Entries for April 2008

The Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) says in its latest report that building professionals are “not well-informed” about the basic facts of energy use in buildings and this is the prime reason why more is not being done to improve efficiency.

Soyak, one of the leading firms in the Turkish real estate sector, has checked if the Soyak Mavisehir project in Izmir, in western Turkey, designated a “Sustainable Building,” meets British BRE standards for that term.

Around four fifths of consumers are satisfied with the Home Information Pack (HIP) according to research by Ipsos MORI into the HIP area trials in eight UK areas.

A new European standard on energy management is being developed by BSI British Standards. It sets out the requirements for a system which will enable all organisations to continually improve their energy efficiency and to be independently certified.

The Carbon Trust has launched a free guide to enable the UK’s 190,000 registered charities to cut their carbon emissions.

Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas group, has bought an undisclosed stake in a British smart meter supply company TruRead.

Housebuilders in Wales have raised concerns that the decision of the Welsh Assembly Government  (WAG) to introduce a target for all  new homes built by 2011 to be carbon neutral – as part of a wider policy to combat climate change in the principality – could undermine the Welsh house-building industry, because the target is being introduced in Wales five years before England.

Scottish culture minister Linda Fabiani has published a new report promoting better design to raise the quality of Scotland’s future built environment.

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) – launched last year - has up to £30m available to support its new collaborative research, development and demonstration (rd&d) technology programme on distributed energy (DE), including microgeneration and CHP, unveiled on 16.

Two leading planning and sustainable energy groups have launched a practical guide to urban energy planning - Community energy: urban planning for a low carbon future.