Energy demand for space cooling has increased more than twice as fast as the overall energy demand in buildings over the last decade. Higher temperatures caused by climate change, coupled with increasing incomes and growing populations, are driving rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership. However, the rapid growth of AC is putting stress on the power grid, whilst exacerbating the adverse impact of space cooling on GHG emissions, local air pollution, power outages, urban heat island effects, energy poverty, and physiological acclimatisation.

This analysis examines available technical and policy response measures that are a win-win: they can ensure that lower income households are not left behind, and that growth in space cooling does not cause harm to the climate and health.

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This issue of Danfoss's white papers looks at all the energy that is currently wasted across sectors in the form of excess heat that could otherwise be reused. With the energy squeeze the world is facing, the authors of this white paper hope that this will be the moment that recycling waste heat becomes the norm.

Download the white paper here.

Construction is the second largest industrial ecosystem in the European Union in economic terms, employing around 25 million people. Planning the future of construction is not only about setting new actions and commitments, but also about aligning efforts and identifying and closing critical gaps. Many targets exist on how the built environment should transform in the future, but far fewer indicators exist on how the construction ecosystem should evolve to deliver on these objectives. 

This transition pathway describes the conditions and the necessary actions to achieve a resilient, competitive, greener, and more digital construction ecosystem. In addition, it proposes actions that support the transition towards safer buildings and affordable housing for all Europeans.

In the report's Annex II. National and Industry Commitments, the GlobalABC Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction was mentioned:

The Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction   sets out targets and timelines towards achieving zero-emission, efficient and resilient buildings, and construction between 2020 and 2050. The roadmap covers 8 themes, including urban planning, new buildings, existing buildings, building operations, appliances and systems, materials, resilience, and clean energy. For each of these themes, priority actions related to policy and technology are identified. This roadmap was developed in collaboration with the GlobalABC and UN Environment Programme.

The Joint Statement of Demand composed by the Members of the Big Buyers for Climate and Environment’s Working Group on Zero Emission Construction Sites contains a number of ambitions to move to fossil fuel free construction machinery by 2025 and gradually increase the use of emission free machinery to at least 50% by 2030. This statement, currently signed by Barcelona, Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Vantaa and Bodø, is a clear signal to the market that there is a demand for emission free construction machinery should it be made available by manufacturers. Signatories of the JSoD commit to:

• Require fossil-free construction machinery in own public projects from 2025, with at least 20% emission free machinery, where available.
• Require fossil-free construction machinery in own public projects from 2030, with at least 50% emission free machinery, where available.

Find out more about the activities of the Working Group and read the statement here.

The technology and financing solutions needed to decarbonize the global building stock are available today. However, to truly realize a sustainable transformation, equity needs to be at the heart of the transition toward net-zero-carbon buildings, whether through addressing fuel poverty, investing in marginalized communities, upgrading infrastructure, or reducing costs to support greater clean energy access for marginalized communities. Now is the time for policies and programs to push forward an agenda that enables the decarbonization transition toward an equitable built environment.

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The CARE (Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator) Tool is used for estimating and comparing the embodied, operating, and avoided carbon impacts and benefits of reusing and upgrading existing buildings or replacing them with new construction. The CARE Tool allows users to compare the total carbon impacts of renovating an existing building vs. replacing it with a new one.

The CARE Tool is an Architecture 2030 Project. 

In May 2022, to better understand how to measure and identify energy poverty and evaluate the adequate policies, IEECP established for the European Climate Foundation a study divided into 3 workstreams. The 3 studies provide deep insights into the 10 countries with the highest energy poverty levels in the EU (Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain) as well as Europe as a whole.

In December 2022, IEECP released the update of this work, focusing on 7 countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). The updated study outlines how the changes in energy prices deriving from the market distortions in 2022 will influence the impact and implementation of three EU policies in the long term.

Download it here.

To help inform crucial policy and market decisions with up-to-date cost analysis information, RMI updated and expanded its 2020 analysis, The New Economics of Electrifying Buildings. Due to significant changes in gas and electricity rates and evolving construction costs, we examine the economic and climate impacts of building all-electric single-family new construction — homes that rely on electric appliances for space and water heating, cooking, and clothes drying.

The new report shows that all-electric, single-family new construction is more economical to build and operate than a home with gas appliances and has lower lifetime emissions in all nine cities studied. This is because mixed-fuel homes have gas furnaces, water heaters, air conditioning, and new gas connection costs. The all-electric home, by comparison, uses a single heat pump system for both heating and cooling and a heat pump water heater. Heat pumps also provide significant carbon and energy savings over gas appliances, resulting in a lower annual utility cost for the all-electric home.

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This document provides guidelines on the use of the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) pathways and on the tool for the European Real Estate Association (EPRA) members, promoting and representing the European public real estate sector with more than 280 members, covering the entire spectrum of the listed real estate industry. An overview of the CRREM initiative is presented, including key benefits regarding assessment and climate risk analysis, the implementation of mitigation strategies for tackling transition risks, and setting decarbonization targets aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

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The WG III sectoral fact sheets give a snapshot of key findings distilled from the relevant Chapters. This fact sheet is focused on buildings.

Action in 2020-2030 is critical to fully capture the mitigation potential of existing and new buildings. In developing countries, the largest potential is in new buildings, while in developed countries the highest potential is within the retrofit of existing buildings.

Download the fact sheet and read the full chapter.