Tapping solar vast potential is one of our best bets to become carbon neutral by 2040. As prices keep on dropping, one of the remaining problems is the look of the panels themselves.
Housing
Our civilization is 98 percent energy inefficient
You know it if you have been reading this blog for some time : I am an energy efficiency nut. While less sexy than renewables, consuming energy more efficiently is just the most important part of our transition towards sustainability.
The value of a well insulated home
While browsing Cleantechnica I found the answer of a key question I have been having ever since writing my Master’s thesis. French houses are leaky ” thermal collanders “ as 20 million accommodations have to be weatherized.
Potential savings could be the equivalent of 200 TWh of electricity per annum, knowing that the total electricity consumption in France is of 473 TWh. I had been wondering if this was the case in other countries.
But given this brilliant article, French dwellings aren’t the only one to be vastly inefficient. as similar data are mentioned : old houses need 300 kWh per square meter per year.
France unveils new efforts to renovate buildings
It had been a long while since my last post on Cleantechies, as I didn’t post during summer. But I am back with a post on a topic close to my heart as my Master’s thesis was on it. The French residential sector could benefit immensely from energy efficiency efforts and it seems the current … Read more
An innovative idea to push for building retrofits.
Houses and building energy efficiency is a hot topic for me since I wrote my Master’s thesis on it back to 2006. Then I discovered that France had no less than 20 million buildings to insulate ( not bad for a country with 65 million inhabitants ) Now according to the Guardian, the UK Green … Read more
United States on an energy conservation quest
President Obama is willing to save his country a lot of money : $40 billion, or around 30 billion euros, annually. These huge sums of money equal to reducing energy use in commercial buildings 20 percent by 2020. As Elisa Wood wrote on Cleantechies : ” To achieve the goal, the Obama administration in 2011 … Read more
Prepare yourself ! Climate resilience
Some people prepare for Judgment Day, some others for a Zombie apocalypse. A few prepare for an alien invasion or when their government will start going dictatorship on them. I won’t discuss here these eventualities.
However I seriously advise you to increase your climate resilience. With a warming and weirding climate, as well as with increasing resource scarcity, all kinds of disruptions are due to occur sooner rather than later.
This is why the first step is to slash the amount of resources you use. Whether we are talking about basic commodities or gizmos and gadgets, consuming less is always a good idea.
The importance of good insulation
My current apartment in Valenciennes – Northern France – is located in a recent building (2000). And far from me the idea of bragging, but until temperatures dropped below zero (Celcius) I almost didn’t not use my electric heaters.
My flat has double glazing windows and quite well insulated thick walls. The thermometer located in my flat indicates 19°C indoors while we are nearing zero outdoors, and this with little to no heating.
This is empirical proof that good thermal insulation – or weatherproofing – not only works but also saves a LOT of money as you just use little to no heating.
A $370 billion idea for European buildings
Here we go again with a brand new article on Cleantechies. This time, we focus on one of my favorite topics : insulating buildings with a new study on the very matter. Here is the introduction : ” According to a new study presented by the Renovate Europe Campaign, weatherizing European buildings in an important … Read more
Throwing money out of the window
In this economy, I am sure you are careful about how you spend your money and really think about how you will make ends meet this month or the next as the economy might head toward another recession as oil prices go up.
However, each time you are putting 50 euros in your gas tank, you are literally burning two-twenty euro notes as current cars’ internal combustion engines are 85 percent inefficient.
Similarly, if you live in an inefficient building, you may throw out of the roof or the windows up to 80 percent of your $1,000 or 1,000€ heating bill. Yes, that’s 800€ or $ right out of the windows.
European Union to tackle housing insulation
I have been advocating housing insulation back to 2006 when I was writing my Master’s thesis at Audencia Nantes Management School. Then I discovered the huge potential of insulating French buildings.
Since then I have been dreaming that one day politicians, leaders, and other people in charge would finally understand that weatherizing the million of appartments that need it around the world is THE right move.
It seems that my call has been heard, or more plausibly that some important people in the higher European spheres share my belief.