of the most important factors is the ability to shut wind farms down, or at least reduce their output from time to time."

Is Europe's transport getting greener? Partly - a new study by EEA

Towards a resource-efficient transport system — TERM 2009 is a new report from EEA that presents transportation indicators and the impact of transports on the environment.

"While technological advances produce cleaner vehicles, more and more passengers and goods are travelling further distances, thereby offsetting efficiency gains. Based on analysis of long-term trends, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report calls for a clear vision defining Europe's transport system by 2050 and consistent policies to achieve it."

"Trends and findings
- Freight transport tends to grow slightly faster than the economy, with road and air freight recording the largest increases in the EU-27 (43 % and 35 %, respectively, between 1997 and 2007). The share of rail and inland waterways in the total freight volumes declined during that period.
- The current economic slowdown has reduced transport volumes but transport is expected to resume its growth as soon as the economy starts to grow again.
- Passenger transport continued to grow but at a slower rate than the economy. Air travel within the EU remained the fastest growth area, increasing 48 % between 1997 and 2007. Car journeys remained the dominant mode of transport, accounting for 72 % of all passenger kilometres in the EU-27.
- In EEA countries, greenhouse gas emissions from transport (excluding international aviation and maritime transport) grew by 28 % between 1990 and 2007, and now account for around 19 % of total emissions.
- Despite recent reductions in air pollutant emissions, road transport was the largest emitter of nitrogen oxides and the second largest contributor of pollutants forming particulate matter in 2007.
- Road traffic remains by far the largest source of exposure to transport noise. The number of people exposed to damaging noise levels, especially at night, is expected to increase unless effective noise policies are developed and implemented in full."

More information: Is Europe's transport getting greener? Partly

Negawatt

If we see energy efficiency as just another energy source, we can define a new unit: the Negawatt (negative-Watt), the energy waste avoided.

Energy efficiency: what does this mean?

A report published by the Authority of the House of Lords in London gives three possible definitions to the term Energy Efficiency:

- The amount of energy consumed in relation to particular outputs or quantities: for instance, terms such as energy intensity and energy ratio are used, though not always consistently, to describe total energy consumption per unit of GDP, or energy consumption per head of population, or per household.
- Impact on absolute energy demand, measured either in terms of delivered energy (the energy provided to end-users) or primary energy (the energy resources feeding into the economy and converted into convenient forms such as electricity).
-Impact upon carbon equivalent emissions, often used as a proxy for changes in energy efficiency. This impact may be measured either in absolute terms, or in terms of carbon intensity—that is, carbon equivalent emissions per unit of GDP.

Traditionally, energy efficiency is regarded as the rate at which delivered energy is converted into useful outputs, concentration on delivered energy alone. But this may be misleading because it can risk overlooking the effects of economic or demographic changes, not to mention the impact of fuel switching (e.g. from coal to gas in electricity generation), which has a profound impact upon primary energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions.

Commission to outline new energy action plan

In May the European Commission will present an Energy Action Plan for 2010-2014 to take effect in the beginning of 2011.
On January, the Spanish Presidency published a report with key issues to address: security of supply, sustainability (low carbon economy, energy efficiency) and competitiveness.

ENERGY POLICY-MAKERS have reached a turning point. The significant progress achieved to date should not make us forget the long road to the challenging task of guarantying access to clean and safe energy for EU citizens, companies and other social partners, in the best of conditions, and at the right prices for their welfare and progress.

In our future-oriented project, we should continue to develop an energy policy based on three cornerstones: sustainability,
competitiveness and security, to which I would also add the external dimension. These aspects should have a substantial bearing on our long term strategy as well as on our short and medium term decisions. To this regard, both the Lisbon Treaty that has recently entered into force and the steps that will follow the Copenhagen Climate Conference, among other instruments, should enlighten the road ahead.

Finally, special attention must be drawn to technological development in the field of energy, a matter that the EU must inexcusably keep in mind if we want to deliver on our commitments to the planet, develop its industry and offer a reliable international cooperation framework for all countries.

Miguel Sebastián Gascón



Article here

Save Energy Project

SAVE ENERGY is an European Project (CIP-ICT-PSP-238882 PROJECT) that will address the challenge of behaviour transformation through the use of ICT (information communication technologies) as an enabler of energy efficiency in five Public building in five European cities – Helsinki, Leiden, Lisbon, Luleå and Manchester.

The Lisbon public building is located in Entrecampos.

The building was completed in the nineties and it is a concrete frame, multi-storey building, with high proportion of glazing in the building envelope, very much like most office buildings in Lisbon. It is constituted by 6 building volumes, all interconnected with a total area above the ground of 28.000 sqm; total area under the ground: 17.000 sqm and useful area for working places: 18.000 sqm.

The Lisbon project has a blog.

Portuguese government to measure government buildings electricity consumption?

According to an article (in portuguese) from Público the portuguese government should start measuring electricity consumption in all government buildings.

This is a proposal from the socialist party (in government) that recommends the government and all public organs to post on the internet electricity consumption and energy efficiency and reduction plans. Some municipalities in Portugal have energy agencies that are presently doing a great job on awareness and energy efficiency and electricity consumption reduction (check E-Nova, the Lisbon agency on energy and environment, Areana Tejo, Oeinerge).

“O Estado é seguramente o maior consumidor energético em Portugal, e tem por isso de haver uma maior fiscalização sobre o seu consumo, para que tenha um comportamento exemplar”, disse Duarte Cordeiro [deputado do PS] em declarações à Lusa.

Earth Hour or everyday actions?

Earth Hour is an initiative by WWF that happens
on the last Saturday of March annually and consists of households and businesses turning off their non essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour. The goal is to help fighting climate change.

But what is the real impact of this Earth Hour?
According to what I have read, it is little and it could cause problems to the electricity supply such as grid failures, outages and blackouts. The load reduction of a massive light and electricity turn off could cause problems, because the baseline of non-renewables, dams and nuclear that provide security in supply would shut down and need to be restarted.

An interesting discussion about the Earth hour side effects.
Comparison with candles on Earth hour stupidity.

Carpooling and Carpool Clubs: Clarifying Concepts and Assessing Value Enhancement Possibilities

Carpooling and Carpool Clubs: Clarifying Concepts and Assessing Value Enhancement Possibilities is a project by Gonçalo Correia about the alternative measure for mobility management Carpooling (individuals sharing their cars with friends and/or strangers).

In theory, these systems could lead to great reductions in the use of private vehicles; however, in practice they have been obtaining limited success for two main reasons: the psychological barriers associated with riding with strangers and schedule differences. Based in findings from previous research, we proposed in
this dissertation a carpooling club model which aims in overcoming these barriers and expand carpooling for regional levels, through two main aspects: establishing a base trust level for carpoolers to find compatible matches for traditional groups, and at the same time allowing to search for a ride in an alternative group when a near term trip appears.

This project is applied to the Metropolitan Lisbon Area.

EDP data on electricity production and greenhouse gas emissions

Yesterday I was searching for some data about electricity production and greenhouse gas emissions and I found this site from EDP (in Portuguese).

The only downsize of the data is that CO2 does not have units. Is it kg?

GWh emitted

Interview with Bjorn Lomborg in the Ecologist

The Ecologist published an interview with Bjorn Lomborg.
Lomborg has become famous for publishing The Skeptical Environmentalist. He thinks that tackling climate change is very costly. So, we should first focus on the increase of people's well being, on combating disease (irradicate HIV and malaria) and on investing in research and development to reduce the price of renewables.

TL: What in your opinion is a safe level of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere?

BL: The safe level, if there was no consideration of cost, would be pre-industrial levels. But you can’t talk about safe levels without talking about cost.

Traffic accidents are the second biggest killer worldwide. More than one million entirely man-made and preventable deaths. We could cut them all by cutting car speed limits to 5 Mph. But we are not going to do that because people would rather get home quicker and then kill some people. You don’t want to say it that way but that is the effect of what we’re deciding.

We don’t have the discussion about safe levels of traffic speeds without talking about the downside of the debate. We need that discussion on climate. How much are the economic models telling us it will cost to cut back and how much for not cutting back?

TL: So what is your solution?

BL: The problem we are seeing with global warming is that everyone has been saying for the last 18 years that we need to cut carbon emissions. Right now we are not succeeding because it costs too much and the benefits are not going to felt until 100 years from now.

So instead of trying to put expensive solar panels up that look good but don’t achieve much we should be focused on trying to make solar panels much cheaper.

If we could make them cheaper than fossil fuels by say 2040 we would have solved global warming because everyone; the Chinese, Indians would buy them not because they are green but because they are cheaper.

My point is that instead of trying to cut [emissions] directly - which economically seems a poor strategy and politically seems infeasible - a much better idea is to invest in research and development. By making green energy cheaper in the long run you will end up cutting much much more carbon emissions.