NEWS In Brief
BINDING TARGETS ADOPTED The European Parliament’s Energy Committee has voted to put binding energy efficiency targets into the Energy Efficiency Directive, which is due to be adopted in July. This would require companies to make annual energy savings equivalent to 1.5% of their sales, and public bodies to retrofit 3% of public building floor space each year. This brings energy efficiency into line with the binding 20% renewables target by 2020, but the Directive faces opposition from some member states.
INSULATION LEVELS LAGGING The latest statistics released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that, while more homes are being insulated, not enough solid wall insulation is being carried out. Around 55,000 properties install cavity wall insulation every month and more than 100,000 install adequate levels of loft insulation, but only around 2,000 adopt solid wall measures. Nearly 9m homes still need loft insulation, while more than 11m require cavity wall insulation. However, DECC said the 7.7m homes with solid walls are more difficult and expensive to treat.
BUSINESS BACKS LOW CARBON ECONOMY The chief executives of major UK businesses have written to Chancellor George Osborne urging him to commit to a low- carbon economy. They said that it was both a necessity and an economic opportunity. Bosses from many of the country’s largest firms, including EDF Energy, Lloyds, Kingfisher, Unilever, Shell and Tesco, said they supported the Climate Change Act and the EU Emissions Trading System. The business chiefs said they were committed to ‘effective action on climate change’ but also wanted the government to commit funding for a carbon capture and storage demonstration project, and to give the Green Investment Bank (GIB) borrowing powers.
Major improvements to Britain’s existing housing stock is key to cutting global greenhouse gases, says a new report
EU urged to speed up energy cuts
l Toomaybarriers to low-energy buildings remain, says Build withCaRe
Local authorities and academics have called for the timetable for cutting energy demand across Europe to be speeded up.
Researchers from the Build with CaRe consortium have proposed a new EU target of a 40% reduction in primary energy demand by 2050, with particular emphasis on buildings.
The existing target is a 20% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020, but the EU is currently on track to achieve just half of this. The report by Bruce Tofield and Martin Ingham, associate consultants at the University of East Anglia’s Adapt Low Carbon Group, concluded that radically improving the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings is key to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
The new Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has also called for a cut in UK energy use of between a third and a half by 2050.
‘Buildings are responsible for 40% of Europe’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, so overhauling their energy efficiency represents the greatest opportunity for energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction,’ said Tofield. ‘By making its building stock energy efficient, the EU can demonstrate that economic growth is consistent with reduced energy demand and lead the transition to a sustainable world. A long-term target of 40% would galvanise the near-term action on energy efficiency that is essential if action to tackle potentially dangerous climate change is to succeed.’ The researchers said the many remaining barriers to low-energy buildings include: lack of political will to incentivise energy efficiency; insufficient ambition for new build; and the slow rate of building refurbishment. The Build with CaRe consortium of local authorities and universities from five countries aims to make energy-efficient building design the mainstream. A key strategy is the promotion of the Passivhaus concept, which it says can reduce energy use for heating and cooling buildings by 90%.
Europe backs renewables
The European Parliament has voted in favour of setting a binding renewable energy target for 2030 despite opposition from the UK, which had called for a ‘technology neutral’ approach. The target may be as high as 45% of total energy demand. Currently, the EU is committed to generating 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 with the UK tasked with reaching 15%
10 CIBSE Journal April 2012
by that date under the terms of the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED).
The Renewable Energy
Association (REA) welcomed the parliament’s decision and urged the UK government to recognise the role renewables could play in delivering energy security. ‘Arguing for a technology-neutral target suggests that government is only thinking about carbon,’ said REA
chief executive Gaynor Hartnell. ‘This blinkered approach ignores the risks of locking the UK into a future where we forever import our energy.’ However, UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey said that the UK supports technology neutrality because it would allow member states to determine ‘the most cost-effective mix for their constituents’.
www.cibsejournal.com
Simon Weir
www.simonweir.com
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