OP-ED Energy renovation is the perfect recovery measure for post-COVID-19
By Adrian Joyce, Director of the Renovate Europe Campaign As COVID-19 keeps millions of European employees and students at home, and wreaks havoc on our economies, we should already be considering how we can use the EU Green Deal (EGD) to kickstart a rebound in the post-pandemic period. At Renovate Europe, we see energy renovation as a great means to contain the economic fallout. Millions of public sector buildings are currently empty and may remain so – particularly schools – for the coming 3-6 months. Quick action by policy makers, backed with financial stimulus, to support an…
Renovate Europe reaches out to safeguard Energy Renovation in InvestEU
Ahead of the trilogues on InvestEU scheduled today Monday 18th and Wednesday 20th, Renovate Europe called on the negotiators to safeguard energy renovation of buildings as an explicit investment area in the Sustainable Infrastructure Window. Indeed, article 7§1(a) should explicitly mention “(…) energy efficiency in line with the 2030 energy frameworks, buildings renovation projects focused on energy savings (…)” as in the Parliament position, supported by the Commission potential compromise text. Buildings, whether schools, hospitals, police stations, or houses and apartments, are an…
Time to address Europe’s hot and cold homes crisis
(Jonathan Fox/ Flickr) By Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director 20 February 2019 Is it acceptable in 2019 that nearly one in ten households across Europe are unable to keep their homes warm in winter? We have grown so used to living with energy poverty that it may seem strange to ask that question, even when a Friends of the Earth report out today finds that most European countries have significant energy poverty problems and will not be able to keep their citizens warm this year. In a graphic to makes architects’ hearts sink, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia foot the table for…
Commission must not take its eye off the ball for decarbonisation by 2050
By Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director 26th November 2018 The news that 10 EU Member States including France, Italy and Spain are demanding that the European Commission chart a “credible and detailed” path to full decarbonisation by 2050 must have come as a surprise at the Berlaymont. The letter was a stirring clarion call to action that brooked no misunderstanding: “We encourage the Commission to set a clear direction towards net zero GHG emissions in the EU by 2050,” the energy and environment ministers wrote. Such a direction would have to involve an emergency…
Why the indoor renovation ripple effect could save our lives
By Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director 22nd November 2018 Christmas is not just a time of mistletoe and wine with the family. It’s a time of coughs, sneezes and wheezes as the temperature drops. One reason for this is that we spend so much time indoors. On average, we spend more than 21 hours of each day inside buildings and the colder it is outside, the more likely we are to be curled up on a warm sofa – and exposed to particles, mould and bacteria. It is counter-intuitive but concentrations of air pollutants indoors can be up to five times greater than those……
Efficiency or economy? We can have both… or neither
By Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director 22nd November 2018 Energy efficiency and a strong economy are sometimes counterposed against each other as if they were a zero-sum choice. “It’s all very well touting luxury renovations, but in the real world investors need a return,” discordant voices will say. The International Energy Agency’s Energy Efficiency 2018 Outlook study is a useful corrective to this position – so useful in fact, that its neglect in the media was quite shocking. In it, the world’s foremost energy economists found that efficiency savings could provide…