|
This week in buildings, land and industry decarbonization news, Bloomberg wrote about how nations are not living up to efficiency commitments made at last year’s Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. RMI has been keep track of the promises with this year’s COP meeting wrapping up last week, and it found that countries have been struggling to increase overall efficiency by 2% annually, when the goal ranges from 2 to 4% between now and 2030.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s appliance standards were often opposed by Republicans in the last four years, but even with President-elect Donald Trump poised to take office in January, they are unlikely to be rolled back, said Environmental Health News in summarizing recent reporting from The Washington Post. The law authorizing the standards makes it hard to roll them back, but with Trump appointees in charge, advocates do not expect much for new standards over the next four years.
The province of Quebec has set a goal of eliminating natural gas heating by 2040, the CBC reported. By then consumers will have to switch to renewable natural gas or electric heating. Renewable gas serves just 2% of the province’s demand now, and Hydro-Quebec will need to expand supplies to serve more winter heating demand.
In U.S. electrification news, RMI wrote a blog post highlighting its work to help communities make the switch to grid energy from natural gas and other fossil fuels. The effort worked with 20 local governments and 30 other groups around the country to promote the adoption of heat pumps by consumers.
For decades geothermal provided niche applications limited by geography where the energy source was obvious like in California or Iceland, but a recent Buildings.com story highlights one example of how much that is changing. Newfoundland is not known for its geothermal geysers, but a large hospital in the province is getting all of its heat from a new, closed-loop geothermal system that carries hot air from 600 feet underground to warm patients and staff.
We’ll be taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday and be back on Dec. 9. Until then, read on for this week’s Intelligence Report:
|
Share
Tweet
Share
Forward