By Alex Chapman, Open Democracy
Europe finds itself in a bind; horrified by Russia’s action in Ukraine, yet, at least in part, funding Moscow’s war chest through the billions spent on Russian gas imports.
By Nicky Saunter, Rapid Transition Alliance
It is about time the UK government got to grips with retrofitting existing housing to scale up home energy efficiency across the country.
By Rapid Transition Alliance Staff, Rapid Transition Alliance
Citizen-led retrofitting, long the poor relation of climate policy, could now be its secret weapon in accelerating rapid transition.
By Rick Barnett, Resilience.org
Community leaders everywhere can encourage building contractors to engage energy suppliers about measurable demand reduction, and the potential for new local jobs.
By Rapid Transition Alliance Staff, Rapid Transition Alliance
The incorporation of Fanger’s equations into building codes to create a set-point for comfort not only locks in assumptions that only apply to a male, suited minority, but also a level of energy use and hence carbon emissions which, in aggregate, contribute to the climate emergency.
By Chris Nelder, Energy Transition Show
“Deep decarbonization” is all the rage in energy circles, but what does it really mean for actually retrofitting and remodeling buildings? Is it just about replacing oil and gas-fired boilers and furnaces with electric equivalents? Or does it actually mean something far more complex and interesting? Our guest in this episode is a registered engineering technologist in building construction technologies and an award-winning expert on the integration of the building sciences and health sciences...
By Rick Barnett, Resilience.org
Global concern about escalating atmospheric carbon is closely connected to the continued dominance of carbon-based energy. According to the International Energy Agency (2015), coal, oil and natural gas account for 82% of the world’s growing energy use, while renewable energy (geothermal, solar, and wind combined) provides only 1%. “100% renewables” is very futuristic.
By Alex Wise, Sea Change Radio
This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Donnel Baird, the founder and CEO of BlocPower, a startup that uses technology to retrofit buildings in financially underserved communities. Not only does this work result in long-term energy savings and more humane conditions, BlocPower offers these benefits at a much lower cost than was previously available.
By Guy Dauncey, BC Sustainable Energy Association
Would the transition away from fossil fuels fatally weaken BC’s economy, as some conservative thinkers fear? Worse yet, would it drag us back to the dark ages? Are the fear-mongers right?
By Alan Simpson, Red Pepper
The current ‘energy debate’ is in danger of descending into little more than an unsavoury slanging match.
By Brian Kaller, Grit Magazine
Consider, then, that people lived for thousands of years in wintry lands without a thermostat to crank, or without any modern fuel or technology, and obviously did not all freeze to death – nor were they even necessarily uncomfortable.