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.
Continue reading "Serious energy business in California" »
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?
Continue reading "San Francisco here we come" »
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!
Continue reading "“Building waste”" »
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