Energy Efficiency in Buildings

The sun makes people smile - naturally

I have seen the light! It  was in Spain – Bilbao, actually, which is  a lovely city, with green parks, trams and an effective metro system. It is  quite remarkable to be able to move around in a relative big city without  congestion or pollution. 

I was there thanks to Velux – a Danish company with the business  idea of trying to create better homes with the roof providing daylight and  fresh air. They brought 250-300 people from all over Europe  (mostly architects) for a daylight symposium. It took place at the  extraordinary Guggenheim Museum, which is one of the most  outstanding landmarks of contemporary architecture in the world. It was designed  by American architect, Frank O.Gehry. 

At the symposium, Dr  Richard Hobday began with some very convincing arguments on daylight and sun  exposure, and its positive effects on people’s health. Recent research has shown  a clear relationship between sunlight and people’s well being, confirming what  has been known for thousands of years.

Through the gates

We are gearing up to publish the EEB's Facts & Trends (F&T) report, summing up the findings of our first year's work. In the last few weeks we have had governance and assurance reviews - an important stage in finalizing this report.

It started in Geneva, where the project's Assurance Group met for a full day to review our preliminary draft. We had an extremely useful discussion. This is a very highly-qualified group, chaired by Klaus Toepfer, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Three other members were able to participate in the review: Jiang Yi, Tsingahua University; Thomas B Johansson, Lunds University; and Vivianne Loftness, Carnegie University. The assurance group strongly supported our vision of “zero net energy”, but they pushed us to have it well defined and explained, and to clarify the boundaries of the project.