Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Serious energy business in California

Apparently,  California is known as “the land of fruit and nuts” by Americans who think the  state and its people are eccentric.

Eccentric  they may be, but they seem to be way ahead on energy efficiency, and that’s one  of the things that make California very special for me (along with the people,  climate, and dynamic businesses).

I was  with the EEB team last week at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory .   (As I am  a Swede, I was delighted to see that all the streets on campus were named after  Nobel prize winners from Berkeley.)

We had  really useful discussions with professional staff from the Lab and invited  experts. One of the high points for me was an open dialog with Dian  Grueneich, California’s Energy Commissioner. 

San Francisco here we come

Apparently  it’s sunny in San Francisco. That’s good news after a very grey European  January.

I’ll  find out for myself because the EEB team is spending a few days there to begin  planning the next stage of the project. Berkeley  Lab at the University of California has generously offered to host meetings  with US building experts.

During  the last six months we have worked hard to understand the basic facts and  trends about the global building industry. We’ll share our findings and let the  American experts challenge us. They will also help us plan our next steps as we  pursue our vision of ‘a world where buildings consume zero net energy’. 

I wonder  how Americans will approach designing a building strategy with this vision in  mind. I suppose the first question is whether they buy into our vision? Do they  think this is do-able? What is a realistic timescale? How far do they think the  American people are willing to go?

“Building waste”

A new year – how many new people? There’s no sign that the world population is going to stop growing any time soon. Or that the masses of country dwellers in developing countries will stop fleeing to the cities.

Add in economic development and construction is powering ahead at full speed, especially in Asia.  I heard someone say that China is building a New York metropolitan area every year. India and Brazil are probably doing  the same.

All those buildings need more and more energy. I bet you could track the number of cranes against carbon dioxide emissions and get a pretty good fit!