Climate Change
Building-to-Grid Interconnectivity has “Far-Reaching Electricity Policy & Regulatory Implications”
November 8th, 2019Smart Building Technology: Maintaining the Balance Between Energy & Data
October 30th, 2019The Biggest Urban Challenges are being Ignored in the Smart City Agenda
In an article published on October 4th, we discussed how the technological evolution of buildings is creating a complex landscape of lifecycles across the system and structural elements in smart facilities. The article, based on our latest report, argues that in order to future proof a smart building we must find a system of design […]
Virtual Power Plants Make it Easier to Introduce Renewables but Need Better Policy
Greater energy consumption accelerates climate change but climate change also accelerates energy consumption. That’s according to a recent paper by Bas J. van Ruijven, Enrica De Cian, and Ian Sue Wing, that suggests southern regions of the US, China, and Europe, will see an additional 25% energy consumption due to climate change alone. That’s 25% […]
Every Bit of Data Needs a Bit of Energy – The Data-Driven Environmental Cost
“With the advent of the internet of things, the amount of data being collected around the world is growing exponentially. We are collecting data with a current need in mind, we are collecting for future purposes and we are collecting it just to have it, in case we find a way to use it later,” […]
EU’s Climate Goals “Can Only Happen if a Systemic Upgrade of the Building Stock is Achieved”
The EU has strong environmental ambitions and buildings must be at the center of any efforts to reduce power consumption and decarbonize EU economies. In 2010, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) set a strong direction for the full decarbonization of the European building stock by 2050 through its 2010/31/EU. The building is evolving […]
Buildings Consume Too Much Energy. We Need Stronger Regulation. “There’s No Time to Waste”
History is unfortunately full of examples of building and construction legislation that came too late. The use of combustible cladding offers several recent examples, including the London’s Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people, or the fires in Melbourne’s Lacrosse Tower and Neo200 building just this February. Combustible cladding on a tower block is an […]
Building Energy Flexibility into Our Smart Power Systems
It is the same old problem. The large-scale distribution of renewable energy generation is required to mitigate the impacts of fuel poverty and climate change but these intermittent power sources push the grid to its limits or beyond them. The solution is the same too. We must develop a more flexible power system to account […]
“Smart Buildings Must Become a Central Pillar of National Energy Strategies”
Seven-Eleven Launches First of Many Indoor Farms in Japan
Indoor farms have been emerging for some years now with a multitude of pioneering projects showing what could be possible with the technology; but for it to become a significant player in our food supply chain it needs big projects that put it on the map. Just such a project will turn its lights on […]