Renovating Europe’s buildings: the secret weapon in creating up to 1.1 million direct jobs and saving up to 32% of EU energy consumption
Brussels, 11 October 2011 – Today’s Renovate Europe Day, organized by the Renovate Europe campaign, brings together non-governmental organizations, politicians, academics and industry representatives. The aim of the Renovate Europe campaign, initiated by EuroACE, is to promote the huge - but largely unknown - capacity of deep renovation of buildings as the most effective way to meet the economic and energy challenges that face the EU. Newly appointed Renovate Europe Campaign Director Adrian Joyce said “This is a wake-up call to our politicians. The potential of Europe’s buildings has been…
Europe’s Buildings Under the Microscope
by BPIE , was launched on Renovate Europe Day 2011. It provides the following research and analysis: Provide a clear overview of EU building stock (energy use, typology, regulations, etc.) Quantify the potential financial and energy savings benefits of increased retrofits Identify and propose solutions to gaps and barriers to delivery mechanisms Executive Summary DOWNLOAD
Feckless Commission fails to deliver on energy efficiency
Industry leaders of some of Europe's most important companies and organisations today slammed the European Commission's absence of courage on buildings efficiency and other energy efficiency improvements on the energy end-use side. The criticism comes as the European Commission releases its proposal for a framework Directive on Energy Efficiency. The proposal adopted today by the European Commission clearly falls short of addressing Europe’s daunting climate and energy challenges. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 2010 was the worst year in history in terms of CO2…
Open letter to the EU Commissioner for Energy and the Energy Ministers of the European
Dear Commissioner Oettinger, Dear Ministers, Recent environmental disasters as well as turmoil in the energy market have underlined the energy challenges that we face. We need affordable, secure and safe energy for our economies to grow and for our citizens to prosper. You have the opportunity to help address this once in a generation challenge. You can continue the policies of the past or pursue a better, brighter energy future by making Europe’s buildings more energy efficient. A deep renovation of Europe’s existing buildings will save 32% of the total primary energy used in Europe. This…
Some targets are more equal than others
The European Union has binding targets for carbon dioxide reductions and renewable energy. Why does energy efficiency not have the same status? The European Union has three energy-related targets for 2020. Each is based upon an emblematic 20 per cent. According to Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, these are: to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent; to boost the proportion of renewable energy to 20 per cent; and to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent. DOWNLOAD
CEOs Slam Lack of Political Will on Energy Efficiency as Part of New ‘Renovate Europe’ Campaign
Industry leaders of some of Europe’s leading companies and organisations published last week an open letter to EU Member State energy ministers urging them to refocus Europe’s energy policy on promoting the energy efficiency of buildings. Europe’s energy ministers meet today in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss Europe’s energy strategy to 2050. The letter, which is being published in Le Monde (FR), Financial Times (UK), Berlinske (DK), Handelsblatt (DE), and the European Voice (EU) warns that any effective European energy policy should give reducing energy demand as much political weight as…