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European Union to Overachieve its 2020 Climate Goals

European Union to Overachieve its 2020 Climate Goals

written by Edouard Stenger

Good news everyone: the European Union has already almost achieved its climate and energy goals for 2020 according to the latest data from the European Environmental Agency. The European Commission official statement reports that “  The decrease in emissions of 1.8% in 2013 compared to 2012 implies that total EU emissions are around 19% below 1990 “. 

But there is more good news as the EEA states that: ” With 14 % of final energy consumption generated by renewable sources in 2012, the EU is also ahead of the planned trajectory to hit 20 % renewable energy by 2020. Likewise, the EU’s energy consumption is also falling faster than would be necessary to meet the 2020 energy efficiency target.” 

Euractiv notes that this fall in emissions in the European Union is not exactly taking place in all countries as German emissions rose by 1.2% as more fossil fuel was used for heating and Denmark also emitted 3.1% more greenhouse gases year-on-year, as a fall in imports from the Nordic power market drove it to use more coal.

These two countries are however working hard at their respective energy transition from fossil fuels. Germany is a global leader in this industry and it’s not rare for Denmark to have 100 % of its electricity coming from wind power during the nights.

But such facts aren’t news as I reported a year ago that the European Union was already nearing its 2020 objectives as greenhouse gases emissions fell one percent between 2011 and 2012. If emissions were to keep falling 1.4 percent per year ( which is the average of the emissions cuts for the past two years), emissions would be cut by over ten percent.

I have made previously my case for 30 percent emissions cuts by 2020 and halving EU emissions by 2030. This would be very profitable, would create thousands of jobs and cut our dependance from Russian gas.

 

 



November 14, 2014 1 comment
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US Water Consumption Lowest in Decades

US Water Consumption Lowest in Decades

written by

One of the challenges we can expect to face in a climate-changed world is a dramatic redistribution of water resources. Some areas will experience drought, as California and all of the Southwest is currently facing, while others will be forced to deal with flooding, either from massive storms or snowmelt in the spring. These are enormous challenges which could threaten our economy and in some cases our livelihoods. The question of how we can prepare for this is an overwhelming one, though we know that we can surely benefit by becoming more resilient. In this context, this means, among other things, reducing the level of water consumption required for our way of life. That also implicitly means reducing our energy consumption, since the two are so inextricably linked.

There is some good news on that score. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), water use in the US, in the year 2010 has fallen to the lowest level since before 1970. This was largely due to reductions in the two largest water consuming activities: thermoelectric power generation and agricultural irrigation. The biggest drop was in withdrawals for feeding and cooling thermal power plants, which accounts for about 45% of all water withdrawals. That number fell by 20%. This derived from a migration away from fossil fuel plants, particularly coal, as well as improved efficiency. Irrigation, which accounts for another 33% of all withdrawals, fell by 9%. Public water supply withdrawals also fell by 5% despite an increase in population. The only areas that saw increases were aquaculture and mining. What’s not clear is whether that trend will begin to reverse with severe droughts like the one currently underway in California, which has already reversed decades of progress in air quality improvement.

These numbers were rolled up at a national level. Drilling down into the numbers, as the folks at the Hamilton Project did, shows a wide variation in water usage and water availability across the various regions of the country. Just because the national average is down, deosn’t mean that some areas aren’t struggling.

Regionally, most of the withdrawals for power generation occurred east of the Mississippi, though there is a substantial concentration in Southern California as well. As for irrigation, on the other hand, most of this took place west of the Mississippi, though there is also a dense pocket in Southern Florida. Domestic withdrawals vary, on a per capita basis, from 51 gallons per day in Wisconsin, to 168 gallons per day in Idaho. These differences are mostly attributable to landscaping.

The folks at ACEEE are looking at opportunities for savings at the energy-water nexus. Their recent report Watts in a Drop of Water: Savings at the Water-Energy Nexus, looks at opportunities to save energy in the conveyance, treatment, distribution of water and well as the treatment and discharge of wastewater. Their research also found large disparities by location, due to the various approaches being used. For example, if a municipality received their water from an upland source that could be fed to them by gravity, made a huge difference in energy consumption compared to those with downhill sources that had to be pumped in. According to Scott Sklar of George Washington University, 18% of the eastern electric grid and 30% of the western grid is dedicated to moving water and sewage around. The report calls for mew metrics to highlight the amount of embedded energy in a given water flow.

There is a tremendous opportunity here to continue to improve the efficiency of our water and energy system that can be best addressed by the two utilities working together and taking a systems approach. The more efficient we can become, the more resilient we will be and the better positioned will we be to withstand the shocks that lie ahead.

Article by RP Siegel of Justmeans, appearing courtesy 3BL Media.



November 13, 2014 0 comment
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Costs of Urban Light Pollution Highlighted in Citizen Science Effort

Costs of Urban Light Pollution Highlighted in Citizen Science Effort

written by Yale Environment 360

A recently launched citizen science project aims to highlight the environmental, social, and financial impacts of excessive nighttime lighting in cities around the world.

The project, called Cities at Night, enlists people to help identify the cities pictured in thousands of blindingly lit photos taken by astronauts orbiting the earth. Organizers hope that when residents and officials see the bright photos of their cities at night, they will be prompted to cut nighttime light use and energy consumption.

Widespread artificial lighting has made light pollution a growing problem in urban areas by disrupting behavioral patterns of people and wildlife, wasting millions of dollars in energy costs, and adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Some solutions are relatively inexpensive and straightforward, the organizers say, such as using shields to direct light down to street-level, which can allow a city to use lower-wattage streetlights.



July 24, 2014 2 comments
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Cleantech in Court: Green Patent Complaint Update

Cleantech in Court: Green Patent Complaint Update

written by Eric Lane

A number of green patent complaints have been filed in the last several months in the areas of energy management software, LEDs, smart meters, vertical axis wind turbines, and wastewater treatment.  This post covers new lawsuits filed from the end of March through the end of June.

Energy Management Software

Intercap Capital Partners, LLC  v. BuildingIQ, Inc.

On April 3, 2014, Intercap filed a patent infringement complaint against BuildingIQ in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.  Intercap asserted U.S. Patent No. 8,078,330 (’330 Patent), alleging that the BuildingIQ software of system infringes the ’330 Patent.

Entitled “Automatic energy management and energy consumption reduction, especially in commercial and multi-building systems,” the ’330 Patent is directed to methods of managing energy usage data including monitoring current energy usage of the energy consumption devices in a building, monitoring building temperature, a building humidity, a building CO2 level, a weather forecast and a real-time energy price, and initiating a real-time control of each energy consumption device based on the variables in response to a forecast that a new energy usage peak is approaching.

LEDs

Honeywell International Inc. v. Cree, Inc.

Honeywell sued major LED manufacturer Cree for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,373,188 (’188) and Reissue Patent No. RE41,685 (a reissue of U.S. Patent No. 6,666,567).

The ’188 Patent is entitled “Efficient solid-state light emitting device with excited phosphors for producing a visible light output” and directed to and LED having a phosphor layer and a reflector means adjacent to one side of the phosphor layer for reflecting some of the radiation and light emission that exits from the phosphor layer back into the phosphor layer.

The reissue patent is entitled “Light source with non-white and phosphor-based white LED devices, and LCD assembly” and relates to a light source with an LED coupled to the floor of an optical cavity to permit light to be emitted from the base of the LED and a reflective protrusion below the LED to aid in redirecting light forward.

The complaint was filed March 31, 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. et al. v. Schreder Lighting LLC et al.

Filed May 27, 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Philips’ complaint asserts the following twelve LED patents:

U.S. Patent No. 6,094,014, entitled “Circuit arrangement, and signaling light provided with the circuit arrangement”

U.S. Patent No. 6,234,645, entitled “LED lighting system for producing white light”

U.S. Patent No. 6,234,648, entitled “Lighting system”

U.S. Patent No. 6,250,774, entitled “Luminaire”

U.S. Patent No. 6,513,949, entitled “LED/phosphor-LED hybrid lighting systems”

U.S. Patent No. 6,577,512, entitled “Power supply for LEDs”

U.S. Patent No. 6,586,890, entitled “LED driver circuit with PWM output”

U.S. Patent No. 6,692,136, entitled “LED/phosphor-LED hybrid lighting systems”

U.S. Patent No. 6,788,011, entitled “Multicolored LED lighting method and apparatus”

U.S. Patent No. 6,806,659, entitled “Multicolored LED lighting method and apparatus”

U.S. Patent No. 6,972,525, entitled “LED switching arrangement”

U.S. Patent No. 7,274,160, entitled “Multicolored lighting method and apparatus”

According to the complaint, Schreder’s floodlight, street-light, residential and urban area LED lighting products, including the Alura LED, FV32 LED, Hestia LED, Piano, Teceo, Akila, Isla LED, Modullum, Neos LED and Nemo brands for, infringe one or more of the asserted patents.

Smart Meters

Sensor-Tech Innovations LLC v. Texas-New Mexico Power Company

Austin, Texas-based Sensor-Tech filed a patent infringement suit against the Texas-New Mexico Power Company (TNMP) for alleged infringement of a patent related to smart meter technology.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas on June 20, 2014, asserts U.S. Patent No. 6,505,086 (’086 Patent).  Entitled “XML sensor system,” the ’086 Patent is directed to a sensor sommunication system adapted to transmit a sensor data file in XML format.

According to the complaint, TNMP’s advanced metering system infringes at least three claims of the ’086 Patetn.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

SAWT Inc. et al. v. Joe Moore Construction Inc. et al.

On May 13, 2014 SAWT filed a complaint for patent infringement in federal court in Los Angeles.  SAWT has accused Joe Moore Construction, d/b/a Wind Sun Energy Systems and co-defendant Urban Green Energy of infringing U.S. Patent No. 7,967,569 (’569 Patent).

The ’569 Patent is entitled “Vertical shaft wind turbine and method of installing blades therein” and directed to a vertical shaft wind turbine wherein the airfoil of each turbine blade is an asymmetrical camber airfoil, each blade is installed with only the convex surface facing the vertical shaft, and a rotary angle of each blade is between 0 and 15 degrees.

The ’569 Patent is owned by co-plaintiff Shanghai Aeolus Windpower Technology; SAWT is a non-exclusive licensee.  This is an interesting one as it’s rare to see litigation over small (non-utility scale) wind turbines, particularly of the vertical axis type.

Wastewater Treatment

Chaffin v. Braden and LBC Manufacturing

Mark N. Chaffin, an individual, sued LBC Manufacturing for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,932,912, entitled “Wastewater treatment system for residential septic systems” (’912 Patent).

The ’912 Patent is directed to wastewater treatment systems and methods wherein a chlorine supply tube is in communication with a venturi chamber and in constant fluid communication a chlorine supply in a chlorine supply canister.  As recirculating pumped sewage effluent flows through the venturi chamber, chlorine from the supply canister is continuously drawn into the venturi chamber and into a recirculation pipe.

Filed April 16, 2014 in federal court in Victoria, Texas, the complaint alleges that the LBC500 liquid bleach chlorinator infringes the ’912 Patent.



July 14, 2014 0 comment
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Roughly $80 Billion Wasted on Power for Networked Devices

Roughly $80 Billion Wasted on Power for Networked Devices

written by Yale Environment 360

The world’s 14 billion online electronic devices, such as modems, printers, game consoles, and cable boxes, waste around $80 billion in electricity annually because of inefficient technology, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In 2013, networked devices consumed around 616 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, with most of that used in standby mode. Roughly 400 TWh — equivalent to the combined annual electricity consumption of the United Kingdom and Norway — was wasted because of inefficient technology.

MDLE_Figure_02_04

The problem will worsen by 2020, the agency projects, with an estimated $120 billion wasted as devices such as refrigerators, washing machines, and thermostats become networked. Much of the problem boils down to inefficient “network standby,” or maintaining a network connection while in standby mode. Most network-enabled devices draw as much power in this mode as when fully active, the report notes.

Using today’s best technology could cut energy consumption by 65 percent, the IEA said, and applying better efficiency measures over the coming years could save 600 TWh. That’s equivalent to closing 200 standard 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants, which would cut emissions by 600 million metric tons of CO2, the report says.



July 3, 2014 0 comment
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Energy Efficiency Startups, Can You Find Support Like This From Your State?

Energy Efficiency Startups, Can You Find Support Like This From Your State?

written by CleanTechies.com Contributor

Energy efficiency startups, maybe you should all head out to Oregon.

In Oregon, one company, Indow Windows, benefitted from state grants that totaled $83,000 and says that Oregon’s Clean Energy Works generated home weatherization projects that helped the company prove its case to investors. And that led to $2.6 million in private capital for Indow Windows, which makes window inserts that reduce energy consumption.

Much of the enthusiastic support for energy efficiency comes from Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, says Sam Pardue, Indow Windows CEO.

Kitzhaber has proposed a tiered energy plan that aims to meet 100 percent of new load growth through energy efficiency. Meanwhile, Oregon is ranked by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Econony as the fourth most energy efficient state in the nation. And Oregon is home to Clean Energy Works, the largest non-profit provider of home performance upgrades. The state of Oregon just agreed to give CEWO $10 million, which CEWO says will help create 60,000 jobs doing energy upgrades on 600,000 homes.
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Such enthusiasm for efficiency first translated into a $75,000 grant from Oregon BEST, and later, an $8,000 grant that benefited Indow Windows.

The grants went to Portland State University, first for a pilot program and later for a study.

“We received a grant from Oregon BEST to do a pilot study to study how much energy is saved when people put our windows into their windows,” explains Pardue. “It was administered by PSU’s green building research labs. The study showed installing Indo Windows will save 20 percent of a building’s heating and cooling load in Oregon.”

That data was critical in taking the product to the marketplace and explaining how effective it can be, he says.

Indow Windows learned that its product appeals most to homeowners with incomes above $50,000 who own homes built before 1950, he says. The next grant, for $8,000, allowed the company to find homes across the country that met those criteria.

“The second grant allowed us to create a cool interactive map of the US, showing in every zip code how many target customers there are compared to the total number of customers.” The company can click on the map and get reports about the age of the housing stock, the amount of energy consumed per household and the income level of the homeowners, he says.

What’s more, Oregon’s Clean Energy Works, which provides low-cost financing, has helped stimulate the growth of the home performance contracting industry in the state.

“Clean Energy Works got the initial revenue going by generating a bunch of home weatherization projects,” says Pardue.

“It helped us prove our case to investors and helped us raise $2.6 million in private capital. Now we have 80 dealers in 34 states and three provinces in Canada,” he says.

All in all, the state’s programs have been critical to the company’s growth, he says.

“I’d like to believe we would have prevailed without the support, but it has been instrumental to our growth,” says Pardue.

If you own an energy efficiency company and can’t head on out to Oregon, consider asking state legislators for this kind of support. Then watch the benefits flow your way.

Article by Lisa Cohn, published under a cross licensing agreement with EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com



June 11, 2014 0 comment
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Top Seven Eco-Friendly Apps

Top Seven Eco-Friendly Apps

written by Tina Hamilton

Sparing the earth in order to create a more sustainable future can be accomplished through environmentally conscious apps. From reducing a person’s carbon footprint to saving energy to finding eco-sensitive, green products, this list of seven apps will offer users a chance to live a greener, environmentally friendly life.

1. Carma Carpooling by Avego

Basically a big carpooling network, Avego’s app design is simple: browse the app to find a ride going in the right direction, then message the driver to arrange a pick up. Depending upon mileage, the one seeking a ride must pay the driver for gas. And, both drivers and passengers can review the ride to provide future users feedback.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS, Windows

2. GoodGuide

This app has a barcode scanner that allows a user to find out whether or the not the product they are purchasing is safe, healthy, green, and socially responsible. GoodGuide has rated more than 170,000 U.S. products, which are broken down by criteria so the user can see the product’s details specifically.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS

3. PaperKarma

Instead of having an endless supply of paper junk mail continually arriving in the mailbox, PaperKarma allows users the chance to opt out of junk mail. Through the app, users can photograph the pieces of junk mail and choose to unsubscribe from the mailing lists. Users simply take a photo, hit unsubscribe, and the app does the rest of the work.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS, Windows

4. iViro

This app helps users to create more sustainable homes and living spaces. Users perform a customized energy analysis through the app in order to receive a detailed overview of the home’s thermostat, electricity, water, and appliance energy consumption. Additionally, the app features energy-saving alternatives and tips the user can follow in order to achieve an energy-efficient and cost-efficient home while reducing the home’s overall environmental impact.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS

5. Farmers Market Finder

This app allows users to locate over 2,700 farmers markets across the U.S. Only farmers markets that have been verified from market organizers will show up on the app. And, the app will provide details on what types of produce and meat are for sale, hours of operation, contact information, and real time data such as weather cancelations. This app is currently available to residents of California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington DC.

Price: Ranges from $0.99 to $4.99

Available: Android, iOS

6. Seafood Watch

Designed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Seafood Watch interactive app helps users choose sustainable seafood. The app provides information about how each item was fished and farmed and how it should be fished and farmed. Additionally, the app provides information on known sustainable seafood restaurants and markets.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS

7. Dirty Dozen

This app alerts users of harmful pesticides on contaminated produce. The app highlights the 12 types of produce most likely to be contaminated and the best alternatives.

Price: Free

Available: Android, iOS, Windows

Use these apps to promote green living in order to have a healthier earth.



May 29, 2014 4 comments
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European Union Needs to Get Moving on Energy Efficiency

European Union Needs to Get Moving on Energy Efficiency

written by Edouard Stenger

While the European Union is well on its way to reach or exceed its renewable energy and  emissions targets for 2020, there is one goal of its climate policies it likely won’t meet: energy efficiency.

According to the European Environment Agency,  the “collective primary energy consumption in 2020 is expected to be close to the level required by the EU political objective of 1,483 Mtoe but will remain insufficient to achieve the 20 % energy efficiency target. ”

This is even more puzzling as the evidence has been piling up on how energy saving measures could bring as much as 250 billion euros back into Europe’s economy, according to an Ecofys report last year.

In a post I published here in 2012, according to a study presented by the Renovate Europe Campaign, weatherizing European buildings alone could boost local GDP by up to 291 billion Euros ($370 billion) by 2017.

Energy efficiency is key in cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and further, creating thousands of green jobs and stopping giving ridiculous amounts of money to Russia every single day.

Indeed, I reported previously that the European Union 28 country members are giving as much as half a billion euros every single day to Russia for natural gas and oil.  The amounts total over 200 billion euros ( $277 billion ) a year.

Now here comes a new report from  the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG) pointing out that:

“We are at a tipping point, with energy efficiency investing having the clear potential to emerge into the mainstream as a key driver of EU competitiveness, economic value, innovation and employment across Europe”

Both private and public investments are insufficient. If continued, this trend could lead certain EU members to miss their 2020 and longer term targets.

The EEFIG points out to the fact that cutting by no less than 40 percent the amount of energy used in buildings has a strategically important character because of rising energy prices.  Another factor is the increased climate change threat as the IPCC fifth report reported recently.

The institution provides several solutions, such as :

  • Requiring financial policy makers to consider long-term energy savings when taking decisions
  • Strengthening energy performance certificates, energy codes and legislative enforcement
  • Improving data flows for energy efficiency in buildings
  • Standardizing best practices for the energy efficiency investment market
  • Targeting priority use of EU structural investment funds and ETS revenues for public-private financial instruments between now and 2020

Needless to say, I will keep you updated of the progress – or the lack of it – in this area.  Let’s hope both the preparation of the EU 2030 energy and climate policies and the upcoming UNFCC meeting in 2015 won’t be missed opportunities in that regard.

Image credits : Wikimedia



May 19, 2014 0 comment
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Scale and Extent of Dam Boom in China Detailed in Mapping Project

Scale and Extent of Dam Boom in China Detailed in Mapping Project

written by Yale Environment 360

China is planning to build at least 84 major dams in its southwest region, as shown in a map from the Wilson Center, eventually boosting its hydropower capacity by more than 160 gigawatts. By next year China’s capacity will surpass Europe’s, and by 2020 it’s projected to be larger than that of the U.S. and Europe combined.

China-dams-wilson-center-800

 

An interactive map shows the scale and number of major dams proposed, under construction, existing, and canceled. The dam rush is part of an ongoing effort by China to increase non-fossil energy sources to 11.4 percent of the country’s total energy consumption — a goal that has gained urgency due to severe air pollution in many northern Chinese cities. However, the hydropower push is not without its own major environmental consequences, the Wilson Center notes.

More than 70 of the dams planned or being constructed are located in so-called “biodiversity hotspots,” areas with rich species diversity that are threatened by development. The cascades of planned dams will submerge important corridors that connect tropical rainforests to the Tibetan Plateau and allow wildlife to migrate to cooler climates as temperatures rise.



April 20, 2014 1 comment
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New Jersey Looks to Boost Renewable Energy, Cut Consumption with New Law

New Jersey Looks to Boost Renewable Energy, Cut Consumption with New Law

written by

The New Jersey legislature is at work on a bill that would dramatically increase that state’s reliance on renewable energy to 80 percent while decreasing energy consumption by 30 percent. Both targets would be achieved by 2050. The bill in progress is the work of legislators, energy executives, lobbyists, and other stakeholders, who are concerned that the state is making little progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. New Jersey’s solar sector growth has slowed, and the state’s goal of building 1,100 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2020 is far behind schedule.

To address this problem, the “Renewable Energy Transition Act” would contain provisions to fundamentally change how energy markets work in New Jersey. The most contentious issue is decoupling. Decoupling is a rate mechanism that separates the utility’s fixed cost recovery for maintaining its system from the amount of electricity or gas it sells to customers. Instead, rates would be based on the total number of customers it serves. While the proposed bill does not yet include a provision for decoupling, experts argue that it’s the only way to persuade utilities to get customers to reduce energy usage, ensuring that savings for gas and electricity ratepayers will not hurt a power company’s bottom line.  On the other hand, there has been near unanimous agreement among all involved that reducing energy consumption is the best way to address global climate change. For New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the country, planning a more sustainable, pollution-free future is a critical choice.

Article by John Howell



April 15, 2014 0 comment
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Cliff Notes for GRESB: What’s New In Performance Indicators

Cliff Notes for GRESB: What’s New In Performance Indicators

written by Matt Ellis

A new and substantially different version of GRESB’s Performance Indicators aspect has landed. So toss out your old spreadsheet (it won’t help this year), pull out your copy of the GHG Protocol, and get ready to rethink your approach to this important aspect of GRESB!

First, why the change? The new Performance Indicators (PI) aspect has been overhauled in an attempt to make it clearer, better reflect the reporting realities of GRESB’s diverse respondents, and accommodate feedback from stakeholders. While the market absorbs the changes, we can try to get in front of them to understand what’s being asked of us and how best to respond. We’ll start with a quick scan of the new PI aspect. It reveals some familiar terms such as “Like-for-Like” and “Consumption”, as well as a lot of new ones like “Energy Intensity”, “Data Coverage”, “Base Building” and “Indirectly Managed Assets”. Here’s a look these new concepts and some thoughts on how to address them:

Data Coverage: This is the percentage of portfolio floor area on which you’re reporting. For example, if you know energy consumption for 100,000 square feet out of a 1,000,000 square foot office portfolio, your data coverage is 10%. Simple, right? Not so fast! To get this right, you’ll need to calculate data coverage for every asset by either (a) base building and tenant spaces OR (b) by whole building. If you elect to go the base building/tenant route, you’ll have to allocate individual meters according to who pays the bills for each. When you’re done, aggregate all asset level data for each property type in your portfolio…or just sync your data in Measurabl and let us handle it all for you!

Why Data Coverage Is Important: Data coverage is a HUGE driver of your overall score. Simply put, the more of your portfolio for which you state energy, carbon and water performance (waste is the sole exception to the data coverage phenomena), the better.

Optional Data Coverage: This is intended for reporters who state portfolio size in “units” or “lettable” (aka rentable) area. If you stick to reporting in good old fashioned square feet or meters, you can ignore columns E & F entirely. Phew!

Why Optional Data Coverage Is Important: Occasionally, the size of real estate holdings is reported using denominators other than square feet. For example, hospitality and residential property types are frequently described by the number of “units” in their portfolio. Using this option when square footage is not available may be convenient.

Intensity: Absolute consumption of energy or water is an all but useless abstraction. The only way to compare the consumption/output of one portfolio with another is to normalize it according to some common denominator. Normalizing helps us compare performance across different portfolios. So if Portfolio A uses 1.2 kWh and Portfolio B uses 2.5 kWh, respectively, per square foot per year, we’re in a position to say something more meaningful given the size of the overall portfolio. The good news about intensity calculations is you have flexibility about which normalizer (“denominator”) you use. We suggest a basic formula of: (Total Usage  for One Year / Total Square Feet).  You’ll notice this is the identical formula applied by ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to get Energy Use Intensity (EUI). In GRESB, you’ll need to calculate intensity for each property type (or let Measurabl do it for you!). One of the drawbacks of allowing so much discretion over intensity figures are calculated is that variances in calculation methodologies may result in diminished data comparability from one respondent to the next.

Why Intensity Is Important: Intensity figures give an “apples-to-apples” view of energy, carbon, water or waste consumption/output across buildings and portfolios of different sizes, geographic distribution and composition.

Indirectly Managed Assets: These are assets where (i) you own less than 50% of the building and/or (ii) a single large tenant controls the day-to-day operations. The first case is quite common – many buildings are owned as part of a joint venture or LLC. In these circumstances, the majority partner will typically manage day-to-day operations, establish environmental policies, and handle billing and contracting matters. So if you’re a minority partner, it’s unlikely you have data on which to report but, if you do, it would go under “indirectly managed assets”. If you own less than 25% of the asset, count your lucky stars – you don’t have to report on it at all!

The second circumstance – where a single large tenant “runs the show” – can also trigger an asset being reported as “indirectly managed”. This should be easy to spot. Just look for any building where the lease structure explicitly devolves responsibility for day-to-day operations, maintenance or enforcement of environmental policies to a single large tenant. Where that’s the case, report the asset as indirectly managed.

The concept of reporting on indirectly managed assets is a somewhat unusual requirement for a standard based on the principal of “Operational Control”. Operational Control means you report on the assets over which you exercise “day-to-day authority” – all 100% of the asset, not just the amount proportional to your economic interest (that’s a different reporting concept called “Financial Control”). For GRESB’s purposes, we recommend doing your best to report on indirectly managed assets, but rest assured GRESB understands this is a difficult group of assets on which to collect data.

Why Indirectly Managed Assets Are Important: This allows GRESB to distinguish between those assets where you have real ability to influence performance, and therefore should be held accountable for environmental outcomes, versus those where you do not.

We hope this sheds light on some of the trickier concepts in GRESB’s new 2014 Performance Indicators aspect. We’ll dig into how to properly allocate tenant meters and some of the other intricacies of GRESB in forthcoming blogs.



April 14, 2014 1 comment
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European Union Gets 23.4% of Electricity From Renewables

European Union Gets 23.4% of Electricity From Renewables

written by Edouard Stenger

According to official statistics from Eurobserv’ER, 23.4 percent of the electricity in the European Union came from renewable energy sources in 2012. The total output for 2012 has been estimated at 763.5 TW. This represents an important increase from 2011, when these energy sources brought “only” 20.4 percent of total electricity.

Regarding gross final energy consumption, renewables brought 14 percent of the total in 2012, up from 12.9 percent in 2011.

Eurobserv’ER also provided employment statistics showing that the renewable energy industry has employed up to 1.22 million people in direct and indirect jobs in 2012 (50,000 less than in 2011).

Jobs were mostly in wind power (300,000 direct and indirect jobs), followed by solid biomass (280,000 jobs), photovoltaic (250,000 jobs) and biofuels (110,000 jobs).

This report also shows that the renewable energy picture varies greatly from country-member to another (cf. page 80 of the full report).

While Austria and Sweden lead with 68.3 and 67.1 percent of their total electricity from renewables in 2012, respectively, Lithuania, Hungary, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta got less than ten percent of their electricity from these sources.

Nine countries got from 20 to 50 percent : Latvia (43.4%), Denmark (41.7%), Portugal (35.6%), Finland (32.5%), Spain (31.7%), Slovenia (29.5%), Italy (26.6%), Romania (25.2%) and Germany (24%).

Many more of the 27 EU members got from ten to twenty percent of their electricity from renewables : Slovakia (18.9%), Ireland (18.7%), France (16.1%), Bulgaria (15.7%), Greece (15.2%), Estonia (15.2%), Belgium (11.7%), the Czech Republic (11.5%), the United Kingdom (11%), Poland (10.6%) and the Netherlands (10.5%).

Other important differences can be noticed in the share of each renewable energy source in the total. Hydropower represents 43.9 percent of the total renewable energy produced in 2012. Wind follows with 26.6 percent, biomass (19.5%), and solar energy (9.2%). Geothermal and ocean energies make up the remaining 0.8 percent.

This means that overall, hydro provides 10.3 % of total electricity consumed in the EU, wind power, 6.2 %, biomass, 4.5 % and solar only 2.1%.

To conclude, Eurobserv’ER notes that the European Union and its 27 country-members is only six percent away from one of its 2020 goals: 20 percent of renewable energy in the total energy consumption. The analysts are optimistic as in 2006 the share of renewables was of only nine percent. By keeping that annual growth at 0.7 to 0.8 percent, the EU should succeed.

This would be the second success of the European Union policy on climate and energy. We have indeed previously seen that the EU should achieve its greenhouse gases emissions reduction goal. Perhaps it is time to move on to higher ambitions?



April 3, 2014 6 comments
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The One Thing We All Forget To Do During Earth Hour

The One Thing We All Forget To Do During Earth Hour

written by CleanTechies.com Contributor

What would happen if we all, just for one hour, actually shut off our idling gadgets and pulled our unused chargers out of the socket? Answering that question was the motivation for a new study conducted by leading mobile refurbishment website eCycle Best, leading up to Saturday’s worldwide Earth Hour (EarthHour.org).

Depending on the exact device type and charger technology, an idling gadget or an unused charger can use up to 0.1 to 0.5 watt per hour, resulting in a yearly power drain equivalent to more than $200 per device. “This is money directly out the window for American consumers, but also a welcome and easy opportunity to save the climate without a lot of effort. It is really eye-opening when you add up the number of chargers in an average American home,” notes David Kruchinin, CEO of eCycle Best.

So just how much are we wasting with idling gadgets and bad charging habits? eCycle Best did the math. In one year, the energy wasted by US households is equivalent to the total output of three coal power plants, 56 wind turbines and a nuclear reactor. Adding a dollar amount is tricky due to varying energy prices, but an average household should be able to save more than $500 yearly just by introducing better charging and device using habits such as:

  • Turning off unused chargers around the house.
  • Turning off mobile devices when not in use, especially laptops
  • Investing in smartphones and other mobile gadgets with newer battery and charger technology.

Earth Hour is a great time to make a commitment to ending vampire energy consumption in your home or office, but that’s only the beginning. eCycle Best hopes that Americans will soon realize the huge financial and environmental impact of these bad habits, and be more mindful of their devices, when they’re in use and when it comes time to dispose of them . As David Kruchinin notes “these changes do not substantially alter our lifestyles, but they have a massive impact on several larger levels”.

Article by Beth Buczynski, author of Sharing is Good. 



March 28, 2014 0 comment
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