Resource Efficiency

ZERO-CARBON BUILDINGS www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch04_ss4 By Lester R. Brown Earth Policy Release Book Byte March 17, 2010 The building sector is responsible for a large share of world electricity consumption and raw materials use. In the United States , buildings—commercial and residential—account for 72 percent of electricity use and 38 percent of …

EUROPE SEEKS CLIMATE PROGRESS OUTSIDE THE UN The EU should pursue sectoral agreements with strategic partners while there is no comprehensive climate treaty in sight, a senior European Commission and an influential MEP told ENDS in an interview with new internet-based TV channel viEUws on Monday.

SEMETA TO REVIVE EU CARBON TAX ON ENERGY USE Tax commissioner Algirdas Šemeta will table a proposal for an EU carbon tax on energy use in coming months, it emerged this week. The proposal was first announced by his predecessor László Kovács but it was delayed because of internal wrangling.

The Green IT Perspective By Matthew Wheeland Now that the economy is showing steady signs of recovery — widespread unemployment notwithstanding — companies are starting to refresh their computers and data centers on a much larger scale than last year. While this is good news from a green IT perspective …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Grant focuses on innovative software that models hybrid energy systems HOMERR Energy has just received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to create enhanced versions of the HOMER software. HOMER is an energy modeling tool that facilitates the design of hybrid power systems, which integrate …

http://rmi.org/rmi/Library/2009-09_FourNuclearMyths A commentary on Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Discipline and on similar writings AMORY B. LOVINS, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF SCIENTIST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE 13 October 2009 Public discussions of nuclear power, and a surprising number of articles in peer-reviewed journals, are increasingly based on four notions unfounded in fact or …

COMMISSION TO UNVEIL RESOURCE EFFICIENCY DRIVE The European Commission wants to launch a “flagship” initiative to improve resource efficiency under its forthcoming 2020 strategy for “smart, green and inclusive growth”, according to a draft of the strategy obtained by ENDS. http://www.eceee.org/news/news_2010/2010-02-24b/ MEP WANTS EU DEFINITION FOR SMART ENERGY METERS EU …